About two weeks ago, the county commission appointed interim director Jamie Miller to lead Leavenworth County Emergency Medical Service. The 29-year-old Miller replaces longtime director Irene Maley, whose appointment was not renewed in September.

Miller, who has worked at EMS for nearly nine years, received a one-year appointment to the director’s job, which pays $56,800, according to Diane Collins, the county’s human resources director.

Miller is ready to roll up his sleeves and get down to business.

“I told the commissioners: I’m young, I have a lot of ambition and I’m willing to take certain stances and bring some new ideas that need to come out,” said Miller, who had been assistant director since 2003.

Now, Miller must fill the position he left. He’s hopeful he can appoint a new assistant director by the end of January. And in 2007, Miller would like to add a full-time training officer to the ambulance service ranks.

Currently, Miller is forming an EMS committee to review the service’s procedures to ensure they match those of other ambulance services in the area.

“We’re going to go through and revise to make sure that what we’re doing is state-of-the-art and up-to-date,” he said.

And once an assistant director is hired, the service’s operations manager will be moved to the Tonganoxie station.

“I think what it will do for us is if there is a quick second call, you’ll have a paramedic with all the medications down in that area for a quicker response,” Miller said. “They’re not coming out of Leavenworth.”

Becoming EMS director and overseeing the 36 people under him fulfills one of Miller’s goals.

“Ever since I came aboard EMS, just about every year, I’ve increased my certification level or my position with Leavenworth County EMS,” he said.

The Chicago native who came to Leavenworth with the U.S. Army has held every position within the service, except operations manager.

“I always stretch for high goals and expectations,” he said. “I just continued pushing and obviously it paid off, and here I am. … I kind of miss the streets, but I’m an administrator who is very involved, and you’ll see me out on calls. I’m still a paramedic, and I will utilize those skills.”

And while Miller’s professional life is changing, so is his personal life. He and his wife, who live in Lansing, are constructing a new house, and they’re expecting their third child in May.