BCES overtime costs soar

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BCES overtime costs soar

Posted by

Mike Buffington

in Top Stories & Breaking News

Thursday, May 12. 2011

Comments (13)

Chronic problems with staffing at Barrow County Emergency Services have not gone away and the new chief of emergency services may be in the hot seat.

In response to an open-records request Tuesday, the Barrow County Finance Department released a spreadsheet showing that since January, BCES employees have utilized escalating amounts of overtime.

The number in January of $20,174 rose to $65,597 in April and early May.

The total since January, when BCES Chief Dennis Merrifield joined the department, is more than $130,000 and three times what the department used in overtime during the same period a year ago.

Because the BOC now requires all county employees to notify the full board about any media inquiries, the commissioners received the numbers at the same time that the Barrow Journal received them at 3:41 p.m. Tuesday.

A half-hour later, at 4:17 p.m., Merrifield sent an explanation to the BOC.

But his explanation raised additional concerns and confirmed recent rumors about fire trucks not being utilized due to the lack of staff to operate them.

“We have shut down an engine on numerous occasions and there has been a time or two when we have shut down an ambulance,” Merrifield wrote in his e-mail to the board. “It’s not that we wanted to shut these down, or that we were trying to somehow save money. It was a simple fact that we could not get enough people in to work to keep all the vehicles up and running.”

For the full story, see the May 11 issue of the Barrow Journal.

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#1 Charlie on 05/12/11 at 05:53 AM [Reply]

THis is the kind of stuff that happens when YOU pay poorly and treat YOUR staff like CRAP... This WILL get worse as the remaining staff tire from the "joy " of big OT checks OR somenbody gets hurt or KILLED. Time to BUCK up and get a handle on responsibility. What is being funded by the county that could be done better in private, AIRPORT, anny and ALL construction /support services THE JOB of the COUNTY is to provide public safety! BTW.. Barrow County WILL loos any lawsuit brought buy injured staff!

#1.1 Jack Legg on 05/12/11 at 07:59 AM [Reply]

The county needs to pay for public safety, within reason whatever the cost and what ever is left in the budget can be divided among the other departments.
There should be 4 firefighters on evvry apparatus and at least one paramedic on every ambulance. Im ok if it costs some overtime to do this and most voters are too.

#2 More experience in 1 day that barrow employees get in 1 month! on 05/12/11 at 06:42 PM [Reply]

I personally work for a very well known ems agency and trauma center, and I would be willing to work part time for barrow county but the county won't hire people who are not currently certified firefighters. There are many residents of barrow county who are nationally registered Ems personnel, who work outside of the county because of this. Hire good, qualified people, treat them right and people would be willing to work for barrow county.

#2.1 Anonymous on 05/12/11 at 07:18 PM [Reply]

Barrow is a Fire and EMS department, you are not fire certified. You say " Hire good, qualified people, treat them right and people would be willing to work for barrow county." If you are not certified for Fire than you are not a qualified person for the job. The problem here is not the employees but rather the lack of them.
And Grady is not that great.

#2.1.1 Experience is the best teacher! on 05/12/11 at 09:23 PM [Reply]

Right, the problem Isn't that you can't keep a chief or your Lt's shoot their daughters, or your employees falsify their continuing education documents or their is missing boot drive funds or the fact that when you do accept application only three people apply with none of them being medics, and I won't even mention the commissioner.

Good luck anonymous!

#2.1.2 Is the ambulance or fire truck in my zone running tonight? on 05/12/11 at 09:28 PM [Reply]

How many fires has barrow county had in 2011? How many medical calls have they had in 2011?

Yeah that what I thought, sounds like an ems department to me!

#3 Former Fireman (Another county) on 05/12/11 at 09:55 PM [Reply]

Barrow county needs seperate fire and EMS. Works for Jackson county. I think the two can be compared pretty closely with the amount of fire versus EMS calls.

This is a perfect example of if it aint broke, dont fix it and it wasn't broke a few years ago, just some idiot came along and thought we needed to be Gwinnett County or something and couldn't make it work.

Oh wait, we did get all the apperatus painted the same as Gwinnett didn't we? How much did all that cost?

What a joke. Maybe Barrow county will get some commisioners that know what the heck they are doing one of these days. But I can almost guarantee I will be out of here by then.

#3.1 Facts on 05/20/11 at 08:43 AM [Reply]

Ummm....Do your research, Barrow was first on the red over black...

#4 J on 05/12/11 at 10:13 PM [Reply]

Dekalb county is separating their fire and ems services again!

#5 Anonymous on 05/13/11 at 04:35 AM [Reply]

Wouldn't you only have two fireman per station then? Wouldn't we need more? And don't EMS guys make overtime after 40 hrs, which fireman don't?

#6 TickedOff on 05/13/11 at 03:51 PM [Reply]

Why did we hire a new chief? I'd expect him to bring suggestions, ideas, solutions to our problems. Guess I expect too much. All we get is a report of the obvious. Shutting down engines and services to the citizens of this county is not and option. If thats the case, I'll quit paying taxes. Is that ok. God forbid my house catches on fire, but if it does, and one guy shows up or they are late, this county will really be broke. DANNY get off your pompass butt and make some changes. Here's one for you. Keep sheriffs cars from being driven home. especially those outside Barrow Co. The fuel cost alone should be enough to cover some of these needed salaries. Sell the airport land.NOW. Quit paying severance to those we fire or those who resign. Heck, Id quit too with the packages so are getting. Quit giving a prospective business everthing they want to relocate here. Two reasons for this point.
1. they want to be here because this area(316 and 85) corridor is a great location. They are willing to pay. 2.) They know we'll give them things like tax shelter, $300,000.00 turn lanes and lights, etc. But as Barrow Co. finacial sitation becomes more and more unhealthy the outlook is getting dimmer and dimmer.

#7 bla blah blah on 05/14/11 at 08:05 AM [Reply]

really nothing new here. I work in the fire/ems field, rep is everything and barrows blows which is to bad for the good people who work there. it has always been a stepping stone for other county departments ( considered minor leagues, and the pay and benifits which used to be good is now below average), and it wont change, sorry. what you are seeing is chief posts ideas being implimented by chief merrifield. if danny had kept his incompetant butt out of the fire department these problems would have been handled 4 years ago. barrow was getting good people, i wonder what changed, oh i know the pay and benefits. norma jean got chastised for the archer study, but in the end she may be proven right when it comes to fire and ems salaries.

#8 Former Fireman (Another county) on 05/14/11 at 07:29 PM [Reply]

For Sale (cheap) One BOC chairman. Has hardly worked at all. Free delivery within 1000 miles.

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