WAPELLO COUNTY, Iowa – Around mid-July, Fire Chief Sean Canto released a nearly 600-page independent report on behalf of the Ottumwa Fire Department examining Wapello County’s EMS system and recommending 11 ways to improve it.
Cancto was going to publicly present it on August 19 at the Bridgeview Center, but just hours before the scheduled start time, canceled the meeting.
In a public statement, Fire Chief Sean Canto cited a “hostile and dysfunctional” environment and personal attacks to his credibility as the reason to cancel the meeting and that a constructive meeting is no longer possible. He wrote:
“Please be advised that I am canceling the Fire Department Feasibility and Transition Presentation.
Throughout this process, I have attempted to provide an objective, data-driven evaluation of emergency service delivery and identify opportunities to improve service to our community. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that objective analysis and documented data are not being given appropriate consideration.
Instead, this process has resulted in personal attacks and challenges to my professional credibility. The environment surrounding this issue has become so hostile and dysfunctional that a fair, constructive, and meaningful presentation is no longer possible.
The Fire Department remains committed to providing the best possible emergency services to the community. Under the current environment, however, it has become increasingly difficult to have the honest and professional discussion necessary to evaluate improvements to the EMS delivery system.
I sincerely thank the members of the Fire Department and the community members who have offered their support throughout this process. I remain hopeful that, at some point, the community will receive the objective evaluation and emergency-service delivery model it deserves.”
Canto didn’t specify who made those personal attacks or what they were.
Ottumwa Mayor Benjamin Foote says the decided to address any questions from people who came to the venue and issued an apology on behalf of the city to Ottumwa Regional Health Center, saying some of the information in the fire department’s report had nothing to do with the problem and didn’t “help the conversation at all,” and that Canto was planning on apologizing if he’d been there.
Foote says he was looking forward to Canto’s presentation and it will be harder to get all of the people who were going to come to the evening’s meeting in the same room again.
“To me, it was—okay, a continuation of the conversation—but something that could move us forward in a place where we kind of felt stuck for a while,” Foote said. “And, that’s probably why I’m most disappointed about why he canceled it, because I want that conversation. It needs to move forward, so that we can find a direction and a place to go.”
Ottumwa Fire Department members attended.
“We can’t wait forever,” said Bill Keith, Ottumwa Fire Captain. “This is something that we have to take care of, and we have to take care of it fairly swiftly—and we can’t wait another six to eight months. This is something that you have to put a Band-Aid on fairly quickly, or it’s going to become a gaping wound.”
Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee member Peter Reiter also shared some of his thoughts on the department’s report, which he says is better described as a proposal, or a “fleshed-out version of Option A” from the committee’s Decision and Planning package. He wrote that Canto’s lack of participation has made the committee’s work more difficult and that he’s disappointed with how Canto brought forward his plan. He wrote:
“I’m disappointed at the way Chief Canto has chosen to proceed to develop his proposal. It is unfortunate that he appears to be attempting to force a decision to his liking and has not been cooperating with local stakeholders. It is also interesting that he somehow has found both the time and the funding to develop a very complex and time-consuming document without apparent request or authorization from the City Council.”
We reached out to Canto for an interview.
He said, “No comment at this time.”