When you call 911 as a consumer, there are lots of assumptions and expectations. Usually, all are met and I’ve personally never heard anybody say they had a bad experience with the Emergency Management Service (EMS) which arrived at the door.
I expect the same will happen with Muncie’s new fire-based EMS.
However, until we get at 100%, there will be lots of second-guessing and at least one more shit-show hosted by Finance Committee Chair for the Muncie City Council, Nora Powell. Not sure what her problem is with Muncie expanding EMS services, but I could guess from the questions asked tonight in the first of two public meetings. Somebody who believes they have more power than they think got schooled and didn’t like it much.
Actually, there was a series of questions — 10 for the Mayor and 56 for Fire Department Chief, Eddie Bell. Both had to verbally restrain Ms. Powell because she kept interrupting them. Her questioning of Mayor Dennis Tyler was very uncomfortable due to it being so unprofessional. It was a verbal altercation from the beginning. Why so mad, Nora?
It didn’t go over very well.
The best comment of the night was John Quirk at the podium telling Ms. Powell, “Yes, you interrupted the Mayor on numerous occasions — you won’t be doing that to me!”
No matter what political stripes or your personal grudges, we now have a fire-based EMS in Muncie. Will it expand beyond the “underserved areas of Muncie.” Doubtful for now.
Could it…depends on how the numbers play out. One thing is for sure, the communication, for whatever reason, was non-existent. If this was a brush with Egos (which I expect it was), let’s hope those Egos are set aside because Eddie Bell and DCEMS Director, Jason Rogers, should be best friends going forward and working out all the coverages and filling down times on vehicles. We shouldn’t be relying on any entity outside of Delaware County.
And if Ms. Powell’s goal was to win brownie points for her upcoming November election, here’s a tip, cut the adversarial role. It didn’t work for you. A man leading that meeting would be referred to as an asshole, but Nora…
You know what they say about pride…”It cometh before the fall.”
