By Livi Stanford
Daily Commercial
TAVARES, Fla. — Lake County Emergency Medical Services Executive Director Jerry Smith acknowledged this week that some employees in the organization are anxious about the possibility that they will lose their jobs if county commissioners merge Lake County Fire Rescue and EMS.
“As the process goes along, our staff will be interested in the results and there will become concern I imagine about what their futures are, but historically the County Commission has been very supportive of the staff in all employees transitioning without job loss,” Smith said.
This is not the first time the commission has considered merging the two services. Several years ago, the same idea was broached, but it received a cool reception from several commissioners and went nowhere.
But with two new commissioners on the board — Josh Blake and Wendy Breeden — there is a new appetite for exploring it further.
In Florida, 83 percent of counties have consolidated fire and EMS systems.
Smith said in an interview this week he understands the commission’s decision to consider consolidation.
“My devotion is to Lake County and to make sure that EMS is provided in the most economical and appropriate way,” he said. “If there is a better way to do that, we need to work through that.”
Smith said he is well aware he could lose his position but does not let the worry overwhelm him.
“If I get concerned about it, I lose sleep,” he said. “I have faith in our leadership that they will take care of all of us here at Lake EMS. “
Several county commissioners said this week they simply want to conduct a study to weigh the benefits of such a change.
But at the same time, those commissioners stated that EMS employees should not worry about losing their positions.
“I am very confident in saying that the employees of EMS, especially those out in the street, should not worry about losing their job,” said Commissioner Sean Parks. “This is about seeing if there is a system that makes public safety even better in Lake County.”
Parks said Smith should not fear losing his job.
Commissioner Tim Sullivan said the study should be conducted because “we owe it to the taxpayers to make sure we have the most efficient, effective fire rescue EMS system that we can have for the citizens of Lake County.”
Sullivan also said it is unlikely the staff would be downsized.
“I believe that both Fire Rescue and EMS personnel are professionals doing a great job, and we want to be able to enhance that and obviously we are not downsizing,” he said. “I don’t see us downsizing the operations because growth is such that it is probably an impossibility. If you are a good employee doing the right things, you have a long, distinguished career working in EMS or fire rescue.”
Breeden said she was not interested in implementing anything that would reduce service.
“More and more counties are going in that direction,” she said. “We have to be sensitive to the staff but also to our constituents about the way we spend tax dollars.”
And Blake said all he is interested in at this time is information.
“It is just a simple request for data,” he said.
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