Audit: EMS personnel report high fatigue rate
An audit performed by the City Auditor’s Office suggests that Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Service rank-and-file employees are overly fatigued. The document also hints that a policy of...
View ArticleFleet Services says it needs more staff, bays to service vehicles
The head of the city’s Fleet Services Department told members on the Council Audit and Finance Committee last week that his department has numerous unmet needs, noting that department is short 60-80...
View ArticleClerical error causes city to overpay EMS employee by $200,000
The City of Austin has overpaid a former Austin/Travis County paramedic by perhaps as much as $200,000 over an eight-year period that began in 2004. Though the problem was first discovered in 2011, it...
View ArticleDecredentialing process gets public safety spotlight
Last week, the Public Safety Commission examined the continued tension between the city’s medical director and the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services Association over...
View ArticleMomentum slows on Austin/Travis County EMS bill
A bill that supporters say would bring more transparency to the way Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services workers are decredentialed has slowed after some unanticipated momentum.Austin/Travis...
View ArticleHouston comes out against sole-source contracts
At the June 4 City Council meeting, Council Member Ora Houston voted against an Austin Water Utility contract with Austin White Lime that would allow the company to provide about 21.5 tons of lime per...
View ArticleCity may shorten ambulance provider workweeks
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services ambulance providers are under a lot of strain as they try to keep up with population growth and an increasing number of special events, but a new...
View ArticleCounty orders election for new emergency services district
The Travis County Commissioners Court has called for an election this November that could create a new emergency services district in the county’s rural Northwestern corner.The proposed Emergency...
View ArticleDowntown drug crisis pushes Adler, Council to pledge increased support
Austin’s police and public health departments will have extra budget and other resources available soon to help them focus on ending an increase in the use of the synthetic drug K2 downtown.At a press...
View ArticleCity, EMS labor negotiations likely to continue
Even though its negotiating team declared an impasse with the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Employee Association last week, City Council appears prepared to direct staff to resume...
View ArticleWith labor dispute focused on police, Austin’s EMS union feels overlooked
Austin police officers aren’t the only public safety personnel without an employment contract with the city. For the first time in nearly 10 years, emergency medical service employees are without a...
View ArticleCouncil rejects first aid services contract
During Tuesday’s work session, City Council members expressed enough objections to a contract to hire an outside firm to provide medical services at the Austin Convention Center that city staff agreed...
View ArticleWhat happens when top public safety officials are accused of harassment?
Members of the Public Safety Commission expressed concern and befuddlement over policies that the Police, Fire and EMS departments rely on to hold their top officials accountable for harassment.“It...
View ArticleCouncil OKs short-term EMS contract
City Council approved without comment a six-month contract with the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Employee Association on Thursday that essentially duplicates their previous contract....
View ArticleEMS leader seeks changes in retirement system
Selena Xie, the newly elected president of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Employee Association, has a mission. She wants to change the retirement system for EMS workers so it is...
View ArticleAustin Monitor Radio: ATCEMS Employee Association
Selena Xie, the newly elected president of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Employee Association, sits down with Austin Monitor freelancer Jack Craver in this week’s edition of...
View ArticleA majority of Austin EMS personnel say assaults on the job are common and...
A majority of Austin EMS personnel say they’ve been assaulted on the job in the last two years, according to an internal survey. Most first responders also say they don’t feel properly trained to...
View ArticlePublic Safety Commission questions path forward for EMS providers being...
After reports from EMS personnel raised questions about the frequency of field officer assault by patients, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services conducted an internal survey. The results...
View ArticleAudit: EMS personnel report high fatigue rate
An audit performed by the City Auditor’s Office suggests that Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Service rank-and-file employees are overly fatigued. The document also hints that a policy of...
View ArticleFleet Services says it needs more staff, bays to service vehicles
The head of the city’s Fleet Services Department told members on the Council Audit and Finance Committee last week that his department has numerous unmet needs, noting that department is short 60-80...
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