Emergency management and EMS outline staffing, vehicles and wildfire‑plan requests

Bruce Clements, director of Emergency Management (speaker 10), briefed the court on a set of requests for the Office of Emergency Services and EMS operations. Clements proposed reclassifying a project officer to deputy senior director and described EMS staffing needs that would add 16 full‑time and five part‑time positions, plus command‑level roles and vehicle requests (Tahoe replacements and ambulances pending inventory).

Clements also outlined capital and facility requests for the emergency operations center: fence upgrades behind the EMS headquarters and covered parking to protect vehicles from extreme heat. He said the county is beginning work to update the community wildfire protection plan and asked for $70,000 to carry the project into next year. Fire marshal and hazmat teams also requested replacement vehicles and hazmat dually trucks to stage around the county.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions; no formal decisions were made. The budget office will model the personnel and capital asks alongside county revenue projections and other competing priorities.

"All told, EMS is requesting 16 full time positions and 5 part time positions," Clements said, adding that some ambulance needs remain subject to available inventory and further budget review.

The court did not vote at this meeting; staff said the budget office and project leads will return figures for commissioner consideration during the budget adoption process.