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In Unicoi County, Tennessee, the EMS Board has postponed a decision regarding the appointment of EMA director Jimmy Erwin as an agency manager. This delay followed an extensive public discussion lasting nearly two hours.
The matter arose after Rebecca Harrison, the current EMS director, sought the board’s support due to personal challenges she is currently facing.
During the meeting, Harrison expressed her commitment to her role, stating she seeks “peace” within the EMS and enjoys her responsibilities, though at times they can become overwhelming.
“In the past, when we faced difficulties, like running deficits, it’s our duty to intervene,” explained Glenn White, chairman of the EMS board. “There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding this situation, which is typical when dealing with such issues. We’ll revisit the situation and see what the director wants. It’s her decision to make.”
White clarified that the board’s involvement is necessary due to legal protocols that must be followed when appointing new leadership.
EMS employees voiced their opinions regarding the leadership change, some asking why they were internally filling the position with Erwin rather than having open applications.
“This manager position was a temporary fix,” said White. “It wasn’t permanent. What director Harrison needs to do is to find an office manager. Form what I understand, she went to [Erwin]. If she doesn’t want that, then she’ll need to hire an office manager pretty quick.”
White also added these positions would be equal with the plan of Erwin taking over the finances while Harrison runs operations.
Crystal Miner, an EMS employee since April 2021, voiced her support for both Harrison and Erwin, telling the board this was an overall department problem, not just in leadership.
She said she understands a lot Harrison is going through, especially as a woman in EMS.
“She’s a professional. She’s my director,” said Miner. “She sees everyone as a person, and she deserves that same respect, especially from the board and from her crews … The biggest thing that bothered me in all of this, that I was unaware of, is that Rebecca was denied the first position to be her first opportunity to be our director, because she was raising her grandkids, and that was not denied by the mayor. That bothers me as a woman in a service, because we don’t have very many women in the service.”
Other EMS members opposed working under Erwin’s leadership, one even alleging he has falsified records.
White said there is no evidence of this claim.
“That’s just not true from what I know,” he said. “I talked with the auditor for the ’25 audit I got. Once Mr. Erwin left, it was the new director’s job to finish the audit, but I did get Mr. Erwin in touch with the auditor company. He gave them the information that he could have given them. He said that there were receipts that were left in the office and files. The files was nothing in them. So we don’t know what happened to the information.”
There were additional comments and discussion regarding the financial situation of the department, citing budget shortfalls and fears of pay cuts.
Miner said the shortfalls began to happen after a schedule change last year.
“It’s a good schedule,” she said. “It had amazing overtime, but we all took pay cuts to tune the schedule, and I don’t think anybody left. I knew for a fact nobody left when we took the pay cut because we all knew we wanted to be here under Rebecca and Patrick.”
White said the department has been doing well operationally, but there are budget holes to be filled going into the fiscal year.
“There are some expenses that we don’t understand yet,” he said. As Mayor Evely was saying, you know, we haven’t yet got a budget yet in comparison of revenues, versus expenditures. We’ve not got that from the director’s office. That was one part of this was about was to give her that assistance, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
It’s unknown when or if a decision on Erwin’s appointment will be made.
Harrison declined comment to News Channel 11.