Just to clarify (a response to the Chetek Ambulance Commission and Concerned Citizens of Chetek)

 

Last week's Alert

If you're a regular subscriber to The Chetek Alert you're aware that there seems to be a dust-up of sorts lately between the Chetek Ambulance Commission (CAC) and some of their personnel as well as with the city itself. In last week's Alert there was a letter from the CAC and a large three-column ad taken out by the group calling themselves the “Concerned Citizens of Chetek”, made up of an anonymous group of “members of the ambulance service”, seeking to address “negative attention” of late from (among others) “the city of Chetek”.

There was way more to this ad

On the main, the bulk of the ad seeks to clarify things that one of their employees and members of his family said at a recent city council meeting. Given that the city does not run the ambulance service I am not going to comment on internal matters nor pick a side in that dispute. That is a personnel issue that the CAC is responsible for resolving and it's not our place to meddle. But given we are a paying customer at the table – a customer, by the way, who in the last few years has seen significant increases to our annual subsidy – I think it's fair for us to have a better understanding how that dollar figure is arrived at.

Honestly, up until last November, most of what I knew about the CAC I learned through 4^th Ward Alderman Mark Edwards, our representative on the commission. But on the morning of November 7 after receiving a call from an upset owner of one of our local restaurants who wanted to know why one of their customers was laying on the floor for 45 minutes awaiting an ambulance, I've tried to learn a few things more. Granted what happened on that morning was something of a perfect storm but we were out of service that morning and I wanted to know why. Since then I've attended a few CAC meetings in seeking a better understanding of just how it works.

With regards to the EMTs who man the rig and come running when we are in need, it cannot be said enough how grateful we are for your service. This isn't your primary job and we appreciate the sacrifices you make to provide emergency services to our citizens. If we have a bone to pick, it certainly isn't with any of you. But given that subsidies have increased significantly over the last few years it is not for nothing that without coordination every single council member and myself were in attendance at the CAC's April meeting. We have questions that we're seeking answers for and if you feel unfairly treated by our increased attention to the commission that hasn't been our intention.

As far as the commission offering to post a regular column of sorts in The Chetek Alert or at a social media site that might be a good thing to better educate all of us of the challenges of your industry that most of us are not aware of. But the bottom line for every elected official, every member of the commission included, is to be able to assure those who put us in those places of authority – the taxpayers – are getting the very best service that our tax dollars can afford.