As a result a conditional use permit was imposed requiring that the same level of service or greater would be required before the fire engine could be moved. Upon completion of the new Cartwright fire station Mr. Nelson advised that SLRMC didn’t want him to move the ambulance therefore they would be staying at their current location. This news of course caused quite a problem in that the engine could not be moved to the new station. As a result, the fire station remained completed and vacant for a couple of months while Chief Ross and the Boise Firefighters Union put together proposals to address the problem.

Chief Ross was able to get Mr. Nelson to agree to a part time staffing of the Ridenbaugh location but again was unable to get him to follow through on their previous agreement. Therefore, at a Boise City council meeting Chief Ross proposed to place a brush fire apparatus in the old station location during the hours that Medic 53 would not be present.

The union proposed a BLS ambulance to be stationed there. Unfortunately, labor / management relations within the fire department were poor and Chief Ross disagreed with the union’s projected cost numbers at the council meeting. During the same meeting several ACEMS members and their medical director testified as to how horrible service would be if they weren’t the ones to provide it, et al. At the conclusion of the meeting Boise City Council member Paula Forney praised the firefighters union for coming up with a solution to the problem and charged both the fire Chief and the union with sitting down and working out the numbers to an agreeable amount to return to the council with. Shortly after hearing the council and mayors comments regarding their eagerness to revisit the BLS ambulance concept, Medic 57 was born eliminating the need.

EDITOR NOTE–Glad I didn’t try to explain that one!

RE: the OLD Boise fire station 2, It was my understanding talking with the Old Guys that ACPs movement into that station was a favor to BFD. Apparently…and Dave you have been around long enough to confirm this…that when the NEW station 2 was built and BFD was ready to move in, the North End Neighborhood Assn got very upset about losing their EMT response in the heart of the North End. The result was some old fashioned political back scratching and “Medic 57” was born, or moved to the OLD station 2 depending on the version of events.
As I understand it, if Medic 57 was to move out BFD would HAVE to staff this station (although I don’t know why, some kind of conditional use permit).

RE: The “TV Room” If I remember correctly (I could be wrong) it was for a room to complete required paperwork and charting, which required computers, desks, and other administrative paraphernalia. By keeping it away from the entertainment and relaxation area it promotes productivity.

Most Ada County medics work 24-hour shifts. Do you want a paramedic coming for your emergency if he or she has been either on calls, or sitting in an ambulance, for the past 23 hours? I know I don’t, and I live in the area covered by this crew.

It’s time we see some appropriate leadership coming out of Ada County EMS. It starts with the department director, and ends with the Ada County commissioners. Instead of spending time and energy trying to conquer provision of all emergency medical services within the County, that time and energy would be much better spent resolving the station issue in the Southwest area.

RE: the OLD Boise fire station 2, It was my understanding talking with the Old Guys that ACPs movement into that station was a favor to BFD. Apparently…and Dave you have been around long enough to confirm this…that when the NEW station 2 was built and BFD was ready to move in, the North End Neighborhood Assn got very upset about losing their EMT response in the heart of the North End. The result was some old fashioned political back scratching and “Medic 57” was born, or moved to the OLD station 2 depending on the version of events.
As I understand it, if Medic 57 was to move out BFD would HAVE to staff this station (although I don’t know why, some kind of conditional use permit).

RE: The “TV Room” If I remember correctly (I could be wrong) it was for a room to complete required paperwork and charting, which required computers, desks, and other administrative paraphernalia. By keeping it away from the entertainment and relaxation area it promotes productivity.

Right now Ada County houses ambulances in four Boise fire stations (one of the stations is old fire station 2 which they lease for a dollar a year, which Boise city just paid to remodel) one Meridian fire station, and one Eagle fire station. Ada County doesn’t pay a dime to be in any of these stations or to supply them with necessary items.

The fire chiefs have allowed this for the best interest of patient care, taking money out of their budgets to help out Ada County. Like Nemo says its all taxpayer monies, but there has to be some fiscal responsibility on Ada County’s part, whether that be on the Commissioners or the Director. The Second point is that Boise Fire Dept. has nothing to do with property that is located in Whitney fire District except to provide fire protection there.

Whitney Commissioners gave Ada County a deadline to vacate the fire Sta.21 property because that was in time with when the firefighters would of been moving into the new station, and the Commissioners wanted to have that property available for sale. The date has since been pushed back because of theft of constrution materials at the site.

If Boise Fire dept. was interested in so called “retaliation” why dont they just kick the ambulances out of all their Fire Stations? It is because it has nothing to do with Boise Fire dept. I understand your frustration Nemo I wouldn’t want to sit in the Albertson’s parking lot waiting for a call, But thats what your administration thinks is best.

EDITOR NOTE–Your name is well deserved–Just The Facts. Our problem with the Boise chief is with intent or not he led the council to believe EMS was going to pay a portion of the new station. He had NO agreement in hand and I understand he is aware of the “screw up.” We agree the fire departments have generally treated EMS well.

If I were to tell my boss, “Yeah, by the way, I kind of forgot to get a contract signed with our partner in the project… and now we have to come up with $372,000, immediately.” My boss would instantly reply, “You’re fired.”

City government:

City manager, “Don’t worry, we have unlimited funds, we’ll just increase taxes to cover the shortfall.”

Absolutely no accountability, whatsoever. Disgusting.

1- During the discussion phase, the $$ was considerably less than the 372K. In addition to the dollar amount, there were other reasons that ACP decided not to move in…not back out…just decided the deal wasnt such a good deal.
– Like security against eviction,
– some agreement of co-ownership of property (it is a LOT of mony, wouldnt you want to have some stake in it for that kind of cash?)or reimbursement if evicted,
– and lets face it, better living arangements and more responsive cooperation than found at station 8.

2- ACP had let the parties know MANY MANY months before it was made public on this site that they were not going to participate. Therefore BFD had plenty of warning, Certainly more than the 45 days they gave ACP to vacate. Again considering the other disagreements with ACP (and that the fire department is still using the property), one has to wonder at the timing.

3- Whitney Fire District and their cotnracting agency (Boise Fire Department) are working in concert on this one. Whitney did not tell ACP to move out with out consulting with BFD, and definitly did it (IMHO) in retailation. Whether ACP spends the 374K or the FD spends it, it is ALL taxpayer monies. Seems to me the only ones trying to spend it wisely here is ACP, and the FD is putting messing with response times (which they swear are oh so important) in their anger over it.

Can anyone honestly say they would hand over 372K (or even 180K wich is I think the original figure) with nothing to show for it?
Really? Can you blame them?

EDITOR NOTE–GUARDIAN learned of the bungling business of who pays when Boise City spent excess taxes at Christmas. Actually there was NO AGREEMENT on paper at al! Boise Chief Ross was totally out of line when he told councilors who voted on funding the station that EMS was “onboard” for $372,000. It was as you are trying to say, nothing more than chat–no contract ever existed.

Something to the effect of needing their own TV room, anyway you know how long plans take to get redrawn, can’t just go place a room someplace, you have to reengineer the whole plan, so bids for lumber and steel and copper all go up, when the new bids came back and ada countys portion is $400,000 they decide to back out of the agreement. To the point about Whitney commissioners not accepting a bid Ada county gave them for the grounds that Fire Sta. 21 sits on. I believe they gave an offer of about $400,000 for the property based on last year’s appraised value. We all know that a developer is going to pay close to a million dollars for that site. The Whitney commissioners are not firefighters or paramedics, they are looking out for the good of the Whitney district.

I believe Ada Commissioners are looking out for an Organization and not for the people of Ada County. I gave them credit for looking out for their employees right up untill the point they passed the at will employees act.

EDITOR NOTE–If the commishes have $400,000 to buy an old station, it seems like they would be better advised to put it into the new one with changes and sign an iron-clad deal in the process.