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| Litigation has been initiated against the Board of County Commissioners and Medical Director Dr. Rayme Edler in both her official and individual capacity-- and the complaint was sent to board members yesterday by County Attorney Alison Rogers. |
County Attorney Alison Rogers sent all commissioners a copy of the complaint that is to be filed in the circuit court by Pensacola attorney JJ Talbot. It is in relation to an employee of Escambia County's EMS department; it is the subject of many discussions with staff and on the dais.
Part I is the complaint and the first part of the exhibits (first 17 pages contain the complaint and the alleged factual background. These pages are about a five minute read total--- but very informative and insightful. Definitely worth the read)
Part II is the continuation of the exhibits.
I will be asking, later this morning in the Board's regular meeting, when we can expect to have a shade session to discuss legal strategies for promptly addressing this complaint.
Citizens should take the time necessary to read this complaint and compare it with any reporting on this matter and on this individual employee in the local press--in the interest of fairness and balance.
I wish the matter had been handled differently by staff and that it did not come to litigation.......but here we are.
19 comments:
Thank you for continuing to advocate for an innocent employee, but why can Edler continue to be allowed to leak documents to the press? This mornings hit piece was obviously a retaliation against the suit brought against her. But Janice will do nothing. The BCC will do nothing. At some point the BCC is responsible. Her actions since her hiring have been toxic, vindictive and she has violated so many policies without any discipline. Why?
It seems whoever would leak that document is a sociopath with no regard for the one's they are supposed to lead. A leader regards their team with with empathy and respect. Unfortunately sometimes those types are allowed to remain with the power they seize. Its obvious who originally has politicized this starting last year but they are teaming up being ruthless. Can you imagine what it's like to have life and death decision to make hour after hour day after day. One can't win them all. Sometimes CPAP is indicated and intubation in the field is risky also. Houston we have a problem and it started with the first leaked complaint April of last year. And it continues. Your blog didn't make it public. The public has been reading along on the clerk site. The PNJ and report by Little was sickening. So if the memo wasn't released by admin or attorney by process of elimination....one more concerned with ego and reputation it seems then to reform anything released it trying to win in the court of opinion. Yes where is the training, I imagine if it was asked for properly the BOCC would approve it. Don't sacrifice Matt at the altar of someone else's failure to do their own job well.
I think it’s time the BOCC reign in the queen! It’s long overdue. She’s no role model or leader. It’s time! All you guys put on your big boy pants and take care of the problem. Take care of it soon. It’s already gone on for way too long. You all almost seem scared of her. Do the hard work get it over with and know you’ll probably get sued but hey the bleeding may stop! Do the right thing!
Yesterday was just such a lot of fun, brought to us by the PNJ and the County's continued desire to sweep serious issues under the rug.
I think my favorite part was when the discussion about overtime came up. Yes, an important distinction about overtime versus reduced pay rate. But I'm sitting there thinking, "okay, we've got a serial killer loose in Escambia EMS (give me a break), so for God's sake DON'T let him work overtime."
I guess the liability is limited if he's only running around killing people on his regular schedule.
With the potentially illegal leak of classified DOH documents, the wheels are so far off the Escambia CYA Mobile that you guys will have to give Fleet Management that long overdue raise to struggle to put them back on again. So there's a silver lining.
I also like Jerry Maygarden taking credit for getting Matt re-instated in the PNJ. Priceless.
Yesterday after the meeting, having heard something that made me think I might have missed some of the complaints, I came back and scoured through the documents again and realized that I *did* have some of those missing complaints in a records dump.
So that's good news--HR turned them over and now nobody can say that they didn't exist. Or that they got due process.
How's the investigation on who leaked the DOH doc to the press coming?
Underhill was pretty lively this morning. Although his posts were something of a mess.
-Melissa Pino
It seemed that yesterday, the PNJ piece release and having the union fire fighters start their misinformation campaign again on ECW and post that article before the meeting all ties together. It looked contrived.
The anonymous citizen public record request about Pino, ties it all together. Someone wants to prove that you were being told about this employee. Duh, so what. Usual suspects. They will post and intimidate like they did with the Beach Access issue. However now they are elevating things to the courts. Underhill is right about one thing, average people don't let this into their lives.
It would seem Matt S. reporting the people for calling in false delays to take smoke breaks would be commended, not attacked. It is an issue and not right.
The fire fighter union posting the old Rusty Nail piece from a year ago doesn't fool everybody-- just some.
So do they approve false delays?
Citizen advocate really thinks it a good idea to sue other citizen advocates. That is telling. My way or the highway.. Toxicity abounds. Who provided the 2018 screenshot for the Edler vs Pino lawsuit? Who do ya think?
"Dumb as Pino and Staley"? Look who is easily fooled and used. Some must not be able to see that for themselves. Biased about the Sheriff budget 2017 it was ridiculous. See Making Sausage blogs 2017.
Try to control the message and stick fingers in ears-- not a way to have credibility.
Some see straight through the political games. Propaganda.
Free Speech. Employee rights.
Clear direction in job descriptions, HR confidentiality.
Expose the Liars and Leakers.
Just who did SPILL THE BEANS.. against FL statutes because they don't agree with the economic arm of county government? Pretty obvious. See a pattern?
I'd rather see Bergosh on the Board rather than Underhill's AIDE. Owenhill.
I know you see straight through it also Commissioner Bergosh.
GOOD LUCK.
Sorry Matt, that you have been so used and abused. Keep your head up. We see you and your plight. Just waiting to see if the BOCC and Admin have the spine and courage to make the right call.
Stop the bleeding.
May be a stretch but yesterday reminded me of the scene from the Godfather while Michael Corleone was baptizing his child the hitmen were doing the dirty work.
Off topic --
Just what in the world was the word salad yesterday from the dais about vertical and horizontal and vertical and horizontal? blah blah blah..
It was very very odd indeed.
Word salad verbiage is a symptom of another mental problem, just saying. It it now video documented, look at it again toward the end of the meeting if you will.
I see the new HR Ms Still has degrees in psychology. She needs to take an objective look at this.
You have a real problem on the BOCC.
It was during the add on about minute 5:40 about the TDT, right before the adjourn, All the other commissioner's moment of silence was deafening and also a little funny, if one has a sense of humor.
It looks like Underhill sent the Add ON to ECW to post also for his new propaganda drive Owenhill being worked on from every angle possible.
Thank you for supporting the youth in the community with your discretionary funds. They are our future.
But please yes help them get through the politics of Underhill and public safety, he is tearing up the county with help from others.
Reign in the queen lololol that's why they hired her. to reign in all the issues steve white and Henning left dangling. starts the process and now the Berg can't control her. she's doing what she was hired to do. the bocc is micro-managing the mess out of this, well just one of them. lest you forget, it is HER medical license EMS is working under. it's highly unlikely she would put it in jeopardy with an allegation like this or continue to let an alleged negligent individual continue to practice under her license.
Jana Still and Rayme Edler facebook friends
The release of the memo is beyond troubling. People are commenting publicly, not giving employee due process and Underhill is not only sanctioning it but encouraging it.
You all should contact Governor DeSantis and have him removed from office. This is beyond politics and the legal channels are too slow.
I just re-read the rebuttal to the two issues "spotlighted" in PNJ's article today where one of our employees is completely and totally vilified in the press. It disgusted me like nothing else has in quite a long time. I almost got sick, literally..... Oh, how I wish I could release the total and complete text of the expert analysis of these purported allegations---and most importantly---- I wish I could release the report of how an EXPERT medical doctor with a tremendous resume and tons of experience in emergency medicine totally and completely destroys these allegations and these accusations. I cannot wait until this whole ugly episode gets resolved. I will have A LOT MORE TO SAY, TOO, when I am not gagged and prevented from telling what I know the truth to be.......................more to come on that later.
It sounds like she may need to just have herself under HER medical license. That’s a lot of people under her. Hey, we get it...it’s ok if it’s just too much to handle. Good effective leaders would fix or reform (been hearing that word lately) the problems and reign all employees together as a TEAM. When you lead and not destroy people will follow. They’ll get right in line. So what is the the real problem? EMS IS A LARGE ORGANIZATION THAT NEEDS STEADY EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP! They haven’t had that in years!
WHO LEAKED THE DOCUMENT TO THE PNJ?
"lest you forget, it is HER medical license EMS is working under."
Ah, yeah, Anon. 4:39 p.m. Pretty sure we all got that, loud and clear. About a thousand times. The AMA forms distributed to the commissioners in advance of a meeting really drove it home--trust me, people haven't forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder for people the good folks in Timbuktu, though. The carrier pigeons Underhill sent there might not have reached yet.
Now to get serious. This isn't a question of Chief White and Dr. Henning's leadership. This is a question of this County *bleeding* paramedics--in the here and now. I can't even keep track of how many we've lost in the last few months. The County isn't going to be able to sustain the rate of attrition much longer, nor are they going to be able to sit on their hands and wait for the DOH/Executive FDLE investigations to finish. That could be a very long time. And it's not an answer to simply promote people up to fill gaps, as any *responsible* EMT or paramedic damn well knows.
I understand better than anyone why people are so afraid to speak up about what's happening in that department. But at some point, the remaining EMS who are killing themselves to hold that department together--supervisors, people out in the field, fleet--are going to have to decide to speak in one voice, whether the Union is on board or no. I hear the Union is faltering badly, anyway. And how couldn't it be. They were a Johnny-come-lately in the whole Vote of No Confidence fiasco, and were never really players in the power brokering that was going on. It is sad that past leadership allowed the EMS Union to be a pawn in all of this.
I have so much empathy for how scared people are to voice anything. Why wouldn't they be? But please remember that there is power in unity. If even a dozen of you got together and stood at the podium together--and God knows a dozen is a small fraction of the people who are reaching out for help--I don't think you understand how powerful that would be. One dozen is all you need. What's the County going to do, sweep a dozen EMS standing at the podium saying "enough" under the rug?
This isn't the same thing as the ECAT negotiations (which are also unfortunate in the way the County is handling them, enough said). This is people who put their own best interests aside, every single day, to hold human lives in their hands and do their best to sustain them, because they have a calling. That's not to knock on bus drivers...that's not what I mean, and I think ATU and Michael Lowery will understand I'm not dissing their concerns. You guys save lives, day in and day out. When you go on duty, you are clocking in to be our hard-driven, hard-bit angels. More than anyone else in this County.
Please consider that this thing is at the point that if voices don't unite and come public from the inside, there's really no end in sight for how much worse this can get.
Commissioner Bergosh, I've had a bunch of people ask me about a second PNJ article today, and now you're mentioning a rebuttal to a Spotlight. Is this something that happened in the paper version, or is it online? Please let folks know what you're referring to--I honestly don't know.
While I was typing this, the John Williams "LEAK" (how ridiculous can this get) came on. It's very apparent now that administration does not have control of this situation at this juncture, for whatever reason. Maybe hiring Jerry Maygarden for a last gasp at Big Man on Campus wasn't such a good idea after all. I'm sure Ms. Gilley realizes that by now. But in the meantime, you and the other 3 are simply going to have to get this chaos in our public safety over and done with. Thank you for taking the lead.
--Melissa Pino
Oh and please tell me what issues the great queen is picking up from Dr Henning and Chief White? I have been here and I can tell you things have never, never, been worse. Under those two we were going places- our training was finally top notch, we had trucks on the road, employees had an active say through committees and there was transparency. Now we have lost a great deal of the department, training is a joke, our protocols are a copy of another private service and we can’t get trucks on the road because oh yeah all the people are headed to other places. Heck we don’t even have real supervisors anymore. You can’t even find the good reform doc. Door closed, nobody’s home. Not one reform has happened for someone who’s a great reformer. Everyone in the dept knows Matt is one heck of a medic. Now if we could get a medical director who can help us. Really help us. Please commissioner step in. Take more action than this blog. Get us a medical director we can trust, who cares, who can lead and who knows how to listen.
In my opinion people should go to ECTV and look at the public forum video 1/24 closely esp about minute 13 about the release of the document to PNJ.
I also re read the PNJ article and to me Maygarden's part in adding to the article was troubling. Do you get the idea something is not being truthfully told from the Administrator and Maygarden team regarding this release of classified info to the PNJ?
To reiterate-- the people who had it were J Dosh, J Gilley and R Edler. The attorney had it redacting it. Bergosh got the call Friday 1/17 and knew Jim Little already had the document. The county attorney had not finished redacting it at the time of the meeting.
By 8:30 public forum they knew it had hit the press. Did they release it on purpose, if so -- that is very troubling indeed.
so yes there is not much trust surrounding how things have been handled.PERIOD.
Maygarden was going to work for free paid, then they paid him. Edler blurted out that Maygarden had told her to do a public record request about Mrs. Gilley's text from Pino. That's on the Nov 13 transcript on the Edler vs Pino case on the clerk site public record.
Maybe the investigation into the release should include him.
He certainly put himself in the loop in the article. The BCC did not hire him.
Hope this doesn't cause you more grief but you need to know people are watching this with you.
ANON 9:12
I agree, think you nailed it! Selover is one heck of a medic!!!! Now is the time to speak up. You are all working under strained conditions. Until you all speak out and support the good in that department it will continue to fail! NOW IS YOUR TIME!!!! Make it happen!
Rewatching the public forum -- Ms Gilley, who said she would be Momma wolf, didn't seem appalled about the PNJ release, she seemed defensive.
Underhill , watch his words, said he didn't know what they were talking about. The fire fighter email released to C Nylander to WEAR and Underhill commenting on that later is a pattern. As well as the hit about the school on Sorento.
But yes if the employees do not unite then they will be over run.
What is troubling is this seems to demonstrate that people need to shut up or they will be black balled, sued, demoralized, defamed and careers ruined.
That's not the type of leaders we need in Escambia County.
We can’t speak up to loud. Look what happens if you get on the wrong side of this woman and the county will do nothing to help you. They allow her free rein to act however she wants. Heck she doesn’t even have to show up to work. She can drive her county vehicle to other jobs. Tote her kid around in a county vehicle? No problem. Need her house painted? Have corny employees do it for her. Need a boyfriend? Date a paramedic who is supposed to be under your medical supervision. Look we have lost 2 of our chiefs and a lot of good people over this. We need the county to take action!
Commissioner, I appreciate you bringing attention this. Most in EMS are just hanging on hope that the county will act, but we are now a failing dept. we are losing people too quickly. Heck we only have 1 supervisor left. One! Besides attention, what are you going to do about it? We need action.
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