Thompson answers charges of excessive double duty

City Administrator Carl Thompson Monday issued a report on his review of “run sheets” which record dispatches of ambulances and fire trucks from the Colfax station. Thompson said over a three year, seven month period, the logs show he served 552 hours on ambulance runs during normal business hours at city hall.

Thompson pointed out the tally equals 12.8 hours a month or about three hours a week.

Thompson made a review of the run sheets after City Councilman David Nails at the last council session Oct. 18 said records he reviewed showed Thompson had compiled more than 2,000 hours in ambulance runs in the last three years. The on-the-job ambulance duty was among issues listed by Nails and Councilman Jeremiah Robert in calling for Thompson’s resignation.

“As far as saying that I had responded to 2,000 hours on city time, that is just not true,” Thompson said in a prepared statement.

Thompson said his review showed a total of 1,397 hours that he responded to calls, but the total hours during city hall business hours was 682. He applied vacation time for 28 hours and some of the runs were on fire trucks to leave a total of 552 on the ambulance.

The logs also show 715 hours of response during after-work, vacation and holidays for an average of 16.6 hours per month and 3.9 hours per week. Thompson said he also participated in 258 hours of training.

He noted he has a 20-year record of service with Colfax Fire & Rescue, including years he worked for Colfax Grange and the McGregor Co.