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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Publisher takes issue with false comments by Tower ambulance director

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 12/13/18

TOWER— During public input at the city council meeting here on Monday, Timberjay Publisher Marshall Helmberger took issue with false and potentially defamatory comments made by city Ambulance …

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Publisher takes issue with false comments by Tower ambulance director

Posted

TOWER— During public input at the city council meeting here on Monday, Timberjay Publisher Marshall Helmberger took issue with false and potentially defamatory comments made by city Ambulance Director Steve Altenburg regarding Helmberger’s recent reporting on the city’s ambulance department.

Altenburg had engaged in a 46-minute long harangue against Helmberger at the council’s Nov. 26 meeting, in which he accused the reporter and publisher of misquoting him, lying about ambulance run data, and distorting financial figures.

While Altenburg offered no documentation of his claims, Helmberger provided the council with copies of city records and ambulance run reports that documented his reporting and he asked for one of the council members to verify the numbers to confirm the accuracy of his reporting.

“I don’t care if he wants to call me a jerk,” said Helmberger. “That’s fine. If he wants to take me to task because I have actually incorrect numbers in the paper or am misreporting something, that’s fine. I believe in accountability for myself as well as for everybody else. But when you make false claims— and he had the information to know what he was saying was not true— to show that kind of disregard for the facts, that’s a serious issue.”

Helmberger said Altenburg’s defamation would normally be an issue between the newspaper and Mr. Altenburg. But he noted that the city had become a party to Altenburg’s wrongdoing when city officials allowed him to video-record the Nov. 26 council meeting, which was dominated by his tirade, and post it on the city’s website.

“You do need to address this,” said Helmberger. “You need to figure out whether or not you’re going to deal with issuing a retraction. If we had published something making disparaging comments about anybody and that they came back and gave us information that said that’s not right, we would be obligated to print either a correction or a retraction. It’s incumbent upon the city to do the same thing in this situation.”

Some city council members were clearly surprised to learn that Altenburg had begun video-recording council meetings.

Helmberger made his comments as part of his broader comment on the misinformation that Altenburg has provided to the council over the past year and a half. Helmberger noted that Altenburg had originally sold the switch to paid-on-call service as a net profit generator, when he later acknowledged that his plan would likely reduce department margins.

Helmberger noted that Altenburg had also sold the switch based on significant increases in the number of emergency calls. At the Nov. 26 council meeting, Altenburg stated that the department had had five years in a row with 20-percent increases and accused Helmberger of “lying” when he reported the actual numbers and noted that the trend was flat.

Helmberger cited emergency runs, which have been steady or slowly declining since 2016, when the service responded to 361 emergency calls. They declined to 353 in 2017 and appear likely to fall below that in 2018. Through the end of November, the department had responded to 327 emergency runs, which should put the final numbers around 350 or slightly higher. Total runs in November were down significantly, with just three transfers and 17 emergency calls.

Helmberger noted that ambulance department spending has jumped dramatically in 2018, with $298,000 spent through Sept. 30 according to city budget data. That compares to $240,000 through all of last year. And Helmberger said those numbers don’t include $54,000 in equipment spending approved last month, or an anticipated $100,000 in additional expenses anticipated through the end of the year. Those expenditures will likely push total ambulance spending over $450,000 this year, not including the purchase of a new ambulance. Helmberger said that while revenues are up due to the increase in the number of transfers, the department’s overall margins appear likely to diminish significantly with the paid on-call service and he said that’s likely to impact the department’s ability to purchase ambulances down the road.

Altenburg said the department had shown rising numbers in the past and said runs had doubled in the time that he’s been on the ambulance crew. “We are spending more, but we’re still making a profit.”

Mayor Josh Carlson said the program is not set in stone and could be adjusted if necessary. He added that the department had to do something to relieve burn-out among the department’s volunteers.

Council approves ambulance purchase

While the paid on-call staffing plan may not be set in stone, the council took action to ensure that Altenburg’s request for a new ambulance was approved prior to a new council taking over. The council approved the purchase of an ambulance from Lifeline, otherwise known as 94 Services, at a total price of $243,994, including a Stryker cot. According to Keith, the city had received another bid, from Fire Safety USA, for $258,367, although copies of the actual bids were not provided in the council packet.