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|
White River Township Fire Protection District |
| Board Meeting Minutes | |
| March 5, 2003 ~ 7:00 p.m. | |
|
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|
District
Board Members Present: Jon Raker,
Chuck Shufflebarger, Paul Kite, Bill Patterson and Butch Sutton.
District
Employees Present: Mike Tibbetts,
Eric Brown, Carey Slauter, Scott Cassin, Casey Arkins and Kim
Clawson.
Corporation
Members Present: Tony Slusher, Mike Combs,
Mark Hart, Greg Maxwell and Corey McGaha..
Others Present: Brian Bosma, Eric Reedy and Jeff Stainfield.
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1. Meeting
called to order by Paul at 1905 hours.
2. Minutes from February 2003 meeting reviewed. Motion made by Chuck and 2nd by Bill to accept minutes as written. All in favor and motion carries.
3. Brian Bosma gave updates on station 53 issues.
a. Earthtek
1) Issue resolved for $1,000.
2) Will make repairs when the
weather breaks.
b. Future Construction
1) Issue not yet resolved.
2) Brian distributed
information packets to board members. Attachment A.
3) Brian
suggested paying the previously approved amount of $3318 to Future Construction,
which we know for sure
that we
owe them. He is still trying to contact Steve Alexander to determine if
the change order was approved or
not. If it was not, Brian strongly feels that the balance should be paid
by Prince Alexander Architects.
4. There are several small issues still outstanding with station 52 repair, but they are in the process of being resolved. Two major issues are the brick color and the mortar joints. Brian has sent a letter to Jeff Stainfield which he distributed copies of tonight. Attachment B. Jeff has agreed that he will not pay any vendor until he receives confirmation from us that the work is completed to our specifications. Other issues: the tower is up and the contractor is working on the roof now. We should hopefully be able to re-occupy next week sometime. Eric Brown stated that the insurance company has been working with us to bring the building up to code during these repairs.
5. Supplemental Agreement was approved at the last meeting, pending two minor changes. Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Jon to accept this revised Agreement. All in favor and motion carries. Tony Slusher reported that Mike Hoffman has their copy and has not had time to distribute it to the other corporation board members for their signatures. Brian distributed copies for the district board members to sign. He then gave these signed copies to Tony Slusher to have signed by the corporation board. Brian requested that two copies be given to Kim: one to file and one to mail back to him. Attachments must be included (budget for volunteer corporation and schedule of charges).
6. Service agreement with Public Safety Medical has been reviewed by Brian, who has approved it. Chief Tibbetts was approved to sign the agreement.
7. Discussion on Job Task Evaluations.
-
Standards are the same for male and female participants, as well as all ages.
- All
tasks are job-related.
- 10
minute time frame is based on the initial testing, whose participants took 3-6
minutes to complete it. The
two
oldest
members of the department did not want to participate in the initial
testing. Jon Raker agreed that 10 minutes is
not
unreasonable.
- Special
knowledge of the job would not help a participant do better.
- Brian
stated that this looks like a typical test but he cannot validate it. He
suggested that the best action, of course, is
to Public
Safety Medical validate our test, but that could be quite expensive.
- Brian
stated that he sees no reason to change the criteria unless a problem is found
at a later date.
-
Employees who return from an extended injury leave will be required to pass the
test before being sent back to active,
regular duty.
- Brian
warned that no disciplinary action can be taken against someone if they don't
pass.
8. Chief Cassin gave the Board an update on the status of the reference book that was requested at a meeting earlier this year. He gave a brief demonstration on the computer showing everyone how to access the department's website, and how to access meeting minute files that are on that site. We will still be adding the safety board and the policy manual, as they are scanned and made available.
9. Brian stated that he has reviewed our list of
appointed vs. merit ranks that we provided to him, as well as the supporting
meeting minutes. Butch requested, and everyone agreed, that we should
change the terminology from "merit" to "permanent".
Based on his review, Brian has drawn the following conclusions and explained how
he came to each:
- Mike
Tibbetts: Permanent rank of Battalion Chief, Appointed rank of Fire Chief.
- Joel
Thacker: Permanent rank of Lieutenant, Appointed rank of Battalion Chief.
- Don Young: Permanent rank of Lieutenant, Appointed rank of
Battalion Chief.
- Eric Brown: Permanent rank of Battalion Chief
- Bruce Alexander: Permanent rank of Lieutenant
- Joe
Settles: Permanent rank of Lieutenant
- Jeff
Wilson: Permanent rank of Lieutenant
- Jim
Engmark: Permanent rank of Lieutenant
- Kevin
Skipper: Permanent rank of Lieutenant
- Casey
Arkins: Permanent rank of Lieutenant
- Scott
Cassin: Permanent rank of Battalion Chief, Appointed rank of Deputy Chief
- Carey
Slauter: Permanent rank of Battalion Chief
Everyone agreed with the above rankings.
Brian reminded everyone that State statute reads that firefighters cannot be demoted lower than their Merit rank without a hearing.
Because there was no formal discussion at any prior meeting, Bill made a motion for Carey and Scott to have permanent ranks of Battalion Chief and that this be effective back to their hire date with the District. Jon 2nd motion. All in favor and motion carries.
Brian went on to explain how the current Safety Document is structured. Everyone agreed that the position of Division Chief needs to be removed and can be added back in later. If and when it is re-added, Appointed Battalion Chiefs become Permanent Battalion Chiefs. The Safety Document will be changed to show the removal of the Division Chief and will show the position of Battalion Chief under both the appointed rank and permanent rank.
Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Jon to revise the safety board to show the changes discussed above, as well as removing all "merit" wording and replacing with "permanent". All in favor and motion carries. Brian will make these changes and bring copies to the next meeting. Kim requested an electronic file be sent to her as well so it can be placed on the internet.
Kim will take care of changing the application packet to read permanent instead of merit.
Mark Hart has successfully completed all phases of his hiring and will begin his first day as a district employee on March 8, 2003. His permanent rank will be that of Lieutenant.
Butch would like to see the budget reviewed, and be evaluated each year forward, to ensure that we have the necessary funding for all positions. (ie: No more permanent people than there are funding for permanent positions.)
10. Discussion initiated on the current financial status of the District. At the beginning of the meeting, Kim distributed copies of the current balance sheet and appropriation report, provided to her by Mary Petruzzi in Curt Coonrod's office. Attachments C & D, respectively. Paul stated that he is not comfortable with Curtis Coonrod's knowledge of our agency, nor does it appear that has he made any effort to become familiar. We are concerned that we are not receiving the best possible service at this time, nor have we been for quite some time.
We do not have any type of contract with his company. Brian stated that we do not have any liability in ending our relationship with Mr. Coonrod.
A committee was formed, consisting of Chuck, Butch, Chief Tibbetts, and Chief Cassin, to determine exactly what we need in a financial consultant. It was suggested that they develop and advertise a "Request For Proposal" outlining these items. A final report will be brought to the next District meeting. We will wait to terminate Curt Coonrod's services until later.
Brian will continue trying to work with Curt Coonrod to reach some type of agreement allowing us to use the services of Reedy & Peters.