White River Township Fire Protection District
	Board Meeting Minutes
	June 7, 2001  ~  7:00 p.m.
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District Board Members Present: Paul Kite, Bill Patterson, Chuck Shufflebarger, Jon Raker and Butch Sutton.

District Board Members Absent: none.

District Employees Present: Mike Tibbetts, Eric Brown, and Kim Clawson.

Corporation Board Members Present:  Scott Alexander and Mark Hart.

Others Present: Eric Reedy and Brian Bosma.

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1.        Meeting called to order at 7:20 p.m. after a brief tour at the District’s new building, 850 South Mullinix Road.   Kim stated that the minutes from May’s District meeting as presented in front of you tonight are typed strictly from the agenda of that meeting.  The actual minutes from that meeting have been lost.  All relevant points, with the exception of motions and seconds, are included in the new minutes.  After reviewing the May 8 minutes as presented, Chuck made a motion to approve them as written, with the District being able to amend them if the original minutes are found later on.  Bill 2^nd that motion and there was no further discussion.  Motion carries and minutes from the May 8 meeting stand as written. 

2.        Eric Reedy gave financial update. 

Cumulative Fund                 350,484
Debt Fund                          185,290
General Fund                      -80,502
2000 Capital Fund             365,073
1997 Capital Fund               25,443
1998 Capital Fund               21,634

                                         867,423

Eric reminded everyone that we would be receiving our property tax revenue this month.  He also stated that he has not been able to finalize anything for Station 53 because he is not getting the budget from the architect that he has requested from them 

3.        Discussion on Station 53.

-          One or two more pay applications until Station 53 is completely finished.

-          Paul stated that he would be holding the remaining $7,000 to Prince Alexander until they complete the punch list items.

-          Paul approved sign information on west wall.

-          Indiana DOT has approved us occupying the building without having the Opticom system installed.  It should be installed within the next week or two.

-          The department’s insurance agent, Jeff Stainfield, requested that the insurance limits for the buildings be re-evaluated.  Station 53 will increase and station 51 will decrease.  Brian Bosma urged Chief Tibbetts to do this immediately as we are already occupying the building.

-          We will be continuing at least one more week on the holding tank until the drip irrigation is completed.

-          Prince Alexander was supposed to be out today to evaluate the leak in the roof.

-          We will need a complete set of revised plans, as will the State Fire Marshal’s office.  Chief Brown will take care of making sure Prince Alexander gets this done.

-          Chief Browns stated that for at least the last three weeks there has been no project manager on site from Prince Alexander.  Several of the contractors arrive and when there is no manager on site, or if they have a question and no one is here to answer it, they pack up their tools and leave.

-          Chief Brown announced that Prince Alexander had ordered the removal of at least half of the building’s smoke detectors, which had already been installed, in an effort to save money in other places in the building.  When approached about this they stated they didn’t know anything about it, but ELC has shown him the paperwork where Prince Alexander ordered this to be done. 

-          Chief Brown would like to see the District Board pursue Prince Alexander because of their poor planning and research on this project.  They are approximately $140,000 over budget and although some of that were change orders, most were not.  For example, drainage requirements, asphalt requirements, entrance requirements, etc. were all items that they said that Johnson County did not tell them about.

-          Chief Brown stated that, on this project alone, Prince Alexander has had 5 project managers and 2 architects.

-          Butch stated that we should find out exactly what their negligence has cost us, in terms of not getting something else in the building that we had originally planned on.

-          We also need to review every contractor that went over bid and find out why. 

-          Brian Bosma agreed that we probably had a case for legal action.  He requested that Chief Brown develop a list of problems and he will review them.  He also stated that it is a good idea to hold the final $7,000 owed to Prince Alexander.  Once the list has been developed and reviewed, a meeting with Prince Alexander will be held and the issues will try to be resolved amicably.  Eric Reedy stated that he has the budget sheets and change orders listed in order of the contractors which shows the changes made throughout the project. 

4.        A “Certification of Surplus Bonds” was reviewed and discussed.  This certification will release the two dormant accounts (1997 & 1998 Capital Fund Accounts).  Motion by Bill and 2^nd by Chuck to approve the certification as presented and signed by Jon Raker, Fiscal Officer.  All in favor and motion carries.  Attachment A. 

5.        Additional appropriations presented and explained by Eric Reedy.   Discussion on the general fund appropriation.

Special Fire General Fund                Appropriation Amount  $55,000

             From Personal Services:    $45,000
                                $30,000 is for Battalion Chief’s position for ½ of this year.
                                $15,000 is for overtime.
             From Capital Outlays        $10,000                  

No further discussion from the District Board.  No public discussion.  Motion by Chuck and 2^nd by Butch to approve the general fund appropriation to allow for promoting Lt. Thacker to the Battalion Chief’s position and to hire a 3^rd Lieutenant.   All in favor and motion carries.  Motion by Jon and 2^nd by Bill to accept the other additional appropriations as presented.  All in favor and motion carries.  Resolution signed.  Attachment B. 

6.        Update on the Chief’s hiring process given by Chuck and Bill.  18 letters of intent have been received.  The committee met and has offered interview opportunities to 6 candidates.   Those candidates, in no particular order, are Mike Tibbetts, Jeff Huber, Paul Kite, Mark Oster, Scott Cassin and Carey Slauter.  Interviews are scheduled for Monday, June 25.  The four-person committee will break up into two different groups to perform the interviews.  It is up to each candidate to prove his or her eligibility for ’77 PERF Fund.  Brian Bosma stated that a state statute requires the eligibility for ’77 PERF Fund, but there is also the option of hiring a “Chief Administrator”, calling them “Chief” and placing them into Civilian PERF.  The potential downside to this is that if the Chief Administrator took disciplinary action against an employee and exceeded what was allowed to them (5 days suspension) by the safety board statute, problems could result.  Therefore, anything in excess of that 5-day suspension would have to be handled by the Safety Board.  The Chief’s Hiring Process Committee was directed to bring at least two or three recommendations for the position of Fire Chief or Chief Administrator with them to the July 10^th meeting for further discussion. 

7.        Mark Hart questioned Eric Reedy as to the ability to continue to provide a pay raise to the Corporation employees into 2002?  He stated that he did not know if that would be possible and that he was still working on it.  Mark stated that they would hold off on implementing any raises until a definite answer could be determined. 

8.        Brian Bosma stated that we have been asked by the ‘77 PERF Fund to appoint a ’77 Fund Agent for our agency.  This is pending until the Fire Chief’s process is completed and will remain on the District Board’s agenda. 

9.        Eric Reedy recently met with Chief Tibbetts and Paul Kite regarding budgetary items for 2002.  Some items discussed were:

-          Would like to hire four Lieutenants in addition to what we have now.

-          Might possible be able to move some 2001 expenditures from the vehicle maintenance category into the cumulative fund.

-          Costs of station 53 insurance are unknown at this time.

-          Insurance premiums can be expected to increase at least 20% every year and the current budget line item increase is only 4%.  Obviously, this puts the employee significantly behind in their benefits.

-          Corporation overtime continues to go up.  There are several staffing problems that are occurring.   Two of the major ones are:  A) We are not paying similar starting pays to other area fire departments; and B) The 40-hour OT rule is hindering the personnel who can work.

o        Brian Bosma stated that we cannot make the Corporation employees contractual employees of the District.  If the Department of Labor and/or the Internal Revenue Service were to find out, there would be severe personal penalties involved.

o        Brian will examine the following and present costs/risks for each at the next meeting:

§         Possibility of paying the Corporation employees directly instead of going through the contract.

§         Possibility of establishing a Reserve Division of the Fire Protection District and placing the Corporation employees directly into that and the District would pay them directly.

§         Possibility of having the few Corporation employees that could potentially be considered as working full time hours sign a release stating that they understand they are not being offered benefits. 

10.     In order to advertise the budget, Eric Reedy stated that he needed the following items:

-          Amount being transferred into the cumulative fund from the general fund.

-          New insurance premium amount.

-          Whether we are paying 7 or 8 corporation employees to be on duty.

-          When we are hiring the 4 career Lieutenants.

        Eric stated that he must have the budget advertisement to the papers by July 6^th.  

11.     No further business.  Meeting adjourned at 2130 hours.  Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10, 2001 at Station 53.