Ty Montgomery would like to bring his medical background and firefighting experience to the Sedona Fire District Governing Board.
Montgomery, 42, who is running for one of three seats on the board, moved to the Village of Oak Creek from Phoenix about six years ago. Prior to living in Phoenix, he resided in Iowa for 30 years.
He now owns a family medical practice in the Village of Oak Creek where he works as a nurse practitioner.
Montgomery has a master’s degree in nursing from an Iowa college and is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the Arizona Nursing Association.
Montgomery was a firefighter for 12 years. He worked for a volunteer firefighter department in Iowa that changed into a professional department.
He also worked for a private ambulance company.
Working in the medical field and his prior experience as a firefighter give him some insight his opponents do not have, he said.
Montgomery became a nurse about 10 years ago before becoming a nurse practitioner. He opened his medical practice three years ago.
If elected, Montgomery wants the district to maintain its current service level and restore integrity and ethics to the board.
He also wants the fire district to be fiscally responsible.
Montgomery also believes the community needs a Chapel area fire station, but said tough economic times may dictate what is built.
“I think we have to look at the whole design and structure to come to a cost-effective approach,” he said.
The cost difference between a two-bay or three-bay station would be minimal.
“We need to look at a [station] for a cost of less than $3 million,” he said.
Property taxes, he said, likely will decrease, which would dramatically affect the fire district.
Montgomery also knows from firsthand experience about ambulance privatization pitfalls, since he was employed by one such business while living in Iowa.
“It’s the worst thing Sedona could do,” he said.
The private ambulance service he worked for was more concerned with profits than anything else.
Montgomery said private ambulance companies usually have fewer vehicles to serve the community, causing response times to increase substantially.
He also said private ambulance companies are training grounds for inexperienced employees.
As an example, he pointed to the $10 an hour wage he made while working for a private company. He said the driver of the private ambulance was paid minimum wage.
Montgomery is not opposed to volunteers supporting the Sedona Fire District. However, he said reserves, not volunteers, is what they should be called.
He said reserves could be used to backfill positions and to decrease overtime within the fire district.
However, he said the reserves would need to be trained to ensure they are prepared.
Montgomery said he thinks volunteers or reserves should work 48-hour shifts at one of the fire stations.
By doing this, he said, SFD would have a pool of applicants to pull from for future openings.
He also said the district’s budget will be cut. Battalion chief overtime will also be addressed.
“You are never going to get rid of overtime, but that issue has to be controlled,” he said.
Sedona Fire District Governing Board candidates’ profiles:
Bert Berkshire, published Oct. 1
David Blauert, published Oct. 1
Phyllis Erick, published Oct. 8
Dick Fishel, published Friday, Oct. 15
Douglas Fitzpatrick, published Friday, Oct. 15
