
PENDER COUNTY — Tensions between two county EMS service providers are escalating as a non-negotiable contract threatens to force one of them to close next week. After the public requested the county to step in, a meeting was arranged on Monday in hopes of sparking negotiations before time runs out.
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Pender EMS and Fire — a private, nonprofit organization that was established in 2013 after multiple volunteer fire departments in the county merged with the Pender EMS and Rescue — has had a contract with Union Rescue Squad since 2005 to allow Union to provide EMS service under the Pender EMS jurisdiction.
Union is contracted to provide night-time EMS emergency response coverage in Union district, which includes Willard, Watha, Penderlea and Maple Hill. Per the contract, Pender EMS provides them with a paid paramedic, a daytime EMT, and $90,000 annually.
Upon contract renewal this year, Pender EMS changed conditions and declared them non-negotiable — and no one involved is willing to fess up to why.
Union Rescue Squad Chief Diane Giddeons claimed the new contract was initiated due to a “political issue,” but could not elaborate further. Pender EMS and Fire have been unresponsive to PCD’s requests for comments.
Pender EMS now wants Union to respond to 60% of the calls in its district, rather than only night calls, among other requirements. The changes came to Union’s dismay as representatives said the new requirements could threaten to close its doors since the terms are unsustainable for the organization.
If the contract is not signed by Jan. 22, Union will cease to exist.
The contract
The changes in the contract were put forth Sept. 12, yet the two parties had little communication after the fact; at first Pender EMS’s board of directors refused a meeting with Union Rescue’s board of directors.
The new contract states there were “several breaches” of the former contract by Union, but does not list specifics. According to Giddeons, Union’s lawyers responded requesting the specific breaches be identified, but received no clear answer.
Pender EMS released a statement Oct. 25, claiming they gave Union 30 days to respond with questions about the new contract. When Union lawyered up, Pender EMS and Fire also responded with legal counsel.
When the contract wasn’t signed within the given 30 days last fall, Pender EMS and Fire Chief James Everett Baysden eventually issued an official 90-day notice of termination, effective Jan. 22.
Baysden denied an interview request with Port City Daily per recommendation of legal counsel, but supplied the press release from Pender EMS on the dispute instead.
Giddeons said Union Rescue did not intend to sign the contract “without negotiation or communication to have our input in it.”
After almost three months of noncommunication, Giddeons and Baysden sat down and discussed terms of the contract on Monday evening. Pender County Manager Michael Silverman organized the meeting, but did not respond to PCD’s request to speak.
Details of the meeting and the future of the contract could not be disclosed to media, according to Giddeons, but the prospect of negotiating was left open in hopes there will be more communication before Union Rescue’s termination date.
“ We did meet and [another future meeting] is still on the table,” Giddeons commented.
Per their current contract, Pender EMS pays Union Rescue $90,000 from tax revenue annually, in quarterly increments, and the new contract proposes raising that to $100,000. Outside of the funding from Pender EMS, Union Rescue operates primarily through contributions.
Union can also bill for transport, but Giddeons said they don’t charge out of pocket and will only bill if the patient being transported has insurance.
The new contract claims the relationship between Union and Pender EMS has been “deteriorating” over the years, putting Pender EMS in a “bad situation” and creating a “toxic work environment” for their employees working alongside Union volunteers. It also claims Union has failed to follow the Pender County EMS system plan, but doesn’t list specific examples.
When asked for the county EMS system plan, Giddeons said Pender EMS and Fire is in the process of rewriting it and Union has not been provided with an updated version.
Upon request, Baysden also did not reply to PCD with the system plan.
Additionally, the non-negotiable contract requires Union to maintain a minimum of 15 volunteer EMTs and respond to 60% of dispatch calls in the Union district, with Pender continuing to respond to 100% of calls. Union’s three quick response vehicles currently run night coverage throughout the district.
“ We had 75 calls in the month of December,” Giddeons said. “Almost one-half of those calls were outside of our district, that we went and helped them out.”
With the new response requirement, Giddeons said volunteers would be obligated to work both day and night shifts, but Union doesn’t have enough people to provide full-time coverage.
“Nobody can volunteer as an EMT daytime anymore,” she said. “People have to work.”
Union has around 25 volunteers working nights, plus a paid paramedic and paid daytime EMT. Pender EMS and Fire has 132 full-time employees and 60 part-time employees.
Union and Pender EMS’s current contract states the paramedic and daytime EMT are provided and paid for by Pender EMS. Pender released a statement on Oct. 25 claiming they had “bent over backwards” to support Union Rescue over the years and provide the two paid positions.
The two paid positions at Union work alongside volunteers at Union’s headquarters located in Willard, which is fully staffed and owned by Union and holds their three transport vehicles and one from Pender EMS. The transport time from Union’s headquarters can be more than 30 minutes for calls in rural areas.
If the station were to shutter, Pender County could lose three transport vehicles designated to Union district. The closest Pender EMS and Fire station only has one quick response vehicle and one transport vehicle — and could take even longer to respond.
The one vehicle Pender EMS keeps at Union’s headquarters would be moved to another Pender EMS and Fire station, according to the new contract.
“ We own our assets,” Giddeons said. “ That ultimately could change depending on how they pressure us because, of course, taxpayers have paid for some of this.”
Community, commissioners speak out
At the Jan. 6 Pender County commissioners meeting, nine residents spoke during public comment, eight of which defended Union Rescue. One raised concerns about losing Union Rescue’s three vehicles and leaving only one available in close proximity to respond. They claimed without Union Rescue, the rural areas of Pender County would be at risk due to even longer response times.
“In Maple Hill, we have a QRV paramedic that responds, and then a rescue has to come from Union quite often — maybe Burgaw, if they’re not out on a call, but often they are — and it takes a long time to get out there to do that,” Warren Wooten, a Maple Hill resident, said.
Jimmy Tate, former Pender County commissioner, echoed Wooten’s sentiment, saying he’s seen Union Rescue respond to calls in the more rural areas at all hours of the night.
“To hear now that these services provided at the same level as the county are endangered is a great concern to many of us,” Tate said.
Another community member asked for commissioners to step in and mitigate the situation.
“I would prefer to see our county government retain the responsibility of running this,” local Charlie Schoonmaker said. “You’re ‘neck in the noose’ — for lack of a better term — right now, if something were to go wrong.”
Randy Burton, chair of the county commissioners, speculated on a call with Port City Daily, a power grab is common behind such disputes.
“ We’re doing what we do in service to the communities,” Burton said, “but people sometimes make it about themselves.”
Burton clarified he was not pointing the finger at either side — “ to an extent, it might be a little bit on both sides” — but is holding both accountable for their stake in the matter.
At the end of the Jan. 6 commissioner meeting, he expressed his support for both Pender EMS and Union Rescue and clarified the commissioners don’t have much control over the matter. Union Rescue falls under the jurisdiction of Pender County EMS and Fire’s board of directors as far as “delivery of service” goes.
Burton told Port City Daily the board has tried to maintain neutrality in hopes the two services would sort out their differences. Now, however, the commissioner chair said he’s prepared to use “whatever tools necessary” to step in and figure out how to keep Union in operation if the two services won’t negotiate.
“ I’ve tried to be very patient with this for a while now,” he said.
While the commissioners aren’t responsible for operations and services of Union Rescue, they are responsible for tax-payer dollars. Pender County charges its residents an EMS tax, and 100% of the collected revenue is paid to Pender EMS and Fire to provide county-wide EMS services and respond to all calls.
“ We’re actually one of the only counties left in the state that a private company is contracted to provide EMS and fire services with tax subsidized by taxpayer dollars,” Burton said.
In 2024, $8.7 million in EMS tax revenue was budgeted and $9.1 million was actually collected, according to the county’s finance director Margaret Blue, who is also on the Pender EMS board of directors. For 2025, almost $9 million is budgeted.
The only leverage commissioners have is budget oversight. They vote on the budget allotted to Pender EMS and Fire services and as a private entity, Pender EMS has full control over how they divvy up the money.
Commissioner Brad George, who also sits on Pender EMS’s board of directors, was recently investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Pender County Sheriff’s Office for self-dealing. The allegations claimed that George discussed and voted on the fiscal year 2024-2025 budget ordinance, which allocated funding for Pender EMS and Fire. As his wife is a Pender EMS and Fire employee, George could have violated state statute by directly benefitting from the funds. The investigation was dismissed in December.
George did not respond to PCD’s request for comment.
Pender EMS and Union Rescue have one week to find middle ground on the contract before Union’s termination date, Jan. 22. Giddeons said Union plans to continue pursuing discussions with Pender EMS in coming days.
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