White River Township Fire Protection District
Board Meeting Minutes
July 10, 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, Scott Cassin, Joe Settles and Kim Clawson.

Corporation Board Members Present:  Scott Alexander, Mark Hart, Jim Taulman, and Mike Hoffman.

Corporation Employees Present:  Joe Weihe, Joe Marsh, Mike Hoffman, Carey Slauter, Jason Tibbetts, Chris Kindred, Tim Smith, Ray Skipper, Scott Terry, Mike Combs, Wayne Fletcher, Jayson Combs, Jason Bailey and Don Young.

Others Present: Brian Bosma (attorney), Dusty Ricketts (Center Grove Gazette), Julie Thacker, Connie Tibbetts and Charlie Linville.

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1.        Meeting called to order at 7:05 p.m. Minutes from the June 7 meeting were read with no discussion.  Motion made by Bill and 2nd by Jon to approve the minutes as written.  All in favor and motion carries. 

2.        Paul Kite gave financial update. 

Cumulative Fund          484,654
Debt Fund                   250,335
General Fund               196,344
2000 Capital Fund       188,435
1997 Capital Fund         25,443
1998 Capital Fund         21,634

3.        Chuck gave an update on the Chiefs hiring process.  The committee (Chuck, Bill Patterson, Scott Alexander, Eric Brown) met to discuss the interviews and applications of all candidates.  The recommendation from the volunteers and the existing career personnel is to hire Mike Tibbetts as the Fire Chief.  The committee agreed, but commended ALL candidates on their excellent presentations and stated that White River Township Fire Department is very lucky to have these personnel.  Chuck requested comments from those present. 

Ø                   Scott Alexander reminded everyone that we need to work together as one:  the District board, the Chief and the corporation’s Board.

        Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Butch to permanently appoint Mike Tibbetts as Battalion Chief, with an immediate
        promotion to Fire Chief.  All in favor and motion carries.

Ø        Chief Tibbetts stated that he looks forward to working with everyone and that ALL prior problems are behind us now.  He thanked everyone for giving him this opportunity and supporting him.

4.        Station 53 update.

-          Earthtek (drip system) has submitted a contract to us for our review.  It is completely unacceptable, as they have raised their prices dramatically.  Kevin Kelley, Brian Bosma and Mark Collucci are working on this.

-          Motion by Jon and 2nd by Bill to allow Paul and Butch to approve the final decisions on the sewer contract.

-          Eric stated that the 14-item punch list is still outstanding from 6/1.  The biggest problem at this time is the overhead doors that are leaking rain under the door.

-          Brian stated that he knows a licensed architect who would review our situation and charge us less than $5,000.  In turn he will render an official opinion on the building and the errors committed.  Brian’s next step would then be to contact Prince Alexander with the list or go directly for their Errors and Ommissions Insurance Policy.  Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Butch to approve up to $5,000 to contract the licensed architect as a consultant.  All in favor and motion carries.

5.        Station 51-sewer update by Jim Taulman, who is involved with the company doing the work.

-          The concrete is thicker than the expected.

-          The floors have been cut.

-          Materials were dropped off today.

-          Waiting for the pump to arrive.

-          With the weather permitting, it will be just a “few more days…or so.” 

6.        Discussion of funding a future Battalion Chief and Lieutenant has been tabled until Eric Reedy returns from vacation.  Motion made by Butch and 2nd by Bill to promote Joel Thacker to the position of Battalion Chief with a permanent rank of Lieutenant.  No discussion, all in favor and motion carries.  This will leave one Battalion Chief opening still.  Brian suggested the Board stating seniority and permanent ranking of all district employees would sign creating a certificate that. 

7.        Chief Tibbetts requested permission to go ahead and start the next hiring process to create a hiring list.  Brian stated that there are no statutes requiring us to post or advertise the process, but it would be best if we did.  After discussion, it was agreed that Chief Tibbetts would organize and monitor this hiring process. 

8.        Motion by Bill and 2nd by Butch to offer a conditional offer of employment to Jeff Wilson, who is next on the current Lieutenants list.  No discussion, all in favor and motion carries.  Chief Tibbetts will make this offer.  If Jeff turns it down, it will be offered to the next person on that list.  The list itself expires 2/1/02. 

9.        We are expecting delivery of our new engine in August.  July 23rd is the final inspection at the factory.  Chief Tibbetts stated that he would like to purchase a take home vehicle for each battalion chief, and replace some of the current staff vehicles.  Chuck suggested creating a rotating replacement schedule for staff vehicles, as well as a written policy governing it.  Chief Tibbetts stated that in a conversation he recently had with Eric Reedy, Eric felt it might be best to get a Fire Loan for these vehicles in conjunction with the budget process.  The public hearing is on August 9th.  Everyone agreed that we should go ahead and advertise it to make the deadline, but that if after further discussion the District opts not to purchase these vehicles, they can always vote ‘no’ on it. 

10.     Brian Bosma stated that he feels he will have a copy of the Interlocal Agreement with the City of Indianapolis within a week. 

11.     Chief Tibbetts requested permission to gather prices from various cleaning services to clean the administrative and public areas of the new station.  Permission granted. 

12.     Paul reminded everyone that the budget review meeting is July 25th and the budget approval meeting is August 9th. 

13.     Brian reminded everyone that PERF wants the name of the District’s PERF representative.  Motion by Butch and 2nd by Bill to appoint Mike Tibbetts as the agent for the White River Township Fire Protection District to the 1977 Police and Fire Pension Fund.  No discussion, all in favor and motion carries.  Brian will file the necessary paperwork. 

14.     Brian mentioned that he is still waiting for information regarding the taxes not withheld on the former fire chief in order to send him the letter that he was directed to send at the last meeting.  Kim stated she thought that Eric Reedy was taking care of getting that information to Brian. 

15.     Brian stated that he needs paperwork from Stoops stating that the Tanker’s recent differential problem was due to errors in design.  Chief Tibbetts stated that he would work on getting that. 

16.     Brian stated that he is following up on a request regarding the 40-hour workweek ruling.  Here are the options he has found at this time.  He distributed copies of his findings to the volunteer corporation members, as well as the District members.  It is summarized as follows:

a.        Leave it as it is set up now.

b.       Make the volunteer corporation fit the definition of a public entity.  Per FLSA, if the corporation is answerable to the public or elected officials, then they qualify for the 212 rule.

c.        Make payroll come from the District. 

-          Employees would still be a member of the corporation but would be employees of the District.

-          Problem:  People making over $10,000 annually could be eligible for benefits.

-          Solution:  Have those personnel sign contracts or letters of agreement stating that they do not want benefits.

d.       Leave it as it is.  Conclude that the volunteer corporation is a public entity.  We could request a Department of Labor ruling but we could be waiting at least six months.

e.        Disband the current corporation.  The District Board would create a new corporation, which would specifically meet the “public entity” requirements.

Further discussion on this has been tabled until the August 9th meeting, giving everyone a chance to review this information.  The corporation was directed to bring Overtime figures and the resulting savings the changes would bring. 

17.     No further business and meeting adjourned.