A selection committee tasked with finding the next chairperson of the Prairie City EMS department is recommending the city council appoint rural Prairie City resident and current EMS adviser Cody Wenthe to the department’s top spot.
The announcement came late Monday night in an email from Prairie City Mayor Chad Alleger to council members and city staff. According to Alleger, city administration, along with EMS department members Jeff Burkett, Jody Van Der Kamp and Amanda Van Ekeren, conducted interviews Monday and Wenthe was the unanimous choice to fill the chairperson/director position.
The recommendation will now go before the city council for a final vote. Wenthe will officially take over as EMS chairperson if approved at the June 7 city council meeting.
Poor grades on two consecutive state audits in 2012 and 2015 shook the city council’s confidence in current EMS director Carl Van Der Kamp, who has led the department since the mid-1990s and has been a volunteer for more than 40 years. Concerns over the recurring deficiencies pushed the city council to change a city ordinance in April, giving the city’s elected officials the full authority to select and appoint the EMS chairperson.
Wenthe, a certified paramedic and professional firefighter, was appointed as an adviser to the department in a special council meeting in April to prepare for a May 4 audit from the Iowa Department of Public Health. The EMS department showed significant improvements in the on-site review from the 2015 audit.
The Prairie City News reported May 12 that Alleger, who is also a part of the selection committee, said the audit results reinforce the council’s decision to appoint Wenthe and said he’s made an “immediate impact.”
“They’ve done an excellent job to this point, but we must make sure we maintain that,” Alleger said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We need to be prepared for an audit tomorrow. If (Department of Public Health inspector) Evelyn (Wolfe) were to walk in tomorrow for an unannounced audit are you prepared? How do you feel? That’s where we need to get to.”
Wenthe said via email Tuesday the support he’s received from he community is “overwhelming” and called the ambulance crew “dedicated” and “passionate.”
“I’m very honored to have been selected to serve in this position,” Wenthe wrote. “Having grown up here and now living here with my family, I just want what’s best for our town and our EMS service. Since I was a little kid my dad always stressed the importance of public service and helping your neighbor. I’ve been very lucky to have made a career out of it.”
Wenthe said he’s looking to target improvements in the department such as communication, training, recruitment and staffing. He also wants to continue the EMS staff’s push to purchase a new ambulance.
Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@myprairiecitynews.com