White River Township Fire Protection District
Board Meeting Minutes
January 6, 1999  ~  7:00 p.m.

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FPDB Present:  Butch Sutton, Jon Raker, Chuck Shufflebarger, and Paul Kite.

FD Present:  Mike Dutton, Scott Cassin, and Mike Hoffman. 

Others Present:  Eric Reedy, Brian Bosma, and Kim Clawson.

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1.        Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. 

2.        Review of minutes from December 9, 1998 meeting.  Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Paul to accept minutes as written.  All in favor and motion carries.  

3.        Eric Reedy stated that we closed on the fire loan and all account balances are as follows:

Capital Projects:                   825,000.00

Old Capital Projects:              21,206.00  (technically dormant)

Cumulative Fund:                 102,399.00

Debt Fund:                              13,795.00

General Fund:                         50,724.00 

4.        Brian Bosma stated that according to IC 36-8-11-14, a Chairman and Vice Chairman must be appointed at the first meeting of the year.  Motion made by Chuck and 2nd by Paul for Butch to remain as Chairman, Bill to remain as Vice Chairman, and Jon to remain as Treasurer.  All in favor and motion carries. 

5.        Aerial update.  Butch stated that we did get the loan for the Aerial at 4.18% interest.  Donley has filed a formal protest notice against KME’s bid.  KME has addressed the concerns listed in Donley’s letter.  All concerns were unfounded. 

6.        Gear bids must be awarded by January 15 in order to keep the current price.  Bids are due back on the 11th.  FPDB will meet on January 13 at 4pm at station 51 to award the bid and to schedule the February meeting. 

7.        It is necessary for the District to obtain a temporary loan for $365,000 to help with cash flow issues.  The loan will be at NBD at 4.59% interest.  Motion by Paul and 2nd by Jon to approve resolution.  All in favor and motion carries.  Resolution and bid attached.  Attachments A&B. 

8.        Discussion on 1999 budget and how it’s expenditures will be split between the volunteer corporation and the District.   Most non-personnel related items in the Department’s budget will come to the FPDB.  Budget resolutions for necessary changes will be presented at future meetings. 

9.        The following items were discussed regarding the benefits package  Attachment C .  The following changes will be made and presented for a vote as a total package:

a)       Tuition Reimbursement.  General agreement as written.

b)       Uniforms & Turnout Gear.  General agreement as written.

c)       Insurance.  Everyone agreed that the District should provide a health and life insurance package to it’s employees.  However, if an employee has better insurance elsewhere (i.e.:  spouse), then that employee is not required to participate.  Discussion on whether the employee should be allowed to use that benefit amount for reimbursement of prescriptions, doctor’s co-pays, etc.  The ‘cash out’ provisions discussed in previous meetings were not agreed to.  Suggestions were that we look into a ‘cafeteria’ plan where the District allows a specific amount per employee to be used as that employee wishes,  and also to look into ‘attaching ourselves’ to Johnson County’s insurance plan if it is favorable.  If no agreement can be made, then adjusting Chief Dutton’s salary is an explorable option.  Jon will work on researching insurance benefits.

d)       Sick Leave.  Everyone agreed that the amount of sick leave that is allowed to accrue should be a sufficient enough amount of time to allow long term disability to go into effect.  It should translate to the same amount of for both shift employees and staff employees. Chief Dutton will research the items in question. Otherwise, general agreement as written.

e)       Holiday Benefit.  Everyone agreed that only nine (9) holidays should be given.  Those include New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after, Veteran’s Day, and Christmas Day and the day before or after.  Otherwise general agreement as written.

f)        Vacation.  General agreement as written.

g)       Pension.  Change to read as “All eligible full-time personnel will be enrolled in the 1977 Police and Fire Retirement Fund.  This benefit is equal to 27% of the ‘First Class Firefighter’ salary at the given time.”  Brian suggested that a letter of approval could be written for Chief Dutton to receive 27% and Kim to receive 15% toward a retirement plan of their choice.  He also suggested a “457” which is the government employee equivalent of a 401(k).  He will research this.

h)       Compensatory Time and Overtime. 

*  Section A.  Change to show that only non-exempt full-time personnel shall be eligible for comp time and overtime in situations that receive prior approval from the Chief. 

*  Section B.  Brian Bosma will research FLSA to see if the employee has the option of taking overtime pay or accruing comp time.

*  Section F.  Completely remove “The employee may at anytime, upon approval, use any accumulated comp time as paid time off or overtime pay.”

*  Add new Section F.  Mandatory overtime pay will be given after 96 hours have accrued..  

i)         Perfect Attendance Leave and Personal Leave.  General agreement as written as long as time given is equal between shift personnel and staff personnel.

j)         Mileage and Miscellaneous Other Leaves.  General agreement as written.  Brian Bosma will double check the correct wording for Military leave.

k)       Longevity Bonus.  General agreement as written.

l)         Paramedic Stipend.  General agreement as written but should be removed from benefits package and placed either in the policy manual or in the wages and salaries proposal.

m)      Seniority.  Everyone agreed that current Full Time Staff of the Department should keep their seniority when they become District employees.  This will effect the employee in areas such as longevity bonus, vacation, and PERF.  Otherwise, general agreement as written. 

10.     Motion made by Paul and 2nd by Chuck to adjourn the meeting.  All in favor and motion carries.  Meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.  Next meeting will be January 13 at station 51 at 4:00 p.m. in order to review the gear bids received.