About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2022)
PAGE 2B PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. AUGUST 25. 2022 Fire, sheriff struggle to retain staff, citing low pay “We’re having to compete with Dairy Queen,” said sheriff By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com According to top sheriff and fire officials, they are struggling to retain employ ees due to low pay, which leaves them unable to com pete with surrounding agen cies. Both the Pickens County Fire & EMS and Pickens County Sheriff’s Office are understaffed. Pickens Fire Chief Tim Prather gave a presentation about the staffing challenges they face at their work ses sion Wednesday, Aug. 17. In addition to staffing shortages, low pay, long hours and over time, he touched on em ployee fatigue, loss of staff to surrounding agencies with better pay, and the extra strain an unstable economy puts on public safety. Sheriff Donnie Craig was also in attendance and said their office faces the same is sues, but both agreed the problem is not isolated to Pickens County. “We’re having to compete with Dairy Queen when it comes to salaries,” Craig said. The fire department cur rently has 11 full-time field operations positions vacant. Since Prather took the office just a few months ago they have had four employees leave, and a total of six leave year-to-date. Two weeks ago they lost an employee who went on to make $6 more an hour for the same job. “Every one of them went for more money, bigger salaries,” he said. “.. .I’ve got some guys they say, ‘chief, this is a really good place to work, but it doesn’t pay the bills.’” Prather commented on the negative impacts of long hours and staff shortages. “It’s a bad feeling to put someone on even something as small as a car fire with one man on a fire truck,” he said. “It’s dangerous.” He mentioned one em ployee who recently worked eight shifts straight. “That’s tough,” he said. “It’s tough on their families, but that’s some of the com mitment of the people we have working here.” Occasionally, they have firetrucks they are unable to staff. “That’s just being honest, we can’t get anyone to work,” he said. “We’ve reached out for overtime we’re reached out for part timers. We’re doing pretty good with what we’ve got.” Prather surveyed 13 north Georgia agencies that are similar in size. He found that the six departments of those 13 that have EMS transport services/operated ambu lances like Pickens County, Pickens ranks lowest with a base salary of $13.56 hourly for a firefighter/EMT; and $15.19 hourly for a fire fighter/paramedic. (Pickens County combined fire and EMS in 2014). Dawson County topped the list of six at $16.75 firefighter/EMT and $18.79 firefighter/para medic. “Right now it’s hard to get anyone’s attention at $13.50 an hour,” he said. Of the 13 total depart ments surveyed, which is a mix of departments that run ambulances and those that don’t, Pickens was third from the bottom, above Ellijay and Bartow. “We used to have a fire department,” he said. “Guys fought fires and ran accidents and did first responder, then they combined them and got the ambulance service in here,” he said. “You went from one job and now they’ve got to do two and maintain two certifications... on the fire side I think it hurts it because we’ve got to keep those ambulances staffed.” Prather found that among those agencies surveyed, Pickens is on average 13-15 percent lower for firefight- ers/EMTs salaries, and 15 percent lower for firefight ers/paramedics, not including incentives. He requested commis sioners review the salary in formation he researched, and consider adjusting salaries. Sheriff Craig said his of fice has 12 vacancies. “And those numbers are not uncommon,” said Craig. Non-certified employees start at $36,000 annually with certified starting at $42,000, which puts Pickens at the bottom of the list when com pared to Gilmer, Gordon and Dawson counties. Gilmer pays $40,000/$46,000 (non- Angels on Horseback Fall Session Begins September 6 Lexi the therapy horse at work in the Angels on Horseback riding facilities in Pickens County. The “magic of the horse” happens every day at Angels on Horseback. Therapeutic Riding and Equine-Facilitated Activities are offered right here in Pick ens County at one of just a few therapeutic riding facili ties in north Georgia. Angels on Horseback, a 501c3 organization, provides equine assisted activities to individuals with mental, physical, or emotional dis abilities. Therapeutic riding is the most popular form of equine assisted activities. It is mounted horseback riding for the purpose of promoting strength, increasing flexibil ity, developing balance, im proving coordination, and much more. Equine Facilitated Learn ing is an educational ap proach to equine assisted activities that facilitates per sonal growth and develop ment of life skills through equine interactions. Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, and multiple sclerosis are just a few of the many conditions that benefit from therapeutic riding. Visit the website to learn more at angelsonhorseback.org or email at angelsonhorse- backl7@gmail.com. Registration for Fall ses sion is now open. It will run from September 6 - Novem ber 14. Students of all ages are welcome. Visit the web site (angelsonhorseback.org) or call 706.669.7272 for more information. The community is encour aged to be a part of Angels on Horseback by volunteer ing. Check the website for the latest volunteer training date, and of course, dona tions are always welcome and needed. TRADITION TREE SERVICE Jasper, GA Generations of Tree Care • Free Estimates • Fully Insured • Tree Removal • Tree Pruning •Brush Chipping with our new chipper traditiontreeservice80@gmail.com D Georgia Arborist Association Member Josh Bail C: 678-848-1751 H: 706-253-0122 Departments Providing EMS Transport Services Department FF FF/EMT-B FF/EMT-A Annual FF/Para Annual Dawson County* $15.91 $16.75 $48,910.00 $18.71 $54,633.20 Lumpkin County* $15.00 $16.00 $44,096.00 $19.00 $52,364.00 Fannin County 15.00 $15.40 $16.00 $46,720.00 $17.30 $50,516.00 Cherokee County* $15.95 $46,581.00 $17.59 $51,356.00 Gilmer County* 13.80 $41,717.40 $17.75 $53,658.25 Pickens County $13.56 $39,595.20 $15.19 $44,354.80 Chart/Pickens Fire & EMS presentation A chart presented by Pickens Fire Chief Tim Prather shows where Pickens County ranks against other north Georgia agencies who operate ambulances like Pickens. Aster isks show counties that have incentives in addition to base pay. certified/certified); Gordon, $42,000/$48,000; Dawson $42,000/$48,000. Counties to the south pay even more. “How do you compete with those guys?” Craig said. “...I’m not losing guys to north Georgia counties, I’m losing folks that are going south. I’ve said this for years, but I believe the citizens in this county deserve the same attention and quality of per sonnel whether it be fire, law enforcement or anywhere else that any other county has.” Pickens Commission Chair Kris Stancil said dis cussions have come up in re cent talks/retreats about using American Rescue Plan Act funds in public safety budg ets, which many counties are choosing to do. He would like to find a way to retain employees with a more com petitive pay scale. “From my perspective we definitely need to try to sit down and look at how close we can get to compete,” he said, adding that they have been in touch with the Asso ciation of County Commis sioners of Georgia regarding alternatives to retirement as well. Fourth Annual September 10th At Lee Newton Park Jasper, Georgia 2022 Veterans Memorial Park Rollout: 12:00 (Noon) 04 2L i!jt «}» FREEDOM WHEELS □ f Pickens County Ride leaves from Pickens Veteran Memorial Park and heads up to Blairsville Memorial Park. Ride back to Pickens Memorial to pick up your Freedom Wheels T-shirt. Cost is $35.00 per Jeep and includes one free tee shirt and decal. Ride is subject to changes do any adaptations needed for the public’s health safety. This will be a patriotic highway ride (not a dirt trail ride) $ t ¥ AMERICA ¥ This ride is open to: SJ, TJ, LJ CJ, YL, JK, JL, JT, DJ or any other Dang Jeep that resembles a Wrangler 1776 'cT-s Trophy awarded to top 3 Jeeps with best Patriotic theme (We want to keep the spirit of the willys jeep service) No other makes of Jeep allowed (Liberty, Cherokee, etc.) Registration can be done on site the day of the event. Registration starts at 11:00 AM This Ride is a Sons Of The American Legion event. 2022 JeepFest Agenda Thursday, September 1 Check In & Registration 5 PM - 7 PM @ Revolution Church Jasper Night Trail Ride Line Up 7:30 @ Revolution Church Jasper Friday, September 2 Check In & Registration The Venue at Sharp Mountain Grandview J-19 Adventure Park Cruise-In/ Show & Shine Saturday, September 3 Check In & Registration Vendor/ Sponsor Fair Obstacle Courses General Raffles J-19 Adventure ParkJ The Venue at Sharp Mountain Grandview Sandy Bottoms Bounty Hill Challenge Car Crawl Sunday, September 4 Prayer Breakfast & Service Check In & Registration Grandview Sandy Bottoms Vendor/ Sponsor Fair Obstacle Courses Mud Pit Mud Pit Challenge SHERIFFSJEEPFEST.COM @crawlforthekids @ pi eke nss he riffsj ee pf est 9 AM -4PM® Home Base 10 AM -4 PM 10AM-4 PM 10 AM - 4 PM Line Up in Downtown Jasper begins @ 5 PM Judging begins ® 6 PM Live Music 7 PM - 10 PM 8 AM -5PM® Home Base 9AM -6PM® Home Base 9 AM - 5 PM ® Home Base 9 AM -6PM® Home Base 9 AM - 5 PM 9 AM - 5 PM 9 AM - 5 PM 9AM-5 PM 5 PM - 6 PM ® Home Base 6 PM Auction ® Home Base 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM @ Home Base 1 0 AM - 1 PM ® Home Base 1 O AM - 3 PM (Gates close @ 3 PM) 1 O AM - 3 PM (Gates close ® 3 PM) 10 AM -3 PM 10 AM -3 PM 10 AM -1 PM 1 PM -3 PM
