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 By Lynda Hollenbeck
Courier Staff
Public safety will come to the forefront Tuesday night in the first of three public hearings conducted by the Citizens Public Safety Committee.
Tuesday’s hearing will begin at 7 p.m. at the Gene Moss Building in Benton’s Tyndall Park.
The second hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at First Assembly of God on Arkansas 5 South, and the third is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 17, at Benton Municipal Complex in the council chambers.
The group was established in October by the Benton City council to review current and future needs of the police and fire departments, emergency medical services and 911 communications support.
Mattingly noted that while Benton’s population has increased more than 23 percent in the past six years and is projected to grow that much or more in the next six years, public safety is struggling to keep up.
The following concerns that have been identified by the committee will be addressed at the hearings:
•No advanced life support service on fire and rescue trucks.
•No funds being reserved for the city’s next fire truck, which will cost around $400,000.
•No funds being reserved to buy and replace police cars.
•No funds being reserved for required safety equipment.
•No funds being reserved for the next police/fire station.
•No funds available for across-the-board raises. The last across-the-board raises for police and fire personnel were given in 2004.
•No funds available to hire, train and increase public safety personnel.
In a presentation last week at the Benton Senior Activity Center, Mattingly asked for a show of hands from people who were not aware that advanced life support services were no longer provided by the fire department. Most indicated they had not been aware that this service had been discontinued.
Mattingly explained that ALS was eliminated three years ago during a budgetary crisis. He noted that it will take “about $330,000 to put it back into service.”
Carolyn Boone, a member of the citizens committee, shared a first-hand experience of what not having the service can mean to a local resident.
Boone said she experienced severe chest pains and her husband called 911.
“I felt such relief when the firefighters arrived with a short time,” Boone said. That is she was relieved, she said, until she learned that Benton firefighters are no longer allowed to perform the type of treatment that could have alleviated her pain.
Boone, a retired nurse, was aware that a nitroglycerin tablet could have given her some relief, but the firefighters could not provide this, nor could they transport her to the hospital emergency room.
“They told me that I would have to wait for an ambulance, but it would be a little while because all of Saline Memorial’s ambulances were out on calls,” Boone said.
She said she had the choice of her husband taking her to the hospital in their private vehicle or waiting on the ambulance. They chose the latter.
“When the ambulance arrived, they were great, but it took 13 minutes,” she said. “We need our paramedic service back on our fire trucks. I don’t have to tell you what could have happened while we were waiting.”
Benton fire department paramedics are trained to administer the advanced life support service she needed, Boones said, and most do this on other jobs, but they cannot perform these functions while working for the fire department.
Mattingly said ways are being considered to find funding to restore ALS. Impact fees and increased franchise are among the possible ways that additional income could be created for the city, he said.
“We do not have all the answers,” Mattingly said. “We want to hear what the people have to say.”
That is the purpose of the three town hall-style meetings that are planned, he noted.
“We’ll make our final recommendations to the City Council in early May,” Mattingly said.
“We need to hear from the citizen, and you (senior adults) are an important part of the community.”
In addition to Mattingly and Boone, other members of the Citizens Public Safety Committee are Don Birdsong, Mary Kay Mooney, Bill Hampton, Robert Edwards, Winifred K. Stamps, and Fire Chief Ben Blankenship.
Police Chief Gary Sipes has been a member of the panel, but Sipes resigned from the Benton chief's position last week to become chief of the Jacksonville Police Department. Capt. Roger Gaither is now serving as interim chief.
Dr. Jeff Walker, professor and graduate coordinator of the Department of Criminal Justice at University of Arkansas at Little Rock, served as an adviser for the group for several weeks, but his services have ended. |
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