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County Administrator's Recommendation: By way of background, to perform work as a paramedic in the State of Florida, an individual has to attain State paramedic certification. Upon doing so, to be able to work autonomously, the individual has to be approved by a doctor to work under his/her medical license. This approval normally takes the form of a protocol test. In many jurisdictions, the individuals who have been protocolled by the agency's doctor, or Medical Director, are referred to as "solo paramedics." In the County's Emergency Services Department, the term "solo paramedic" has taken on a different meaning. In October 2005, the County's old Fire and Emergency Medical Services Divisions were consolidated. As part of the consolidation, the Division encouraged the then-Firefighter/EMTs to obtain their paramedic certification, which they had to pay for themselves and attend classes on their own time. To incentivize the Firefighter/EMTs, as well as to address pay issues that existed for the Paramedics from the former Emergency Medical Services Division who were not certified firefighters, the County created the Solo Paramedic Incentive. Since that time, the Division moved to hiring only Fire -Medics who are required to possess paramedic certification as a condition of their employment, and the Solo Paramedic Incentive has morphed into extra compensation for individuals who are assigned in a lead paramedic capacity, similar to the additional compensation that is provided to the EMS Training Coordinator and Training Officer, and the Special Operations Field Training Officer. More specifically, the Division selects and assigns at least 1 Solo Paramedic to each of its 9 ALS Engines and 11 Ambulances. These individuals, who are selected based on their rank, equipment, shift and skills, are responsible for overseeing the paramedic work performed by the crew assigned to the apparatus. Under ¶33.10, there are 86 Solo Paramedic slots that may be filled by the Division. All 86 slots have not always been filled as all 86 are not needed to cover the 20 pieces of apparatus on each of the 3 shifts. However, to alleviate Local 2201's concerns about there not being enough Solo Paramedics for purposes of shift exchanges, the County is amenable to filling all 86 slots as Local 2201 has requested. Local 2201's proposal, however, goes much further than just filling all 86 Solo Paramedic slots. Instead, Local 2201 wants all protocolled paramedics to receive the Solo Paramedic Incentive, even if they are not serving in a lead capacity. While it is certainly an aspiration of the Division to have all of its protocolled paramedics capable of serving as lead paramedics, the reality is that not every protocolled paramedic has the skill set and experience to serve in that capacity. For example, there is simply no way that the Division can assign a paramedic who has just passed a protocol test to serve as the lead paramedic on a piece of apparatus. Moreover, the Division does not need that many leads — there are only 20 pieces of apparatus that presently require lead paramedics. 20 20