White River Township Fire Protection District

Board Meeting Minutes

August 1, 2006

 

District Board Members Present:

Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger

Paul Kite

Jon Raker

 

White River Twp Fire Department Employees Present:

Chief Cassin

Chief Slauter

Captain Arkins

Lieutenant Scholl

Lieutenant Green

Chad Witham

Scott Tichenor

Crystal Young

 

Others Present:

Tricia Leminger

Steve Dyson

Dan Sulkouwski       


                                                                                                                                

Note:  Motions are italicized and in blue.


 

 

Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.

 

              I.      Approval of Minutes from the July 11, 2006 Meeting

a.      Jon Raker moves to accept. Paul Kite seconds.

b.      All in favor and motion carries.                 

            II.      Financial Update

a.      Chief Cassin disbursed a balance sheet and budget report for year to date in the meeting packet.

                                                              i.      Chief Cassin is still in discussions with the insurance company on a schedule of payments, currently they are sporadic.

                                                            ii.      Page nine lists the bank balance.

                                                          iii.      Page 13 is a review on Capital outlay expenditures, as a reminder, most projects do not occur until the second half of the year so a large amount of funds are still available.

                                                           iv.      Dr. Shufflebarger would like for the department to have a wish list of unbudgeted items ready for review by the board for the next meeting.

          III.      Old Business

a.      Station 51 update

                                                              i.      Dan Sulkouwski handed out a new construction schedule that re-sequences completed projects and gives a closer view of a completion schedule.  He also stated that there will be more updates to the schedule.  Some non-compliant issues have come up but were promptly corrected by Senefeld.

                                                            ii.      A summary of the Station 51 project was handed out from Senefeld & Associates.  It describes all aspects of the project that have been completed and what work will take place over the next week or two.

b.      Station 52 update

                                                              i.      Neighbors have been complaining about the look of the grounds around the new addition.  CF Jones has been contacted by Scott Senefeld.  He has asked them to backfill and complete the concrete stoop.  The work should start on this next week.

                                                            ii.      Senefeld also submitted a progress report for Station 52.  Paint, ceiling tile and flooring should all be started no later than next week.

c.      2007 Budget – Approval

                                                              i.      In the Budget packet, form 2A shows totals for each fund, 4B lists each fund separately.  Levies and rates are intentionally high in case of changes.  Amortization schedules are also listed for all Fire Loans.

                                                            ii.      Jon Raker moves to accept. Paul Kite seconds.  

                                                          iii.      All in favor and motion carries.

                                                           iv.      Mr. Kite inquired about the personal services breakdown along with how overtime is calculated.

                                                             v.      Chief Cassin bases the overtime figure on historical data, number of full-time positions and the amount of available sick and vacation time.  The personal services breakdown is as follows:

Personal Services

Number

Trustees

5

Fire Chief

1

Deputy Chief

1

Staff Battallion Chiefs

2

Shift Battallion Chiefs

3

Captains

4

Lieutenant

9

3rd Yr. Firefighter

12

2nd Yr. Firefighter

3

Engineer Stipends

per engineer

Administrative

2

Part Time Firefighters

approx. 60

                                   

                                                           vi.      Steve Dyson also informed the board and Chief that a copy of proof of publication for the budget process ran in both the Star News and Daily Journal and a signed copy of the budget need to be sent to the County Auditors Office.  Another signed copy will be on file at the White River Township Fire Department Headquarters.

d.      Task Force One

                                                              i.      Tricia Leminger has cleared up the last remaining issues.  The workers comp. will be covered by Task Force One along with the overtime issues that deal with training.  Bill Brown is the Task Force director.

                                                            ii.      Jon Raker moves to accept. Paul Kite seconds.  

                                                          iii.      All in favor and motion carries.

e.      Sale of Engine 54

                                                              i.      Tricia Leminger dispersed a resolution for bid to the board to consider.  She stated that two government agencies can exchange property – cash, items, etc. -  as long as both unity agree and adopt similar resolutions.

                                                            ii.      Paul Kite was concerned about selling the apparatus as is.

                                                          iii.      Chief Slauter informed the board that $50,000 would be the most we would be able to get out of the Engine.  A previous bid would drop from $50,000 to $30,000 within the year on top of the cost of up keep on the Engine in that amount of time.  By selling the Engine to Needham Fire Department we would be helping a neighbor.

                                                           iv.      Mr. Kite reviewed the resolution and would like for it to be more descriptive about the Engine and would like for Needham to sign some type of release that they purchased the Engine as is and that White River Township Fire Department would not be held liable.  He also had some reservations believing the original intent was to keep the Engine to use as a backup while waiting for the delivery of the new Engine.

                                                             v.      Chief Slauter has another Engine to use and all current apparatus has been repaired and is running well.  He does not believe any problems will arise by selling Engine 54 to a neighboring department.

                                                           vi.      Jon Raker moves to accept the resolution to sell the Engine. Paul Kite seconds.  

                                                         vii.      All in favor and motion carries.

         IV.      New Business

a.      Department Vacancies

                                                              i.      Jared Clark handed in his resignation as of July 31.  Chief Cassin would like to pull the next name off of the list which would be Charlie Fraker.

                                                            ii.      Paul Kite moves to accept.  Jon Raker seconds.  

                                                          iii.      All in favor and motion carries.

                                                           iv.      There may be another firefighter leaving which would bring the department to the bottom of the list.  The senior staff will discuss the next course of action and inform the board at the next meeting.

b.      Strategic Planning.

                                                              i.      Starbucks is purchasing property near the location of the property the department is looking at.  They purchased the land at $425,000 for 1.2 acres.  Big O Tire purchased one acre of land in the area six years ago at a cost of $250,000.   Subway also in the area purchased an acre in 2003 for $239,000.  In another area, location Smith Valley Road and Morgantown, another acre lot was purchased for $239,000.

c.      FYI

                                                              i.      The department is in the process of an audit.  The group doing the audit came out of Lafayette to assist the group in our area.  They are 95% completed and were pulled away to start another audit.  The department now has everything the auditors need to finish the audit but they may not return until March to complete the audit.

                                                            ii.      No major problems have been brought to the department’s attention.  There are some permanent rank certificates that will need to be signed at the next meeting, everything else will be covered during the exit meeting when the audit is complete.

                                                          iii.      Chief Cassin does have a Form 100R that needs to be signed by the president and filed with the state.

           V.      Adjournment

a.      Meeting adjourned at 7:43 by Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger.

 

 

Next meeting will be September 5, 2006 at 7 p.m.