New Richland City Council
By ELI LUTGENS
Editor
An apparent power struggle among city leaders and administrators seems to be leading to controversy and inefficiency in the New Richland ambulance service, which, over the past several months, has led to a failed state inspection, an audit, an internal investigation and the termination and demotion of the two most senior members of the ambulance department.
The upheaval appears to be damaging the service’s ability to respond to emergency calls. Over the course of the past two months, five out of roughly 40 requests for assistance have reportedly not been responded to. When the New Richland ambulance fails to respond to a call, the Waseca ambulance department is forced to respond.
“The community needs to have confidence that when they call 911 they’re going to get a response,” says Holly Jacobs of the Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board (EMSRB). Jacobs appeared before the New Richland City Council at its Feb. 22 meeting to summarize the results of an extensive State Audit carried out in November.
Jacobs suggested that many changes are needed to help the department leadership going forward. “There is a tremendous amount of distrust between things that happen in this building [City Hall] and the crew members,” she said. “There is a lot of work to be done going forward.”
Despite repeated requests, the only response the City of New Richland has provided is that it is, “Working closely with EMSRB to improve the Ambulance Department.”
Jacobs described many troubling circumstances uncovered during interviews with members of the New Richland Ambulance department, city employees and members of the community. Among the most disconcerting is an apparent attempt to sabotage a state-required inspection in August. At that time, incriminating items appear to have been scattered in the ambulance with the intent of earning the department a low or unsatisfactory rating and making management seem inept.
The items, which are reportedly used elsewhere in the department, so clearly didn’t belong in the ambulance that even the inspector suspected they had been planted.
Another source of controversy occurred in December after an internal investigation. Ambulance Department Director Chris Schlaak, a 30-year veteran of the department and its director since 2014, was demoted. Assistant Director Monica Schutrop, who had been with the department for 11 years, was terminated effective at the end of December. Long-time EMT Sara Sundve was named Interim Director at that time.
Schlaak believes that both her demotion and Schutrop’s termination were unjustified and the result of the apparent power struggle within city leadership. She states that the disagreements are a source of distrust which interferes with the smooth delivery of emergency services. She further claims that she and Schutrop offended city “good ole’ boys” with their efforts to restore smooth operations.
Prior to the November audit, Schutrop was accused of harassing a city official for reportedly bringing attention to problems facing the ambulance department. The official reason given for her termination was receiving her third disciplinary “write up” in 10 years, the most recent for having missed an ambulance run because of a family emergency--although Schlaak says she responded to the call in Schutrop’s place.
Additional disappointing circumstances summarized during the EMSRB report include “camps” within the ambulance department: Jacobs learned that certain EMTs refused to respond to emergency calls alongside certain others. She cited rampant distrust among crew members, recommending change because “toxic persons kept volunteers away from joining or continuing with the department,” she stated. “Internal education and meetings are seen as “gossip sessions,” where no real work is being accomplished.”
Former director Schlaak had worked to cope with this problem, but faced persistent complications as she scheduled EMTs. “I wanted us to work together,” said Schlaak. “It didn’t matter who was on the call, you work together because it’s for your community. You leave your problems at the door. When it comes down to taking care of a patient, everyone needs to be there.”
“These problems are not just administrative,” said Schlaak. “We’re talking matters of life and death.”
Also reported during Jacobs’ summary were violations of federal privacy protections. She further claimed that residents are unwilling to trust EMTs on scene when requesting emergency services. “The community needs to have confidence that when they call 911 they’re going to get a response and get the service that they request and not to have all sorts of talk happening afterwards,” said Jacobs. “There was quite a bit of concern about HIPPA violations in this community.”
One example Jacobs expressed was the need to eliminate social media negativity. “The number of Facebook posts, text messages, all sorts of negativity that exists, that people pulled up on their phone during interviews, quite honestly was a little unsettling in my own stomach.”
Yet another oversight in the ambulance department circles around the cost of required training events attended by EMTs, who must be recertified every three years. The city has incurred expenses of roughly $5,000 since 2015, which were eligible for state reimbursement. However, the necessary paperwork has not been filed, leaving the city to foot the bill.
To help tackle problems facing the ambulance department and the City of New Richland, Jacobs and EMSRB plan to continue working with the city going forward. Included in the report were exhaustive lists of recommendations.
A major recommendation made by EMSRB was for the city to consider hiring a full-time Ambulance Department Manager. According to Jacobs, “We felt it was imperative that the city prioritize enabling a manager who can lead the [ambulance department] service towards developing positive relationships with the council, future crew members, other departments, local responding agencies, and other neighboring ambulance services and the community as a whole.”
Other recommendations made by the EMSRB are: to create a warm and inviting culture; develop a fair and equal call hour policy; develop a formal discipline policy; formalize an organized approach for recruitment and retention; and to strengthen relationships between all city departments.
The initial plan for the City Council is to appoint a representative, preferably a council member, to work with EMSRB and their team to formulate a plan going forward on how best to implement these recommendations. Mayor Gail Schmidt will continue working as a liaison between the EMSRB and the city. Jacobs stressed that the suggested changes are only recommendations which the City can choose to follow or disregard.
“I will be as engaged as possible over the next year to help make change,” reported Jacobs. “The city council obviously needs to be willing and eager to make things work and do what it takes to have a successful ambulance service.”
Editors note - Monica Schutrop is related to the writer of this article. She is an aunt through marriage. Chris Schlaak also works as a photographer for the Star Eagle.