As the
American reported
previously, voters elected
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Bridget Quinlisk-Dailey
Derek Mays
and Clarence
Young as the next board directors for the Northeast
Ambulance and Fire Protection District. Young will not serve his
term because right before the election, former board member
Robert Lee
resumed his position on the board after a long-awaited court
decision (more about this below). Here’s what you may not have
heard.
At about
4:30 a.m. on April 6 (the morning after the election), a white
Suburban drove away from Mayor of Normandy
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Patrick Green
according to what Green told the police. Left on his porch were
Bridget Quinlisk-Dailey’s and Clarence Young’s campaign signs with
a note on a Shop ‘n Save paper bag written in permanent marker:
“Look Out, M___ F___!”
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The
trespassers were not seen. But let’s look at the
evidence.
According
to a police report, when Green was canvassing with board candidates
Don Morice
and Bertha
Myers on March 21, 2011, board member Quinlisk-Dailey’s
husband, Brian
Dailey, allegedly drove up in a red car and stopped on
Florissant Road. He started screaming insults and threats at Green,
witnesses stated. And sitting in the passenger seat was his teenage
son, Seamus, who was echoing the yells, the report stated, and
mimicking his father’s outrageous behavior.
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According
to police reports, on Dec. 15, 2010 Green was leaving city hall
with Country Club Hills Mayor
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>David Powell, Sr.
were talking by Green’s car, Dailey allegedly came up about three
feet to them and started staring with an angry
look.
When asked
about the police reports, Quinlisk-Dailey said in an email that it
was just politics. “It seems Mayor Green is suffering from a little
bit of ‘sour grapes’ over the April 5th election,” she
wrote.
If it was
her husband who left the sign and if the police reports are valid,
just imagine what dinner conversation is like at the Dailey house
when they ask each other what they did that day.
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Since
Quinlisk-Dailey has been on the board, she has harnessed the anger
of certain community members and encourages this crowd’s disruptive
and hostile behavior, which has now alienated many community
members who don’t want to be verbally attacked by this group when
they come to the meeting.
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Sadly,
Quinlisk-Dailey won because her opposition – as it so often happens
– did not work together. While Green was supporting Morice for the
seat, City of Northwoods officials were supporting
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>LaTonya Henderson
lost 1,305 to Quinlisk-Dailey’s 1,398 votes. Morice captured 629
votes.
“mso-spacerun: yes;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>Quinlisk-Dailey did say, “I fully intend to continue to work very hard for the next six years to bring the best fire and EMS serivice to the residents of this community.”
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>Is Bob Lee double dipping? “font-family: Verdana;”>
Facts:
Robert Lee
was duly elected as a board member on April 6, 2009. He accepted a
position from the St. Louis County government on June 15, 2009.
Kirk
McCarley, the St. Louis County’s director of personnel
confirmed this in a June 30, 2009 letter to the fire board. State
statute prohibits state employees from serving on fire boards
(Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 321, Section
15.)
This year,
St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Stephen Goldman
the former board members
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Robert Edwards
Joe
Washington did not take the proper steps to “remove”
(though the statute actually says “vacate”) Lee from the board,
Goldman wrote. The judge said Lee should resume his seat on the
board, which he is currently doing. The court ruling did not
address whether or not Lee was a state employee and whether or not
he is violating the law by serving on the board. Goldman told
district attorneys that they needed to file a separate action
seeking the answer to this question. They did that, according to
district attorney
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Anthony Gray “font-family: Verdana;”>
It gets
legally jumbled from here. But basically the Missouri Court of
Appeals approved Lee’s motion to dismiss that case because the
board members did not formally vote for Gray to file the action –
even though the board members never vote on what their attorney
will or will not do. Well, now Lee is on the board, and he is
obviously not going to vote to file a lawsuit against himself. And
Mays is focused on the budget.
“font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>“Considering the precarious nature of our financial position which at this time remains perilously close to a budget deficit for the calendar year, I am not inclined to spend more district money on legal fees for this matter at this time,” Mays said.
That
leaves it up to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney
Robert
McCulloch to ensure that a state employee is not
“double-dipping” by serving on a fire board.
“font-family: Verdana;”>
McCulloch
did not return the
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>American
email.
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>A new fire chief
Remember
the man that was dead opposed to Missouri’s first female
African-American fire chief
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Angelia Elgin
it that Quinton
Randolph wanted to be fire chief and hence supported a
“letter of no confidence” against Elgin in March 2010, despite her
extensive qualifications. Last year, he denied the rumor. Last
week, the new board elected Randolph as the new fire
chief.
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>Where was Farwell? “font-family: Verdana;”>
The EYE
would like to revisit some of the questions surrounding the death
of Scherese
Bishop, a 37-year-old part-time EMT at the district, who
died on March 11, 2011. Bishop fainted and went into cardiac arrest
while she was attempting to revive a man who himself had gone into
cardiac arrest at the Sav-A-Lot in North Oaks Plaza Shopping Center
of North St. Louis County. The district’s second ambulance was on
another call, so a Northeast fire truck responded. Three
paramedic/firefighters were left to work on two patients – both not
breathing – in one ambulance.
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Community
leaders questioned several of the Northeast team’s decisions
regarding Bishop’s care at following board meetings. Probably the
most significant but least talked about question was: why did the
district’s medical officer
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Kenneth Farwell
battalion chief, leave his post an hour early that
day?
Farwell
was assigned to the same ambulance as Bishop, sources said. He
would have responded to the Sav-A-Lot call. But when he left, he
told Mike
Hampton, who recently earned his paramedic license, to
take over his spot. That decision also took Hampton off a fire
truck, leaving only two fire fighter/paramedics –
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Greg Wood
Airest
Wilson – on the truck.
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Mays said
the board could not comment on “particulars” of the incident
because it still under investigation.
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In an
April 30, 2010 letter from former fire Chief Angelia Elgin to the
staff, she states in all caps, “At no time should any fire truck of
the fire district be staffed with two personnel.” The minimum
staffing on the fire trucks is three, she wrote, and, “Deviation of
this policy will NOT be tolerated.”
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Northeast
also has written procedures stating that in cases of emergency,
Northeast personnel are to use the third ambulance, a back-up
ambulance, rather than a fire truck to answer the call, according
to former board member
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Rhea Willis
could not comment on whether these policies are still in place
because a full review of all policies and procedures is in
process.
On March
3, Northeast’s back-up ambulance was sitting at the fire house, not
stocked or ready, Farwell said. So the medical team responded in
the fire pumper, which could not transport Bishop to the hospital.
Farwell explained that the firehouse garage door was broken, and
the ambulance had been sitting outside for the three weeks prior to
the incident.
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Even if it
had been ready, Farwell said the third ambulance would not have
made a difference in Bishop’s care – even though it was parked less
than a mile away from the plaza.
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On that
day, North Central County Fire Alarm dispatched a Gateway ambulance
to assist the Northeast teams, but Wood canceled that unit and
requested an ambulance from University City Fire Department (four
miles from the plaza), rather than letting the dispatch station
locate the closest ambulance available. Farwell said that it is
standard procedure for the district to request an UCity
ambulance.
“It is not
uncommon to call for UCity because we know their exact location and
how far they are from us,” Farwell said. “At that time the decision
was made to go with UCity due to the fact that they were closer
than the other locations were believed to be.”
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However,
University City Fire Chief
“mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Don Miner
only assists Northeast on rare occasions, and it is more common for
Northeast to call other closer districts for mutual aid. “We are a
busy district as well, and we receive more mutual aid than we
give,” Miner said.
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Farwell
said the UCity ambulance arrived before the medical team had
stabilized Bishop. Cardiac arrest patients require an average of 15
minutes for stabilization, he said. Miner could not confirm whether
or not his department’s ambulance arrived before Bishop was
stabilized.
“mso-spacerun: yes;”> “font-family: Verdana;”>
This is
not Farwell’s first flub. In May 2010, Elgin wrote a letter to the
board warning them of all
things that could go wrong under Farwell’s leadership – and did go
wrong in the recent Sav-A-Lot incident, Willis said. Elgin had
grave concerns about his appointment as medical officer because he
was known for leaving work for other officers to complete and not
performing his duties competently. The district’s
“color: black;”>medical director, “color: black;”>David Tan, an emergency physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, suspended Farwell of his quality assurance/quality improvement duties for 30 days
critical patient according to Cardiac Life Support Guidelines
during a life threatening condition, Willis said. Tan also
considered removing him from that position due to his continued
lack of effort and concern in completing the QA/QI
evaluations.
“These
things bring in questions and concerns over all about operations,”
Willis said. “The public should be aware of these problems, the
outcome and the impact that they will have on their community and
lives.”
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>In next week’s EYE, we will explore the costs and revenues of the district’s EMS system.
