Sean C. Morgan
Don Schlies believes that retaining firefighters and medics is the most important issue facing the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District, and along with that, the board will need to address funding issues.
He faces incumbent Tim Geil in the only contested race in the May 19 election. The board has three seats. Larry Johnson and Elmer Riemer are unopposed.
Schlies, 61, a retired firefighter, has lived in Sweet Home for 19 years. He grew up in Stayton and got involved in the fire service as a volunteer in 1976, while living in Idaho.
Before entering the fire service, “I was a chainsaw sculptor,” Schlies said. An Idaho company purchased the company he worked for as an artist, and he went to Craigmont, Idaho, with his job. There he was 70 miles from the nearest hospital, so he participated in the formation of a quick-response team, which keeps patients stable until an ambulance can arrive.
In 1978, he started his fire service career in Lewiston, Idaho. He stayed there for 3 1/1 years and took a post as a line captain in Clarkston, Wash. In 1989, he returned to Stayton as assistant chief to take care of his elderly parents.
In 1992, he went to work at Albany Fire Department and served as deputy fire marshal. During a personnel shortage in 1997, he returned to the fire line and earned the rank of lieutenant. In 2008, he became deputy fire marshal in the investigation and prevention division. He retired from Albany in 2012.
He was a part of the Linn-Benton Fire Investigation Team, and he knew retired Chief Mike Beaver and current Chief Dave Barringer, who both had worked in Albany.
He is married to Marianne Schlies.
Schlies said he was approached years ago by “a previous administrator” about serving on the board, but he wasn’t comfortable doing so while working for another district. Once he retired, he had a chance to take a look at his life and see what he could offer, which is experience and expertise in the fire service.
He has worked with budgets and taught budgeting classes, he said. He has worked with fire and ambulance boards.
“I have the background,” Schlies said. “I’m familiar with board etiquette and responsibilities.
“The biggest challenge with any fire department, number one, is retention of your people.”
That’s especially important in a department with volunteers and career paramedic-firefighters, he said. “They work together very closely.”
He sees the role of a board member as assisting the chief in any way possible as he handles day-to-day operations, Schlies said.
Fire districts must work within the confines of property tax limitations, he said. At the same time, Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are shrinking while costs increase.
He noted that the district’s bond levy is about to sunset. Levies fail though, and he’s not sure what he thinks about a new levy.
Fire Chief Dave Barringer has recently discussed the idea of a local option levy with the board.
Schlies said he hasn’t done enough research into it to give an opinion at this point.
“As far as my own insight, we have to look at all avenues,” he said. Increasing fees is a potential solution.
Barringer also has discussed charging fees for no no-patient trips – calls that do not result in transport to a hospital.
Schlies said he would consider that on a sliding scale. The first no-patient trip would not have a fee, but after the first call to a patient, the district would start billing insurance.
The district could also start charging out-of-district patients’ health and automobile insurance based on state conflagration guidelines, he said.
He wants to make sure the district is in the black, not red, Schlies said, and he wants to make sure the district has adequate funding to pay for insurance and salary requirements necessary to retain staff members.
He also wants to establish an equipment replacement fund, he said.
The district last month dissolved its equipment reserve fund, covering a shortfall in the general fund.
Equipment must be maintained at ever-increasing industry standards, Schlies said.
He believes the district is headed in the right direction, he said.
“I think with my experience in the fire service in the past 34 years, career and two years volunteer, I can bring to the table budget aspects and day-today aspects,” Schlies said. “I have the experience to assist in those judgment calls.”