MACON, Mo. — The Macon County Ambulance District Board of Directors meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at the Macon County Fairgrounds Floral Hall, 1305 S. Missouri St., Macon, with the contested 48/96 shift schedule on the agenda as a new business item.
The meeting follows two competing public statements: an open letter from district employees raising concerns about the schedule change, and an April 24 statement from the District itself disputing several of the employees’ claims and offering a detailed account of how the decision was made.
The agenda, posted April 27, lists old business on housing and new business items identified as “Jason Snarr” and “Schedule,” followed by a closed session and adjournment.
The agenda provides no further context for either new business item. “Jason Snarr” appears as a name only, with no title, affiliation, or indication of what action, if any, the Board may take. “Schedule” appears as a single word, with no reference to the 48/96 model, the Samaritan transition, or what specifically will be discussed or decided. Section 610.020.1 of Missouri’s Sunshine Law requires that meeting agendas be “reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered.” Whether the agenda as posted meets that standard is a question that the public or employees discussed in the meeting may raise in response to any decisions made during the meeting.
What the District says
In its April 24 statement, the District said its prior staffing arrangement with Samaritan Hospital had become unreliable, citing instances “where only one ambulance was available to cover the entire county or where no paramedic-level providers were available to deliver advanced life support care.” The Board voted to end the Samaritan staffing contract for that reason, and leadership then evaluated multiple staffing models before selecting the 48/96 schedule.
The District said the 48/96 model is used by departments in St. Charles County, Cole County, the St. Louis region, and other comparable agencies, some of which handle higher call volumes than Macon County. It put the local average at 8 to 10 calls per day, or roughly 4 to 5 per ambulance unit, with EMS responses occupying about 20% of a 24-hour shift.
On the question of employee input — the central charge in the employee letter — the District statement says the proposed schedule was presented to Samaritan ambulance employees, individual meetings were held April 13 through April 15, and “a vote was conducted among employees, with 75% voting in favor of the 48/96 schedule.” The District also said it has assumed responsibility for a portion of accrued vacation time that Samaritan would not pay out, and developed a benefits package that accounts for employee longevity.
The statement cited three peer-reviewed studies in support of the schedule, including work in Safety Science, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, finding improvements in sleep, fatigue, and physiological health markers among personnel transitioning from 24/48 to 48/96 schedules.
What the employees say
A letter circulated by district employees during the week of April 23, distributed anonymously and shared on Facebook, framed the situation differently. The letter said the decision was made “without meaningful communication or input from the crews who serve you daily” and described the schedule as unsustainable in a high call-volume system. It warned that “more than half of the current staff may have no choice but to leave,” and that the result could be a service staffed largely by personnel from outside the community.
The employee letter also tied the dispute to the 0.5% sales tax voters approved in April 2025, arguing the schedule change is “not the future that was promised when the tax increase was passed.”
The two statements directly conflict on whether employees were consulted and whether they support the schedule. The District’s account of an April 13–15 employee vote, with 75% in favor, is the most specific factual claim available on that question and is the one tonight’s meeting is most likely to revisit.
Closed session
The agenda lists a closed session under “Section 610.021 [3][13] RSMo.” Those subsections of Missouri’s Sunshine Law authorize a public governmental body to close meetings, records, and votes related to:
§ 610.021(3): “Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by a public governmental body when personal information about the employee is discussed or recorded.” The statute defines “personal information” as “information relating to the performance or merit of individual employees.”
§ 610.021(13): “Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they are employed as such.”
Subsection (3) also requires that any final vote to hire, fire, promote, or discipline an employee be made public, with a record of how each member voted, within 72 hours of the close of the meeting. The affected employee is entitled to notice during that 72-hour window before the vote is released.
Missouri law requires that any vote to close a meeting cite the specific statutory subsection by number, and § 610.022 limits closed-session discussion to the subjects authorized by the cited exceptions.
The connection between the closed session and the new business items is also not stated on the agenda. Closed sessions under § 610.021(3) and (13) are limited to personnel matters involving particular employees, and § 610.022 requires that closed-session discussion stay within the bounds of the cited exceptions. Whether the “Schedule” item — which on its face concerns a policy decision rather than an individual personnel action — is properly a subject for closed session is a question the agenda alone does not resolve.
Background
The Board announced earlier this year that the District’s contract with Samaritan Hospital terminates at midnight June 30, 2026. Under the prior model, ambulance personnel also assisted in the hospital emergency department; the District said time studies showed roughly 40% of staff time went to ED duties on top of EMS responsibilities, prompting development of a fatigue policy.
Board leadership
The Macon County Ambulance District Board of Directors is led by President Jimmy Maloney. Board members are Nick Bloomberg, Jeff Stacy, Melanie Thurnau, and Bob Couch. Chris Boggus serves as ambulance director.
The meeting is open to the public until the board votes to enter closed session.
District contact: 1205 N. Missouri Street, Macon, MO 63552; 660-395-8640; admin@maconemsmo.org.