By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Unable to delve into two sensitive issues this week, the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District board has scheduled a special meeting Monday to discuss the district’s relationship with a nonprofit ambulance service and evaluate administrator Frankie Petrick.
The meeting will be at 9 a.m. Monday at the district’s fire station.
The first part of the meeting is to discuss a decades-long agreement that has district firefighters staffing the South Lincoln Ambulance service for a nominal yearly fee. Two fire district employees – Petrick and assistant administrator Shelby Knife – comprise two of the three SLA board members.
The five-member fire board will conduct Petrick’s evaluation in executive (closed) session.
The staffing agreement with the ambulance nonprofit has been a source of growing scrutiny by some board members for 2-3 years but until now there has not been a comprehensive discussion of a relationship that is unique in Oregon. That relationship is now under closer examination following a fatal accident involving the ambulance that has drawn the fire district and its insurance company into a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
The board was scheduled to do Petrick’s yearly evaluation during its meeting Monday, but that stalled out when board members Don Tucker and Doug Myers had questions about a job description, salary schedule, her role as both the volunteer fire chief and paid district administrator, and general details of how the evaluation should be conducted. Previously board members filled out a form rating Petrick on a scale of 1-5 with a composite score leading to a corresponding salary increase.
“The process does not make sense to me,” said Tucker, who has been on the board since 2019.
Tucker submitted an undated resignation last fall and the board was scheduled to interview applicants and appoint his replacement Monday, but ran into procedural issues. Tucker said he would submit a new letter of resignation effective Feb. 1 so he could participate in Monday’s special meeting and the board could appoint his replacement at its Feb. 10 meeting.
The lone board applicant is Stan Wagaman of Yachats, who has been a fire chief in Florida, Arizona and southern Oregon.
In other business the board:
- Heard that 10 people had applied for the district’s assistant administrator job, which Knife is leaving Jan. 24 after 12 years;
- Heard from Petrick about efforts to clear brush on the district’s property along U.S. Highway 101 and illuminate the fire district sign so vehicles can better see the station’s driveway. Petrick is also trying to contact the Oregon Department of Transportation to get a flashing fire station warning sign placed near the driveway; and
- Heard that SLA’s new ambulance should be arriving soon. Its ambulance was totaled in last January’s fatal accident and the nonprofit has been using one from Pacific West Ambulance. Insurance is covering the replacement cost for the new ambulance, estimated at more than $500,000.
My understanding is that South Lincoln Ambulance uses fire district employees to operate its ambulance but pays the fire district only a part of that cost to the district. Does that not mean that the fire district taxpayers are subsidizing a private business, SLA?
Ms Woodruff:
Nailed it. The whole arrangement is a blatant conflict of interest, compounded by the fact that SLA, a private not-for-profit, is the lone operator in the area, essentially creating a monopoly with the assistance of a public taxing district. Petrick has been involved here for over 30 years. Her fire service is exemplary, but this arrangement between her “business” and the fire district is, at the least, questionable.
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“…a decades-long agreement that has district firefighters staffing the South Lincoln Ambulance service for a nominal yearly fee. Two fire district employees – Petrick and assistant administrator Shelby Knife – comprise two of the three SLA board members.”