‘A slap in the face:’ Pender County moves to take control of EMS and Fire

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Pender County EMS and Fire could soon come under county control.  

On Monday night, commissioners passed an amended resolution 3-1 to declare Pender EMS and Fire’s Board of Directors vacant, appointing three county commissioners to the board.  

Until now, Pender EMS and Fire has operated as a private nonprofit.  

Chief Everett Baysden said he feels blindsided by the decision. 

“It was a slap in the face to Pender County residents, and I’m going to tell you Pender County Residents now, if you’re serving on a board in this county in any capacity, what they’re doing to us they’ll do to you,” Baysden said.  

While County Commissioner Randy Burton said the merger is long overdue.  

“None of us want anyone’s job to go away. That never entered my mind. I just would like to have local government, the citizens, be over fire and EMS services just like in just about every other county in the state,” Burton explained. 

The resolution also allows the county manager to audit the agency—which Burton feels is not being transparent.  

“Everybody’s saying ‘well, they do an audit and everything’s transparent,’ but when you ask questions, they’re quick to tell you ‘Well we don’t work for you. We work for a private company, we answer to our board. Just give us your tax money and we’ll do with it what we see fit,” Burton expressed. 

Baysden said the agency has been as transparent as possible.  

“We had five citizens sit on our board; we have two employees from the Fire Division sit on our board, we have two people from the EMS Division sit on our board, plus the chief financial officer of Pender County sits on our board as an ex offico, which in turn makes us a deciding vote tiebreaker if needed,” Baysden said 

There’s also contention over whether a nonprofit or government status would allow services to operate better.  

Baysden said the agency’s nonprofit status allows it to operate cheaper and obtain grants that otherwise would be unobtainable.  

Though—Burton said—becoming a public entity would expand benefits for employees.  

“They’d just get so much more opportunity to work under local government. They can work 30 years and get a pension the rest of their life,” Burton noted. 

Baysden is encouraging residents to attend Pender EMS and Fire’s emergency board meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. 

It will be held in the Board of Commissioners’ chambers in the Pender County Government Center located at 805 South Walker Street in Burgaw.