Suprun is no show at EMS meeting

The Marshall County EMS Board of Control held their regular monthly meeting December 13 with a missing key component. Chief Christopher Suprun was not present.

Former employees and local citizens addressed the board with their grievances in hopes of answers to ease their minds and patch damaged reputations. Director Daniel Nixon addressed the room regarding the Vice Chairman's report on Suprun's grievance investigation. He said Suprun’s absence made the investigation into the grievances difficult.

“We the board received several official written and signed grievances having to do with the previous chief,” Nixon said as he addressed the citizens. “At the time at which we received them, said person was out of town.'

The Director said Suprun received official notice from the Board of Control requesting his cooperation with the investigation.

'He received an official correspondence from the board chairperson saying thatgrievanceshadbeenfiled and he needed to contact the chairperson as soon as possible,” Nixon said. “Since that correspondencehasbeensent and received the previous director has not come back to work thus making my investigation of the grievances basically impossible or moot.'

“I can’t investigate both sides,' Nixon continued. 'We all have copies of the grievances, so I guess long and short of it is, as far as the report from the vice chair’s grievance investigation, I have no report because there was nothing to investigate.'

Local citizen Charlie Sandefur was on the agenda and addressed the board wanting to know what level of care was to be expected in the future.

Sandefur asked the board what their goal was in terms of patient care.

“My question is, Is it the goal of this board and director to make sure there is somebody that can administer every drug needed on that truck,” Sandefur questioned. 'Is there going to be a paramedic on the truck? Is that the direction y'all are going?”

Nixon wanted the community to know that was not the initial intent and that it would not be a bad thing for Marshall County to have a BLS service.

“I would love to see this bay full and build two more bays and have people at the ready' Nixon responded to Sandefur. “The highest level we can put on the ambulance at this point in the state of Oklahoma would be a paramedic and I think that's the top level of care. I also have to step back and look at what is feasible, what is reasonable. Even though I don’t like the way the service got moved to a BLS service, I still think in the end it’s still not a bad thing for Marshall County.'

Nixon wrapped up Sandefur's concerns and made a plea with the community to understand what the board was pushing.

'There's been lots of stuff said on Facebook and social media and I don’t like the way it happened but I would ask you all as community members to understand that the BLS thing is not really a bad thing.'

'I give you my word that there's no getting rid of any paramedics,” Nixon said reassuring thecommunity.“We aren’t going to staff and save money because that’s not our intent or the board's intent.'

The meeting then shifted to item ten on the agenda for thediscussionofemployment separation with long time employee Brandon Matthews. Matthews addressed the board with a letter that had been written, mailed and copied to his work file from Suprun alleging false accusations and wild untruths to place Matthews on the non-rehire list. Matthews petitioned the board for removal of the letter from his file, his name removed from the non-rehire list and his accrued paid time off.

Nixon made a recommendation to the board to pay Matthews his accrued paid time off based on the unsubstantiated claims due to Suprun not showing, removal of the letter after having read it himself and removingMatthewsfromthe non-rehire list. Nixon also addedhewouldaddaletterto Matthews’ file on his behalf. The board approved the motion without any objections for Matthews.

I t e m e l e v e n o n t h e a g e n d a was regarding another employment separation. Jon Erwin addressed the board for his vacation time that was owed to him and to be removed from the non-rehire list, as well. He addressed the board about the noncommunication the previous chief had with him about random schedule changes whichresultedinhimputting in his notice.

Again, Daniel Nixon referred to the previous chief's job abandonment, therefore all grievance claims were null and void. Nixon made the motion for Erwin's vacation time to be paid and for him to be removed from the nonrehire list. The motion passed and Nixon said, 'I know this doesn't heal wounds and fix grievances, but I hope you all understand this is what we can do.'

To mend relationships ruffled by the previous chief, themeetingendedwithmuch needed closure and answers forsomeEMSemployeesand lifelong community members. The Board of Control is dealing with the aftermath that comes with the unexpected departure of Suprun earlier this month. While Suprun was in charge the EMS, staff went from twelve employees to five according to the interim. With the help of the interim EMS Chief and the Board of Control, they are working together with EMS staff to give Marshall County residents the best service they can provide while building communityrelationships.