White River Township Fire Protection District
	Board Meeting Minutes
	Wednesday, September 4, 2002  ~  7:00 p.m.
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District Board Members Present:  Jon Raker, Chuck Shufflebarger, Bill Patterson, and Butch Sutton.

District Employees Present:  Mike Tibbetts, Carey Slauter, Eric Brown, Bruce Alexander, Joel Thacker and Kim Clawson.

Others Present:  Eric Reedy, Brian Bosma, Mike Hoffman, Mike Combs, and Don Young.

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1. Meeting called to order by Butch at 1906 hours.  Minutes from August 2002 meeting reviewed.   Motion made by Bill and 2^nd by Jon to accept minutes as written.  All in favor and motion carries.

2. Eric Reedy gave a financial update:

3. Revised benefits policy presented to Brian Bosma.  The only change is page 3,  Insurance.  The District Board has opted to pay up to $50,000 total life insurance on District Employees.   Motion by Jon and 2^nd by Bill to accept new Benefits Policy as presented.  All in favor and motion carries.  Kim will contact Paul and have him sign several originals.  One original will be kept in the policy manual, and the other originals will be sent back to Brian.  Kim will make copies of the signed original and distribute to all District Employees.

4. Chief Tibbetts stated that he has received a bid to provide supplemental life insurance, not to exceed maximum $50,000, for 16 career employees for a total of $1990 per year.  Motion by Bill and 2^nd by Jon to accept this quote and allow Chief Tibbetts to proceed in obtaining this policy.  All in favor and motion carries.

5. Chief Tibbetts stated that the roof work at station 52 began Monday and should be completed this week.  So far, no decking has needed replaced.

6. Chief Tibbetts gave an update on the Paramedic Lieutenant Hiring Process.

-          Advertisement placed in paper.

-          Six applications were picked up but only four were returned.

-          Those four proceeded to the written exam and oral interview.

-          Two of the four were from outside the department and did not score well.

-          The other two were from inside the department and scored very well.

-          Don Young finished first and Mark Hart finished second.  Both are career Paramedic    
      Firefighters with the City of Beech Grove Fire Department.

-          Chief Tibbetts requested permission to extend a conditional offer of employment to Don
      Young, contingent on successful completion of all ’77 PERF qualification requirements. 
      No discussion or complaints were received.  District Board granted Chief Tibbetts this
      request.

-          The remaining three will be placed on a hiring list for Paramedic Lieutenants.  That list will
      be in effect until September 1, 2003, or until such time that the Fire Chief and Fire
      Protection District Board agree that a new hiring process should be conducted, whichever
      occurs first.

7. Chief Brown gave an update on station 53 remaining construction issues.
1. Campbell:  Brian has sent a letter but has received no response.  He feels that we will probably not get this taken care of and will need to take care of the work ourselves.
2. Earthtek:  Directive from them is that we must replace the tiles with those made from a different material.  The costs involved in this is unknown.  Brian is working on finding out exactly what the specifications called for in the original plans.

8. Brian gave an update on the issue regarding payment of back taxes by Mike Dutton.  After our recent audit it was discovered that the state taxes, in the amount of $402.71 were not part of the original agreement.  The State Board of Tax Accounts has directed us to “make every effort possible” to retrieve these funds from him.  After discussion and agreement, Brian will send a letter, at the direction of the District Board, ordering Mike Dutton to make full and final payment on all taxes owed.

9. Eric Reedy stated that the audit is over and no other critical issues were found.  He did state that there are some paperwork changes that will need to take place, as well as some procedural changes, but overall there were no major problems.

10. Our Budget was approved by the County Council and will be heard by the State Board of Accounts around October of November.

11. Public hearing opened regarding the District incurring indebtedness in an amount not greater than $375,000 for the purchase of a 2^nd identical fire engine.  No comments from the public.  Public hearing was closed.  No discussion from the District Board.  Motion by Chuck and 2^nd by Jon to approve the resolution to incur indebtedness.  All in favor and motion carries.  (Attachment A)  Eric stated that the hearing before the State Tax Board would be held October 24.

12. Chief Carey Slauter presented a request to Brian Bosma and the District Board to allow the Department to conduct Job Task Evaluations on all employees who are assigned to fire suppression duties.  Carey emphasized that this is NOT to try to fire someone, but instead to ensure the fitness and safety of our personnel in the performance of their jobs.  All job-related tasks are timed.  In addition, there are three events that are not timed and are pass/fail (aerial ladder climb, maze crawl with air pack, and hooking a hose to a fire hydrant and charging it).  It is currently proposed that female participants will receive a different time requirement than male participants.  Brian feels that this could be discrimination.  For example, a male who cannot pass the time requirements in his gender group, but could pass it in the female gender group.  Brian will review the legalities concerning this type of test and follow up with Chief Slauter.

13. Chief Tibbetts requested permission to spend $16,000 out of the cumulative fund for six new air packs ($2,800 each).  He also stated that the Corporation Board has approved spending $33,000 of their Booster Club funds to upgrade all of our current air packs.  After discussion, motion made by Bill and 2^nd by Chuck to approve the $16,000 cumulative fund expense for six new air packs.  All in favor and motion carries.

14. No further new business.  Meeting adjourned at 2010 hours.

NEXT DISTRICT MEETING WILL BE ON
October 2^nd at 7:00 p.m.
AT WHITE RIVER FIRE HEADQUARTERS,
850 SOUTH MULLINIX ROAD, GREENWOOD.