White River Township Fire Protection District

Board Meeting Minutes

June 8, 2005

 

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

 

White River Twp Fire Department Employees Present: Chief Tibbetts, Chief Cassin, Chief Brown, Tony Slusher and Kim Clawson.

 

Others Present: Steve Dyson and Brian Bosma.

 

 

  1. Meeting called to order at 7:03 p.m.

 

  1. Motion by Paul and 2nd by Butch to approve minutes.

 

  1. Chief Cassin explained the financial reports that were distributed in everyone’s packet.
    1. Several comp cash outs have decreased our liability there.  Comp time liability is now at just over $90,000.
    2. Trench training class resulted in overtime.
    3. ’77 Fund is slightly over because we don’t normally make a payment in May, but we had to this year due to an error; one person was forgotten in the April payment.
    4. Building maintenance is over budget due to lightning incident a few weeks ago at station 52.  This was an indirect hit which came in through our phone lines.  A claim has been submitted to insurance and lightning arrestors have been installed on the systems now.
    5. Training budget is difficult to budget because classes are taken at different times throughout the year.
    6. Chief Cassin stated that, generally speaking, we are under budget.

 

  1. Station 52
    1. Proposed packet just received by Bosma’s office.  Once finalized, notice of bid will be released.  This will be a unified bid.  Estimated construction costs are $250,000 according to Dudley Senefeld.  Chief Cassin stated that this was incorrect and was originally only slated at $125,000.  Butch agreed with this, further stating that we agreed that we absolutely had to stay under $150,000.  Brian stated that he would get with Dudley on this.
    2. Dudley stated that his fee would be 10%.  Brian is trying to get it to 9%, in addition to the construction costs for station 51.
    3. Brian stated the every other element of the contract has been settled.  A separate contract will be drafted for construction management services for the amount of $69,314.  For this, Dudley will hire a full time manager that will be on site during construction.
    4. Paul indicated that this would not include soft costs, such as bond counsel, financing costs, etc.
    5. Motion by Paul and 2nd by Butch to approve construction costs not to exceed $231,050.  All in favor and motion carries.
    6. Butch and Chief Cassin expressed concerns with having Senefeld oversee the project, citing past issues with their service and lack of organization.

 

  1. Station 51
    1. Property transfer has been completed.
    2. Funding has not yet been pursued.
    3. Brian stated that they would work with Steve to get a budget prepared and presented at the next District meeting.
    4. Chief Cassin stated that he had used our software and formulated a reduction of our cash by $500,000.  This should not create any fiscal problems for us in the immediate future, unless an unforeseen incident occurs.
    5. Brian suggested that we advertise for the total project at $3,000,000.  Chuck requested Brian proceed accordingly.

 

  1. The County Commissioners are still reviewing our proposed ordinance.  They are extremely busy and we have not yet heard anything.  Chief Brown stated that some of our items were adopted as county-wide planning ordinances.  Chief Tibbetts will be following up on this on Monday.

 

  1. Jim Dodson was not present for discussion regarding the benefits subcommittee.  Chuck is also a member of this committee and stated that there had been no communication so there is no update at this time.

 

  1. Butch inquired what the status is on the Safety Board.  He felt that Brian was to make the small changes as previously discussed.  Brian will check to see if the Staff Battalions are exempt and the Shift Battalions are not.  Brian did not see paying the Staff Battalions a stipend as being a problem.  Brian will follow up with Chief Cassin on these issues.

 

      Brian will also insert language that allows the Deputy Chief and Staff Battalions to receive an additional stipend, as well as being exempt.

 

      Brian will finalize this and report back to the District Board.

 

  1. Butch inquired on the status of the evaluations.  No one has finalized work on Chiefs evaluations.  Chuck suggested finalizing this after the budget has been finalized.

 

  1. Chief Brown stated that we have received the FEMA grant for a fire safety trailer.  Once we have the build contract for the trailer, we can request the funds to be deposited in a non-interest bearing account, then pay for it when it arrives.  Chief Brown requested permission to open and award the bids without waiting for the next District meeting, as we are already late on this project (FEMA states that the project must be completed within one year of awarding funds).  Brian reminded the members that our previous purchasing policy has been brought to the Board for approval.  Bids are due Tuesday, June 14th.  Motion by Butch and 2nd by Jon to authorize Chuck to act on the behalf of the Board to approve bids for this trailer.   All in favor and motion carries.  Chief Brown stated that our portion will be between $6,000 and $9,000.  It will take us approximately one week to go through the bids.

 

  1. July meeting will remain scheduled for July 5th.  Steve stated that this is also the public meeting for the budget.  The budget will be adopted at the August meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.  Discussion ensued on an August meeting date.  Everyone agreed that Thursday, August 4 would work best.  All in favor. 

 

  1. Butch questioned if we are at the point to where the District Board has shifted its focus to being the “managers” of this department, thus rendering the Board as “inappropriate” to be the Safety Board.  Butch suggested perhaps getting people from the outside to serve.  He stated that this was the original intent.

 

      Brian agreed that this was a valid inquiry but suggested that changes not happen while there are open/pending matters with the Safety Board.  Brian stated that there are no statutory requirements for Safety Board members, but there are for Merit Boards.

 

      Butch suggested that this be a priority for next year.

 

      Brian stated that we could consider moving the department to a Merit department, but that the District Board would lose considerable control,           rendering it as a fiscal body only.

 

      Chuck stated that he would like to understand what our options are by early next year so that a decision can be made.

 

  1. Brian stated that the June 15th hearing for the Safety Board has been postponed for at least 60 days.  Brian stated that if there was a hearing, it would be sometime after August 15th and he would try to accommodate everyone’s schedule.

 

  1. Brian stated that they are in the process of closing the most recent volunteer corporation.  A 2003 return was filed and an extension for 2004 was received.  Brian confirmed with the State that an audit must be performed for both of these years.  The original cost was to be $15,000 from Reedy & Peters.  They have since agreed to $10,000.  The non profit corporation status for them was never filed for.  Brian feels that since they received no profit, that there is no need to apply for it after the fact.  Motion by Jon and 2nd by Paul to approve the letter of engagement for Reedy and Peters and to approve no more than $10,000.  Three in favor and Butch abstained from voting for personal reasons.

 

  1. Chief Thacker stated that the most recent engineer hiring process has been completed and distributed a copy of the results.  He gave a brief description of the process.  Chief Thacker requested permission to make conditional offers of employment to Eric Wiseman and Kyle Brooks.  Paul expressed concern at hiring someone already in the ’77 PERF fund.  They’re length of service with us will be reduced, because they will already have time in the fund.  Chief Tibbetts stated that their pension cannot be drawn until they turn 52 years old.  Paul stated that he is not sure that this is even a valid concern and emphasized that it is certainly not in regards to this list.  Motion by Jon and 2nd by Paul to make conditional offers of employment and to establish a list with the remaining candidates.  All in favor and motion carries.

 

  1.   Chief Tibbetts reminded everyone that the Strawberry Festival is this weekend.

 

  1.   Chief Tibbetts stated that he would be on vacation next week.

 

  1.   Brief discussion on the 2006 budget, which was part of everyone’s packet tonight.

 

  1.   No further new business and meeting adjourned