Things get heated at the Marshall County EMS meeting

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  • Marshall County EMS Interim Director Dash Stanley, and board members Elizabeth Wainwright, Roy Matheny, Darren Alexander, William Coleman, and Wes Saxon (not pictured) get ready for the February 6 MCEMS Board meeting. Shalene White • The Madill Record
    Marshall County EMS Interim Director Dash Stanley, and board members Elizabeth Wainwright, Roy Matheny, Darren Alexander, William Coleman, and Wes Saxon (not pictured) get ready for the February 6 MCEMS Board meeting. Shalene White • The Madill Record
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It was standing room only at the Marshall County Emergency Medical Service District Board meeting on February 6, 2020. Even though there were 22 items total on the agenda for the monthly meeting, there were only two agenda items that caught the attention of most.

One of the hot button agenda items stemmed from an incident that allegedly occurred on December 6.

Pam Thompson, an employee of the Marshall County EMS said that one of the MCEMS board members, Elizabeth Wainwright, was speaking negatively about EMS office staff. Thompson penned a letter to the board, and in that letter, Thompson informed what upset her so much.

“She [Wainwright] began speaking negatively about the Ems office staff. Her words again were they needed to be fired starting with that fat [redacted] that tried to come across the table at me.”

Wainwright alleged that during the December monthly meeting, Thompson was so enraged that she tried to “come across the table” at her. To conclude her letter, Thompson requested that Wainwright be removed from the board.

The request to discuss the conduct of Wainwright was one half of agenda item number 16 at the February meeting. The other half was to discuss the conduct of Thompson. Just as the board prepared to vote to enter into executive session, Wainwright spoke up.

“Before you do anything, I think it would be appropriate to advise the board that I have obtained legal counsel,” Wainwright said. Then, she advised the board to lawyer up, as well.

The board did, in fact, enter into executive session, although it was only for a few minutes. Once out of executive session, the board voted to take no action, or have any types of discussions on the matter since legal representation had been obtained.

This matter has been a sore spot for many residents since December. The Madill Record has made multiple attempts to contact the board members to get their side of things, only to be met with the sound of crickets.

The second agenda item that seemed to enrage a few people, was discussing the check signing policy. Earlier in the meeting, board president Darren Alexander stated that the list of people who were allowed to sign checks needed to be updated with the bank. He then spoke of a policy change that was voted in the August meeting – that only the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Director were allowed to sign checks.

After reminding the board about the policy, he asked Interim Director Dash Stanley if anybody had signed checks since December 1.

“Not to my knowledge,” replied Dash. That is when Alexander asked Thompson if she had signed checks since December 1. Thompson then replied she had in fact signed a few checks.

Alexander spoke out about his thoughts on her signing the checks.

“You’ve signed checks since December 1,” he asked. “That is a problem, the policy was instituted in August.”

Alexander then instructed Stanley to put a warning in the staff member’s file.

Thompson requested to speak, and Alexander informed her that Stanley could speak because he was positioned at the table.

Thompson was determined to have her voice heard.

“I think there’s a problem when you don’t let us talk,” she told Alexander.

“Here’s the deal, this is a business meeting,” Alexander retorted. “It’s not a round table discussion.”

Thompson seemed to calm a little when she learned she could speak about the agenda item during public comments. After the new business item, Thompson was able to speak because the meeting had reached the public comments section.

“If I remember fight on that [check signing], weren’t you the one that was supposed to go to the bank to handle that,” Thompson asked Alexander.

Another resident mumbled in agreement.

“I went to the bank and told them, and y’all said something else,” Alexander replied.

“No, you came in and griped and said you needed the signed minutes,” Thompson shot back. “Remember that?”

“We’ll look into it, we’re not going to hash it out here,” Alexander replied.

As of February 18, board members Wes Saxon and William Coleman both resigned from their board positions. Both outgoing board members presented the Marshall County Commissioners with their resignations at the February 18 meeting. They also both cited not having enough time to give the board the attention it deserves as their reasons for leaving.