White River Township Fire Protection District

Board Meeting Minutes

April 5, 2004   

 

District Board Members Present:  Butch Sutton, Jon Raker, Chuck Shufflebarger, Paul Kite & Jim Dodson

 

District Employees Present:  Mike Tibbetts, Carey Slauter, Eric Brown, Joel Thacker, Don Young, Nick Alford, Kevin Skipper, and Bruce Alexander.

 

Corporation Members Present: Mike Combs, Tony Slusher, Darryl Slevin, Jory Cox, Mike Hoffman, Jason Coffey, Josh Justice, Jeff Campbell, and Jason Tibbetts.

 

Others Present: Curt Coonrod & Steve Dyson.

 

 

Meeting called to order at 1900.

 

  1. Butch called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

  1. No discussion or changes on March minutes.  Motion by Paul and 2nd by Jon to accept as written.  All in favor and motion carries.

 

  1. Kim presented handouts from Chief Cassin, who was unable to be here tonight.  The first is a balance sheet showing our current account balances (Attachment A).  The second is a general fund budget report showing our expenses to-date by category.  Scott made three notations and explained those at the bottom of the 2nd page.  Overall, we are approximately $18,000 under budget.

 

  1. Curt Coonrod presented and discussed the fiscal plan (Attachment C). 

-         July is public hearing for ’05 Budget.

-         Budget will be adopted in August.

-         Chief Cassin will present the ’05 Budget draft at the May’s meeting for preliminary discussion.

-         Curt drew specific attention to page 3 of the plan, and explained several items.

      • Goal is to have our revenues equal our expenditures each year.
      • If we had no debt, the total projected revenues would be $4.6 million.
      • Every revenue that is projected is based on having no debt.

 

  1. Steve Dyson distributed a resolution for budget transfers, and discussed same.  Motion by Chuck and 2nd by Paul to approve resolution.  Motion carries and resolution signed (Attachment D).  Kim will forward an original to Tricia Leminger.

 

  1. Brief discussion on the corporation consolidation.

-         Butch stated that because this is now based on 12 hour shifts instead of the original 24 hours shifts, as previously presented, the overtime concerns of the legal counsel have been addressed.

-         Butch states that this is not scheduled to happen until December.

-         Butch feels that this is a very practical solution.

-         Butch requested the following happen:

§         A document be developed that can be reviewed that explains everything about this issue, such as how we will assure 12 hour shifts.

§         Determine if we will be “keeping” the corporation and find out what happens to the Booster Club if we don’t.

 

  1. Update on the construction issues at station 52 and station 53.

-         Station 52

§         Chief Tibbetts has a meeting with Dudley Senefeld tomorrow.

§         Chief Tibbetts will then meet with the field crew on April 8.

§         Chief Tibbetts has a meeting on April 20 with Dudley Senefeld for the design of the addition to station 52.

-         Station 53

§         Chief Cassin sent a list in the PMR of minor items that have been worked on.

§         Lieutenant Smith is overseeing this project.

 

  1. Update on station 51 project.

-         Contract was delivered tonight from Tricia Leminger by Steve Dyson.

-         Butch cited specific items, explaining how each had been addressed and resolved.

-         Butch will sign the contracts and we will need to present them with a $10,000 check for the earnest money.

-         Motion by Paul and 2nd by Chuck to give Jon authority to write the earnest money check when it is needed.  All in favor and motion carries.

 

  1. Discussion on lateral transfer of a current shift lieutenant to the staff fire prevention lieutenant that was in the budget.  This person will retain the same rank and seniority and the lateral transfer does not change the number of firefighters being hired.  This lateral transfer will not be effective until the new personnel are on the street, most likely on or around December 4, 2004.  No discussion held on this.  The Board stated that Chief Tibbetts has the power to make these lateral transfer on his own but appreciated being notified.

 

  1. Chief Young opened the bids that have been received for the current computer system.  An ad was placed in the newspaper but no outside bids were received.

-         Jason Coffey, System #6, $249

-         Kim Clawson, System #2, $519

-         Mark Hart, System #1, $539

-         Scott Wiegle, System #7, $250

-         Tony Slusher, System #9, $249

-         Eric Brown, System #4, $249

-         Ryan Cox, System #3, $369

-         Brent Shepherd, System #18, $339

-         Mike Schilling, Systems #13, 17, 20 & 21, $904

-         Don Young, System #19, $399

-         Brian McRoberts, System #5, $249

-         Chris Polanco, System #16, $199

-         Mike Hoffman, Systems #8, 10, 11, 12, 14 & 15, $1000

Board approved sale of system to these bidders and commended Chief Cassin on the way this was handled.  These bids will be placed with the minutes.

 

  1. Chief Young gave a presentation on the radio towers.  To fix our current system and get us back up to the absolute minimum will cost $14,955.  To upgrade the system, which is needed, will cost $27,135.  Chief Young stated that Chief Cassin plans to fund this with 2003 fire loan funds remaining from the computer purchase and the funds remaining from not purchasing the copy machine.

 

Board members expressed concerns that if this was such a “dire situation” why

they are just now hearing about it.

 

Chiefs Young and Tibbetts replied that Scott has tried, and succeeded, at

temporarily fixing our system several times over the last few months.  However,

we finally had to bring in an outside firm to troubleshoot the system and explain

the problems.

 

Butch requested that Chief Cassin obtain 3 quotes for this type of system and

present to the Board at the May meeting for action then.

 

Concerns were also raised about adding a fourth station to the “upgraded” system

and whether it would be able to handle it.

 

  1. Chief Slauter informed the Board that he will be needing approximately $25,000 - $30,000 to equip the new tactical when it comes in.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts stated that the new engine should be in later this week.  Chief Slauter stated that it should be in service by mid-April at the latest.

 

  1. No further new business and meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.