Terry Spradley
St. John News – August 21, 2013
Emotions ran high in Wednesday’s County commissioners meeting as a crowd in excess of 40 people gathered in the third floor courtroom to sing the praises of the county’s EMS director.
Wednesday’s meeting recessed before it even started so it could be relocated to the larger courtroom to accommodate the growing number of taxpayers wishing to voice their dissatisfaction with commissioner Shane Stimatze’s request for the termination of EMS director Steve Moody.
“Steve Moody has saved my wife’s life twice,” George Sanders told commissioner. “The second time while in route to Wichita, her blood pressure was so low Steve asked her if she wanted to divert to Hutchinson or go on to Wichita. She said, “She I trust in you, let’s go to Wichita.’ That is the type of individual that Steve Moody is.”
Stimatze called for Moody’s termination at the August 14 meeting sighting issues over billing. In particular, a bill that had been sent to a landowner that had not followed proper procedures during a controlled burn that required the county fire trucks to respond multiple times.
One after another speakers from county fire and EMS services repeated the same message that Moody had been a pivotal part of uniting and improving the services the county provides to the taxpayers.
One-by-one residents stood in the dimly lit courtroom telling their tail of how Moody was instrumental in saving their life, property or life of a loved one.
“Steve Moody, along with the Stafford Hospital personnel are truly responsible for saving my husband’s life and getting him stabilized, because we would have never made it to the hospital,” Bonnie Brown’s voice quivered a bit as she spoke.
“The hospital, the crew, and especially Steve Moody are responsible for saving my husband’s life. If you get rid of him we’re in big trouble.”
Current Stafford County Hospital administrator Todd Taylor told commissioners the county’s EMS service is one of the best and that is due to Moody’s professionalism.
Other members of the services told how there was a lot of rivalry and some discontent between the different departments in prior years, but Moody had quelled a lot of that and had all the departments working as one to provide better service countywide.
Stimatze said another reason he called for Moody’s termination was due to problems with getting financial reports to him on time, and one report had some incorrect entries on it. He also stated that he thought Moody had been disrespectful to him when discussing the billing issues.
Former Stafford District Hospital administer Vern Minnis told commissioners that hospital, and emergency medical services billing hard to manage at times.
“Hospitals are always the last ones to get paid,” he said. “People pay everything else and then if there’s any money left they pay the hospital.”
Issues with insurance payments, slow payments, Medicaid, Medicare issues and write-offs all complicate the billing procedure.
The county EMS department has partnered with Stafford County Hospital to manage the ambulance service accounts.
“This is a transition that has just started,” Taylor said. “It will take a bit to get things working smoothly.”
Stafford County farmer Leon Dunn drew applause from the gallery when he summarized the comments and thoughts of those in attendance.
“If I was a young person coming here to start a business, healthcare is a serious problem,” he said. “If Moody leaves, there’s enough vibration going on in this digital world that anybody thinking about coming here would see that and say ‘Why Stafford County.’
“I think you need to look at the big picture, and forget about the petty things. If we don’t have leaders that can do that then I think we’ve got the wrong leaders.”
After the citizen comment period Moody took the podium to recap some of the improvements that have been made in the department since he became director including the “thousands upon thousands” of dollars in grant money he has secured needed equipment not only for the fire and EMS department, but also local police department radios.
At the end of his report, Moody drew loud groans and protests from members in the gallery as he told commissioners he was resigning his position.
“Last week things went as bad as any thing I’ve attended in my 35 years,” he said. “I was told during the meeting that I didn’t know how to manage and that I was a liar. I don’t know what either of these allegations were based upon.”
Moody stated that he had talked with the directors and employees of all the departments he deals with, many who were attendance at the meeting and none stated any commissioners had talked to them about his job performance.
“I think if any of these people would have been consulted, they would have told you that my management skills are solid, and that I am not a liar,” he said. “I can’t change the dislike for me. The hostility is not healthy for me, my wife, or my coworkers. One thing I will not do is compromise the health of the community.”
With that Moody said he did not know if he would be able to work effectively for the county and turned in his resignation to multiple protests form the gallery.
Commissioner Fairchild moved and Shane Stimatze seconded to recess to executive session for 15 minutes with Moody, board members and legal council. A 30 minute session was called for on the heals of the first before commissioners reconvened and stated that they were not going to accept Moody’s resignation.
Stimatze addressed the issues that had been discussed during the meeting and stated that he did acknowledge that Steve is very professional and does a very good job and that he contributes a tremendous amount to serve the county.
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