Two Iola City Council members expressed concerns about Mayor Bill Shirley’s appointment of two former mayors to a committee that will examine ambulance service in the city and Allen County.
Councilmen Kendall Callahan and Ken Rowe both spoke out against Shirley’s announcement that he was appointing former mayors John McRae and Bill Maness as well as Iolan Mike Russell to the EMS committee.
Callahan said his concerns weren’t about who was appointed to the committee, but rather that Shirley, and not the council, was making the appointments.
“The information that I have viewed said that the council, or the commission, would pick three,” Callahan said.
Callahan pointed to an agreement reached in 2010 between the former Iola City Commission and Allen County commissioners that called for the committee’s formation.
The agreement was part of a larger pact between the city and county when Iola commissioners agreed to give the county up to $300,000 in sales tax revenues for construction of a new Allen County Hospital. The hospital agreement called for a five-year moratorium on ambulance discussions between the two entities.
But while the two governing bodies agreed not to discuss ambulance issues, they did suggest a six-member committee to look at emergency medical services.
The committee’s charge is to reach conclusions after thorough review of the Allen County and Iola services, including finances, and then, if its members are so led, make recommendations.
Callahan’s opinion was that the agreement allowed the former city commission, and as an extension, the existing city council, to appoint Iola’s representatives.
But once the existing city council supplanted the former commission in April, many of the city’s powers to make appointments to various committees were given to the mayor.
Council members asked City Attorney Chuck Apt about who had ultimate authority.
Apt did not know, saying he would have to look at language of the agreement and how it fit into state law giving the mayor powers under a council form of government.
ROWE’S concerns went beyond the mayor’s powers, saying that neither McRae nor Maness should be appointed.
Rowe spoke about a discussion he had with a current county commissioner about Shirley’s intentions.
“This particular county commissioner was just flabbergasted that either of those two people would be part of this committee, because those two people were part of the conflict,” Rowe said. “It would be like the county putting Kent Thompson and (other) ex-officials that were part of the problem. I think it’s very inappropriate to have either of those two serve on that committee.”
Rowe made a motion to table any appointments until Apt could determine whether Shirley’s appointments were valid. The motion failed 5-2.
