The Iola City Council may have answered a variation of a famed philosophical thought: If a council passes a motion, but the mayor doesn’t sign it, does it actually count?
Not in this case.
The council reversed course Monday from a motion two weeks earlier to send a six-month notice to the county that Iola was terminating its emergency medical services contract.
Council members opposed to the earlier notice seized upon the fact that while the motion to terminate the contract passed, 3-2, there was no motion for Mayor Joel Wicoff to sign it.
So it didn’t count.
Councilwoman Sandy Zornes proposed Monday the city eschew the notice, which she said left her feeling “pretty uneasy, mad and a little embarrassed.”
“I felt we disrespected our county commissioners by giving them an ultimatum of either negotiating with us or getting the EMS back,” Zornes said. “Obviously, they felt the same way. I don’t blame them.”
The city and county can continue negotiations, Zornes contended, without a six-month ultimatum on the table.
“Throwing in the towel after only eight months gave us the appearance of having no vision and being quitters when times got tough,” she continued. “We need to give it a fair chance. I’ve been self-employed for most of my life. There are definitely growing pains in the beginning. If you truly know in the long run it will work out, then you jump each hurdle in your path and keep your eye on the goal and persevere.”
Mayor Joel Wicoff agreed, calling the city’s projected $377,000 budget deficit by the end of the year a “short-term problem.”
He, too, insisted negotiations between the two sides can be productive, that the county is willing to “come forth and help us out. They understand we have an issue.”
“We’re holding a treasure in our hands,” Zornes said. “We, together with the county, can and will make it work without utilizing a six-month clause.”
That sentiment was anything but unanimous. In fact, Zornes’ motion to withhold the mayor’s signature prompted a 4-4 split amongst the Council, with councilmen Gene Myrick, Bob Shaughnessy and Jon Wells in favor, and Nancy Ford, Donald Becker, Beverly Franklin and Steve French opposed. The split meant Wicoff, as mayor, was allowed to cast the tie-breaking vote. He sided with Zornes and Co., and held off from signing the notice.
The unusual maneuver apparently passes muster with the League of Kansas Municipalities, Wells explained, reading an excerpt from one of the KLM’s bylaws.
THE URGENCY TO get a renegotiated contract in place remains, particularly since the city now has even less wiggle room in its budget to make up the budget shortfall.
In approving the termination contract Aug. 11, the Council also passed its 2015 spending plan without a 6-mill increase, that would have gone toward covering future EMS budget shortfalls. Likewise, a $5 monthly surcharge on Iola’s electric customers, which takes effect next Monday, expires at the end of the year. The surcharge is expected to bring in about $70,000.
“Where do you think the money is going to come from if we have another six months or a year” to renegotiate, Councilwoman Franklin asked.
Councilman French disputed Zornes’ contention the city’s notice was disrespectful to the county.
“We’ve talked about this since October of last year,” French said. “I’ve been very vocal. The funding isn’t there. It needs to be fairly based on the whole county, not just the city.
“Everybody agrees it needs to be funded equally,” he continued. “Why hasn’t it happened up to this point. They talked about us holding a gun to their head? … We’ve not gotten a damn thing we’ve asked for.
“It’s sad it took this,” French said. “I’m not going to vote to raise Iola’s mill levy and transfer $800,000 (from the city’s utility funds). … I’ve even had county people tell me, ‘You’re right on, Steve. We should help fund this.’ If we’re getting tension, I apologize it’s at the expense of some employees and others. I’m sorry it took that to get noticed.”
Wicoff indicated a recent study, that has not yet been made public, further breaks down the city’s costs for EMS versus what it pays for its Fire Department, a persistent sticking point for the county. Wicoff said the information might be the key for a clearer dialogue between the city and county.
Wells said the key for him was the continued dialogue.
“I would like, at least, to have a joint session to let the wheels of negotiation keep working, before saying you’ve got six months,” Wells said. “At the point we give the notification, we should be done with negotiations. Using termination as a leverage point is not in the best interest of the EMS service. We should negotiate, and when we’re ready to terminate, we terminate.”
Myrick, too, said negotiations should continue, and Iola should reach out to other communities, such as Humboldt and Moran, to see if they’d be willing to contribute financially.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Iola or Savonburg, it’s all one service,” he said. “It all ought to be funded equally, not just by the citizens of Iola.”
