Brothers and Sisters,

Time to dispel some rumors about medic 5. I have heard recently that Local 21 was responsible for stopping the re-commissioning of that Medic rig. I want to set the record straight. Chief Butler decided we are not moving the Super Medic to 5's!! A meeting was held several months ago and it was Local 21 who initially asked that the super medic be moved to 5's. We stated that the change to the new CAD has changed our response areas and medic 18,14,8 and others are running their wheels off. Our request was directly related to giving our members on those rigs a bit of a break and spread the workload. Fast forward to this last Labor/management meeting. The chief started the discussion by telling us that we are way over budget and that he "may be slashing overtime for the rest of the year".

Once the discussion started about medic 5 and its deployment model, we had concerns about moving the super medic to 5's if it wouldn't be run as a super medic. Yes it is true that we had concerns about using Engine 5 as a dual staffed medic as we could potentially lose an important fire asset in the middle of the western side of the city. It is our belief that the citizens deserve the best medical AND fire response that we can provide.

As the conversation continued, The administration wanted Local 21's absolute stamp of approval that we agree to the Chiefs staffing model. We didn't necessarily agree to dual staffing and we stated so. At the point, the Chief said angrily, "fine, we aren't doing it then, next subject". That was it, discussion over. He wasn't going to hear our concerns about staffing, deployment or how the change affects the east side or our members. That's was it, that's exactly how medic 5 was stopped. Remember, the fire chief has the sole responsibility to provide deployment to the city of St. Paul. It is not, and never has been, Local 21's decision. If he believes that Medic 5 is in the best interest of the city, then he should make the move. If we have feeling otherwise, then we can discuss it with him but ultimately those decisions fall in his desk.

Now on to the rumors that I am hearing. Local 21 did not "stop medic 5" because one of our members came to the union meeting and spoke against it. It's always good when members show up to a union meeting to give their opinion or make a point. It's a big part of why we meet. However, we have always made decisions on what in the best interest of the entire membership.

Next Rumor: We stopped it because we wanted to keep a stand-alone engine at 5's. First off, we didn't stop it, the Chief did. When the super medic first started the fire chief was giddy because it was "gonna keep engines in service more often". We were trying to hold the chief to that. If 5's was staffed as a super, we have a new medic asset AND an important fire asset in a very strategic spot. A good bang for the buck not only for the citizens but also for our members.

Next rumor: we are not making decisions based on what's best for our Paramedics. The Local 21 Chair Officers brought the request to the Labor/Management meeting hoping to add an asset to help medic 14,18,8 and all of our medic rigs running their butts off. We start the conversation. We heard the concerns and tried to help. The initial agreement with admin was that 5's would be a super and we were full steam ahead. It wasn't until the chief decided he was going to cut overtime that the plan changed.

Next rumor: this one we are hearing may be a cold hard fact. The Chiefs office received many calls from the East Side politicians concerned about moving the super out of 9's. From what we are being told, the chief had decided against the change so it wasn't going to happen either way. How convenient to be able to blame Mike, Jeramiah and myself when it wasn't going to happen anyway.

This is what we are hearing...... So where are we now? We have asked the chief to request that the city give us 2 more firefighters a day to super staff both 9's and 5's but I don't think he has made that request yet. We have also asked the chief to rethink the special duty positions and staff both 9's and 5's ad super medics. We have asked the chief to stop calling in overtime when we are overstaffed so we can save that money to staff the streets appropriately. We are trying to make this work. We are for super 5 and Super 9. We are behind changing our deployment to help our members where we need assets the most.

Please remember though, at the end of the day and after all the meetings, it's the fire chief's decision and it was the chief that slammed the door on medic 5. The issue was sent back to the EMS committee.