Written by Tracie Sullivan
The Iron County Commissioners voted Monday, April 13, to reduce the county’s labor force by nine full-time positions — all of them in the ambulance service. The move came as a result of the commissioners’ recent decision to sell the Iron County Ambulance Service to Gold Cross Ambulance and will eliminate Iron County Sheriff Deputy Lt. Jody Edwards’ position after 22 years of service with the sheriff’s office. The other eight employees will either be transferred to Gold Cross or relocated in the county.
Gold Cross president Mike Moffitt confirmed Monday that seven of the nine employees who were paramedics with the county will be brought over to Gold Cross when the company takes over the reins on May 1. Moffitt said that as his company promised when they made their proposal to the county to purchase the ambulance service, all of the county ambulance employees who applied for jobs with Gold Cross were hired.
Iron County Commissioner Dale Brinkerhoff said the other employee, Stephanie Orton, will be transferred to a part-time position with the tourism office and part-time with emergency management services in order to replace her full-time position as secretary at the ambulance service. Whether the positions Orton is to assume were advertised as open previous to her appointment or if she was required to apply for them is unknown. Brinkerhoff said he believed she did apply; however, human resources was not available to confirm that information and to show where and how the jobs were advertised.
As to Lt. Edwards, Brinkerhoff said that since there are currently no open positions in the sheriff’s office, Edwards would not be kept on. He is scheduled to be terminated in approximately two weeks when Gold Cross takes over the ambulance service.
“He can reapply for a job when something in the county becomes available,” Brinkerhoff said.
Edwards was employed with the Iron County Sheriff’s Office for 20 years before being transferred to the Iron County Ambulance Service in 2012. He was assigned to act as interim director of the department after the commissioners decided to restructure, placing the department under the direction of Sheriff Mark Gower. Four months after they placed Edwards in the position as interim director, the commissioners permanently hired him as director.
Deputies in the sheriff’s office receive points according to their years of service. The point system has traditionally been used in part to determine who will be laid off first if the county is forced to cut back on the labor force. The commissioners, however, recently passed a new policy allowing them to disregard the point system if they are only reducing one position; therefore, Edwards’ points after 22 years with the county weren’t sufficient to secure his position.
Brinkerhoff said that under the new policy, now that the commissioners have terminated Edwards’ position, Gower is required to put together a “work management plan” where he outlines how his office will continue to run with Edwards’ position no longer available to him. However, Brinkerhoff did not elaborate on the details of the plan, including what–if anything–it would mean for Edwards’ future with the county.
“Now the sheriff has to put together a work management plan,” Brinkerhoff said. “See he couldn’t even do that until we did what we did today.”
Gower said he wasn’t clear on what that plan entailed.
“I don’t completely understand it, what it means or what it does,” he said.
Gower didn’t offer any further comment on the commissioners’ decision.
Nor did Edwards offer comment on Monday, saying he did not have enough information on what the commissioners were doing to be able to provide any type of statement.
