The decision of the Mayor and the vast majority of the City Council to consolidate MAST into the Fire Department might be one of the worst debacles Kansas City has ever seen. Word is that the consolidation is turning into a nightmare that threatens to jeopardize Kansas City's health care.
First off, deadlines and goals are looming for the MAST consolidation and at a MAST board meeting last night it revealed that progress is moving exceedingly slow.
One of the most interesting facts to come out of the meeting was a bit of technical discussion regarding funding this operation. WELL-INFORMED AND BRILLIANT TKC TIPSTERS noted that the board was having a great deal of trouble dealing with billing issues from Medicare and Medicaid who have rather harsh policies about billing from 1st responders. The billing issue is a MAJOR problem for Fire Department planning and some insiders say that it might hold up progress from Fire Department hopes to completely consolidate MAST into their ranks.
Also, there are some raging concerns about firefighter pensions: The rank-and-file from the KCFD are very suspicious of new regs to "grandfather-in" members of MAST and possibly dip into that sweet firefighter pension fund.
Preliminary word is:
MAST employees who pass Firefighter I and Firefighter II exams along with meeting the physical requirements might be eligible to count years served and get some of that firefighter pension cash.
This Kansas City political decision is quickly becoming another instance in which just about everybody loses.
Finally, the "residency question" will most certainly create more debilitating problems for MAST consolidation efforts. City Officials know that any language used to allow MAST employees turned City/KCFD workers to live outside Kansas City will give dangerous legal precedent to long term efforts that hope to allow all KCFD members to take up residence outside of this cowtown. Couple this fact with local common knowledge that ranking KCPD members would also like to move outside of City Limits and there is a very real possibility that any one of several documents exchanged during this consolidation efforts could spark the beginning of a mass exodus of City workers for this cowtown.
In other words, with a simple vote the Mayor and City Council turned one of the best ambulance services in the nation into a potential powder keg of political maneuvers and complications that ultimately put this town's health at risk. Thanks for that.
MAST Management is overloaded with "vice-presidents" so the firefighters union is trying to convince some of them to quit and run for the state legislature.
ReplyDeleteHa.
ReplyDeleteWow, I learn more about the merger here , then they are telling us at MAST. Thanks awesome TKC Tipsters.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the old timers need to start working out If the want a piece of the pension! Ha Ha
ReplyDelete9:12 is right. Better hit it pretty hard too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony for keeping the facts out there for citizens of cowtown. How is a firefighter (who left MAST years ago, BECAUSE HE WANTED TO BE A FIREFIGHTER) representing the EMS side of negotiations for the contract?
ReplyDeleteSmokey (allegedly)said the merger could be postponed if the contract negotiations are not complete....
Residency is on everyones tongue these days. Class action is the buzz word at MAST. If the employees are forced to be residents, be assured there are lawyers waiting in the wings.
ReplyDeleteIn what city/state are the "wings"? I think if MAST employees are allowed to live outside of KC then, hell, so is the crew from water that is currently digging up my street to fix another pipe break.
ReplyDeleteBy the by, can those fat Louie Wright devotees from MAST pass the physical endurance test? HA HA HA indeed!!!!!!
I cannot wait to vote every one of these idiots out of office. Thank you for ruining MAST ambulance and giving King Louie all of this power. Pray you don't need an ambulance in the near future, because the care is sure to go straight down the tubes....
ReplyDeleteHeres the thing toadstool. Your ole buddy Bubba out there in the street knew when he went to work for the city that he had to be a resident and he was ok with that. All the MAST people knew they didnt have to be residents and now they may be forced to. Its a bad deal but either way, the city is in for one heck of a law suit.
ReplyDeleteKing Louie and his Local Mafia 42 followers have dismantled and destroyed an excellent EMS company. They will not stop until they run off every MAST employee and put firefighters on these ambulances! You better believe it...the health care of KC citizens WILL be affected. Those firefighters are clueless when it comes to practicing medicine and unless they can spray water on it or tear it up, they have no interest in it.
ReplyDeleteLocal 42 through County Legislator Garza-Ruiz tried to recruit Mast VP Matt Cushman to run for the state legislature just to get him off the payroll.
ReplyDeleteVery fucking ugly.
Stop It, where did you get your misinformation? Matt Cushman is the director of Raytown EMS. If you are going to post, please have facts and not moronic things you have 'heard'.
ReplyDeleteAnd he was not recruited by 42. And despite excitement about his potential run, he chose to continue to serve his community as well as a desire to be there for his family as key factors not to run. He has nothing to do with all these MAST concerns.
ReplyDeleteI think most of the comments on here are from idiots that get there facts from red headed rumor moster, and are to chicken shit to find out the facts for themselves. All you bashers never come to any meetings that are open to the public, you just run with the bullshit certain people feed you. So just sit there and stew or get off your ass and find out the facts for yourself.
ReplyDeleteMAST is a consolidation that will fail. This will really put kansas city in a mess just like our wonderful snow removal.
ReplyDelete3:27...Spoken like a true minion of Louie Wright.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, alot of the posters here DONT come to the public meetings...I however, DO.
The fears and concerns voiced by people on this blog are based, not out of fear and a lack of understanding, or even on rumor...but on very real facts.
FACT: There is no real plan on how to fund this debacle. Either the staffing OR the pension.
FACT: There is no real plan on how to handle the residency issue without allowing EVERY city employee to evacuate the city.
FACT: There are TOO many employees at MAST to effectively merge them into city servitude.
FACT: Those of us at the meetings you refer to, are sick to death of listening to you and the rest of your co-horts spewing the propaganda compiled by your cult-leader Louie Wright.
My recommendation to all is to attend these public meetings. Call Fire HQ to get a schedule and agenda. Sit in, and get the info first hand. Otherwise, when the time comes to place blame on this failed system, we will all have to point the fingers at ourselves for our own lack of action.
Oh and Anon@3:27, if you want to discuss the issues, put a link to yourself on your post, otherwise it is YOU who are the Chicken-Shit. See you at the next meeting!
Hugs
Anita, they have committees to decide this. There is a lot more that was decided behind the scenes long before this consolidation became public.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, we heard that for a long time the committee that was in charge of deciding what the new ambulances would look like didn't have a chance to meet.
But for some reason, despite never having any meetings, this new design just came forth. So while it might appear that there's no facts, much more is being done behind the scenes than people realize. There's a lot of back office work happening.
Just because you never saw a plan doesn't mean there was no plan. If you want to win a poker game, you don't show your cards until the last possible minute. That's how politics in KCMO works.
There's a lot of rumors, and most are fantasticly fictional. Just give it time and don't buy into the drama. Things will work out just fine for everyone.
Has anything been "decided" as to how/who the billing will take place? For some reason, I have a bad feeling that this will be totally screwed up and the city will foot the entire cost of ambuance service due to inept billing procedures. . .
ReplyDelete1:58.... are you seriously comparing the EMS delivery system in KC to a game of poker?!?
ReplyDeleteSo you admit to gambling with this system and therefore, gambling with peoples lives!!!
Thanks for proving my point!
How can anybody promise to do something "Better, faster, and cheaper" without knowing how MAST does what it does? How can it be promised to be "Better, faster, and cheaper" without a plan? Both the citizens and the employees of MAST and the Fire Department are going to be in for a bumpy ride.
ReplyDeleteMerge negotiations with Smokey Dyer on one side of the table and SMOKEY DYER on the other side. WHAT???
ReplyDeleteLots of luck with that MAST employees. Ah... you think that your Local 42 union members will get the chance to vote on these sweet deals? Ha Ha !!! Louie Wright will push for a closed Local 42 BOARD MEMBERS ONLY vote. assholes like Anzinga, the fat white guy, Smith and Wright hold your lives in their greedy hands. The Waldo rapist has got nothing on this crew. Prepare yourselves.
3:27 is either Inzenga or Hutton because neither one can spell worth a shit and have not idea of proper grammar.
ReplyDelete1:58pm is someone else who might have SOME education. You can tell the difference in writing style.
Anita, you are the most intelligent one of all of these as you can see beyond the fake promises of Louie Wright and his losers. Wonder if this is an Oedipus issue from the boys and girls (?) in the fold. What do people do in Thailand?
i just want to know who the fat white guy is
ReplyDelete10:52... Thanks for the compliment although it is undeserved as I once was as lost and mislead as the rest of Wrights minions who currently follow behind him blindly to there own demise, like the sheep do the shepherd. It took a long time for me to wake up to the facts that are so clear to us now, too long.
ReplyDeleteOedipus issues nonwithstanding, I am aware that Thailand has become a big tourist attraction for sexual deviants, why would you ask?
04:47... The fat white guy could either be Hutton, Inzuenga, or Wright. Which fat white guy are you refering to?
Any update Tony?
ReplyDeleteis the fat white guy a girl?
ReplyDeletecongratulations Kansas city! your public safety has been improved. now that mast is under the division of the fire dept you can count on quicker response time. for those of you who think the quality of care is going to go down, you do realize it's the same mast employees, right? i would resent that if i were a former MAST employee. Former MAST and KCFD have always ran calls together anyway. the next best step would be to put paramedics on the engines. your quality of care would increase dramatically. patients would be cared for and prepped immediately. As soon as the ambo gets there, off to the hospital they go. no more wasting time on scene for the medic to prep the patient. if anybody still has doughts about the quality of care from the fire dept, i can debate about it all day. having experience with the Phoenix, AZ fire dept which does have the ambo's within the fire dept, i have first hand knowledge of what it is like.
ReplyDelete