Clearing up the facts about my stipend for volunteering as an EMT

  • Yes, I am an EMT and a fully certified volunteer firefighter with Mapleton Fire Department. I do get paid a small stipend but only for official shifts that I work on the ambulance. All the trainings, certification courses, and firefighter duties I have done have been completely for free.

  • Yes, I am and have been a member of the Budget and Personnel Committee, however we have not ever talked about, let alone set the rate that EMT’s get for their stipend. That stipend was set by the fire chief years ago and it has not changed during my entire tenure as an elected official. So no, I have never had a say in raising those rates.

  • The stipend rates for EMT’s are: $1/hr. for uncertified volunteers during active shifts on the ambulance. The rate goes up as an individual gets higher certifications. Over the past 9 years I have worked my way up to the level of an Advanced EMT. The rate for my level of certification is around $4/hr. or $48 per 12-hour shift. During every shift, we are required to be in uniform, ready to respond at the drop of every 911 call and immediately report to the ambulance.

  • Over the past 9 years I have served hundreds of 12-hour ambulance shifts, thus my stipend has added up over those years to just over $60k. My opponent attempted to use this against me in a recent debate I can only imagine in attempt to deflect the negative attention he has gotten about his past business dealings with city projects. However, if you break it all down, it reveals that not only is my earning a stipend for my dedicated years of unpaid medical training, responding during all hours of the night, and saving lives in my spare time is not a comparable conflict but it also reveals just how many hours I have volunteered.

  • If you average my stipend rate over those years to say $3/hr. and divide that into $60k, that equals about 20,000 hours during those 9 years. (I’ll also point out that I’ve only been an elected official for the past 6 of those 9 years). 20,000 divided by 9 years equals about 2,200 hours per year. How many hours does a full-time hourly worker work in our society annually? 2080 hours per year. That means over the past 9 years I’ve served enough ambulance shifts to equal a second full-time job. All that in addition to all the certification courses I’ve taken, my training and firefighter volunteer hours, all which were unpaid.

 

Fact about my ability to put my “all” into being your mayor

All this volunteering, in addition to my regular full-time job, plus my family life, and church service, and Planning Commission, and City Council and working on a master’s degree shows you my capacity to serve. When I am elected Mayor, I am retiring from the Fire Department and wrapping up my schooling. I will then be dedicating all the hours that I used to put into these other things and will focus only on my faith, my family, my full-time job and this community!