White River Township Fire Protection District
Board Meeting Minutes
January 6, 2003 ~  7:00 p.m.

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District Board Members Present:  Jon Raker,  Chuck Shufflebarger, Paul Kite, and Butch Sutton.

District Employees Present:  Mike Tibbetts, Carey Slauter, Scott Cassin, Jim Engmark, Joel Thacker, Eric Brown, Casey Arkins, Don Young and Kim Clawson.

Corporation Members Present:  Brian McRoberts, Darryl Slevin, Scott Alexander, Mike Combs, Brent Shepherd, Tim Smith, Jason Coffey, Jeff Smith, Justin Laraway, Nick Alford, Tony Slusher, Mike Hoffman, Jim Meacham and Andrew Tames.

Others Present:  Brian Bosma, Eric Reedy, Curt Coonrod, and Darryl Mendelsohn. 

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  1. Meeting called to order by Paul at 1900 hours. 
  1. Minutes from December 2002 meeting reviewed.   Motion made by Chuck and 2nd by Butch to accept minutes as written.  All in favor and motion carries. 
  2. 2002 year end financial report presented from Curt Coonrod.  Attachment A.
  3. Chief Tibbetts presented nominations for the new Corporation’s Board of Directors:  Mike Hoffman, Jory Cox, Mike Combs, and Darryl Slevin.  Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Butch to accept these nominations as presented.  All in favor and motion carries.  Brian advised that the board members would serve staggered terms, one for three years, three for two years and one for one year and are served as follows: Cox, Hoffman & Slevin serve two year terms, expiring 12/31/04; Slusher will serve the three year term, expiring 12/31/05; Mike Combs will serve the one year term, expiring 12/31/03.  Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Butch to accept these term limits as presented.  All in favor and motion carries.
  1. Paul Kite announced that he held a meeting with Curt Coonrod and Mary Petruzzi a few days after last month’s District meeting.  After a brief discussion, it was agreed that we could continue our relationship with Curt Coonrod’s firm for accounting services at this time.  However, Paul also advised that we are under no contract with them and can sever the relationship at any time.
  1. Station 53 Updates
    1. Earthtek

-  We sent a letter on December 20 and have had no response to date.  Attachment B.

-  Chief Tibbetts will be the contact for them to schedule this project.

    1. Future Construction

-  We sent a letter on December 20 and have had no response to date.  Attachment C

-  Brian recommended that we table this until shortly before the next meeting. 

<<< Fire Department personnel left the meeting to respond to a working business fire.  Meeting continues. >>> 

  1. Station 52 Updates
    1. JL Fox is working for the insurance company, not White River Township Fire Protection District.  Therefore, Brian feels it would be unusual for us to enter into a contract with them for completion of the work.  The only issue he could foresee is getting any warranty work completed later on as the warranty will be in the insurance company’s name.
    2. After discussion, it was agreed that we should contract with Don Corteau to inspect the work being completed and to follow up on his original list of issues.  He should report back to the Board via Chief Tibbetts.  Motion by Butch and 2nd by Jon to hire Mr. Corteau for this project, with a cost not to exceed $1,000.  All in favor and motion carries.  Brian will contact Mr. Corteau.

 

  1. Brian stated that with the formation of the new corporation, a release has been developed for their employees to sign that waives all rights to benefits and specifically states that they are a member of the Volunteer Fire Corporation and not a member of the Fire Protection District.  Attachment D.  Brian stated that all current employees are signing this and that this must be in the Corporation’s new hire packet for all future employees.
  1. Brian will bring guidelines for using the Rainy Day fund at a later date.  The District Board will need to adopt a resolution.
  1. Discussion ensued on the Job Task Evaluation with Public Safety Medical Services (PSMS).  After discussion, Butch stated that he agrees with the concept but needs more information before anything is formally adopted.  This will be tabled until the next meeting when Chief Slauter can be present for further discussion.  In the mean time, Chief Slauter will continue to work with PSMS to further develop this proposal.
  1. Chief Tibbetts designated Don Young to give the Board an update on 2003 staffing issues.  Don stated that Chief Tibbetts anticipates the Deputy Chief to start Monday, January 13.  This will be filled by Battalion Chief Scott Cassin who is being appointed to the position of Deputy Chief.  He also stated that, after completing the Battalion Chiefs process, he has been chosen by Chief Tibbetts to fill the ensuing Battalion Chief vacancy.
    1. Motion by Butch and 2nd by Chuck to grant a conditional offer of employment to Mark Hart for a Paramedic Lieutenant position.  All in favor and motion carries.  Mark will begin work immediately after successful completion of all phases of the ’77 PERF process.
    2. Discussion on making further conditional offers of employment to for vacant Lieutenant positions will take place at the February meeting.
    3. Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Butch to appoint Don Young to Battalion Chief with the merit rank of Lieutenant.  All in favor and motion carries.
  1. At last month’s meeting there was extensive discussion on merit ranks vs. appointed ranks for current District employees.  Brian stated at that time that a certificate was developed and should have been placed in each person’s personnel file stating their hire date, merit rank and appointed rank.  Since that meeting, Brian has found in the Safety Board document where it states that a Battalion Chief’s merit rank is that of Battalion Chief, but then found in the application packet where it states that their merit rank is that of Lieutenant with an appointed rank of Battalion Chief.  Brian feels that the Board should follow what is in the application packet because it more truly outlines their employment conditions.  He suggested revising the Safety Board document to read accordingly.  All agreed.  He will bring the revised Safety Board document to the February meeting.  Kim stated that the certificate that Brian developed was probably given to the former Chief to be processed and wasn’t.  She requested that Brian email her a copy of this certificate so she can make sure it is inserted in the personnel files.
  1. Butch stated that he would like to see Kim review all of our previous minutes and find any issues related to any policies that were approved, as well as all hiring issues.  This information needs to be compiled where it is located in one book for easy reference.  A roster also needs to be created that shows the employee’s hire date, their merit rank, their appointment rank and date, etc.
  1. Brian presented the new Master Agreement.  Attachment E.  The only significant changes were staffing and discipline.  Motion by Butch and 2nd by Jon to accept agreement after changing the expiration date of the Agreement shown in Section 23 to December 31, 2005.  All in favor and motion carries.
  1. Brian stated that the Corporation board is as follows:  Mike Hoffman - President; Darryl Slevin -  Vice President; Tony Slusher - Treasurer; Mike Combs - Secretary; Jory Cox - Member at Large.
  1. Brian presented the Supplemental Agreement, which has not yet been signed by the Corporation.  Brian stated that a schedule of services needs to be attached to the Supplemental.  Curt Coonrod stated that while he felt the District could fund the amount shown, he suggested the Board should consider lowering that amount to $637,184.  He feels that we can fund the amount shown for this year, but may not be able to sustain it in future years.  After discussion it was agreed that the best course of action was to table this until the February meeting where a final decision would be reached.
  1. Paul reminded everyone that the January District meeting is the time when District Board officers are elected.  Motion by Butch and 2nd by Chuck to leave officers as they currently are.  All in favor and motion carries.  2003 Fire Protection District Board Officers are:  Paul Kite – President; Butch Sutton – Vice President; Jon Raker – Fiscal Officer; Bill Patterson and Chuck Shufflebarger – Members.
  1. Kim discussed possible meeting dates for 2003.  She will draft a list of POTENTIAL dates and email to everyone. 

 

NEXT DISTRICT MEETING WILL BE ON
February 4th at 7:00 p.m.
AT WHITE RIVER FIRE HEADQUARTERS
850 SOUTH MULLINIX ROAD, GREENWOOD.