White River Township Fire Protection District
Board Meeting Minutes
September 4, 2007
District Board Members Present:
Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger
Rev. Jim Dodson
Jon Raker
Butch Sutton
Jeremy Pell
Scott Cassin
Scott Alexander
Ray Denson
Craig Zollars
Crystal Young
Others Present:
Jeff Logsdon
Note: Motions are italicized and in blue.
Dr. Shufflebarger called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
i.
To this point
the department has not received the tax revenues.
ii.
The department
is okay on cash even though the General Fund is shown in the negative.
i.
The usual funds
to watch are the Building and Vehicle Maintenance funds.
ii.
Chief Slauter is
working with the Battalions to watch the overtime.
i.
The department
is currently receiving phone calls from contractors not getting paid.
1. JE Mechanical has informed the department that they
have not received the last two.
2. Any that are due must still be with Senefeld.
ii.
Mr. Sutton asked
if the loan for the station is basically paid to which Chief Cassin answered
yes and are starting to pay from the funds the board issued to pay the balance.
iii.
JE Mechanical
has stated that Senefeld is out of business.
The issue with the payment is that the bill is sent to Senefeld who send
the bill to the department who then sends the payment to the contractors
directly.
1. The word on the street is that Senefeld is gone.
2. JE Mechanical is trying to hunt down their pay outs.
3. Chief Cassin did receive an e-mail form
4. Mr. Sutton asked what our watchdog has said on this
topic. Chief Cassin replied by stating
that he has not seen Dan during the last couple of site meetings, the contract
with Kramer has been fulfilled and not sure if he will be back.
5. Mr. Sutton told Mr. Logsdon that he would like for
Ms. Leminger to follow up on this news.
i.
Chief Cassin
stated that the project is 99% complete.
Dr. Shufflebarger stated that the Senefeld’s would like to do a walk
through; Chief Cassin replied that yes they do but there was no time set yet.
ii.
The hood system
is the biggest issue currently. The
system was not approved by the state and modifications need to be
approved. There is a separate entity
that will re-work the hood system making that easier to deal with.
1. Senefeld was supposed to file the plans with the
state but to this point nothing has been submitted.
2. Chief Brown stated that it is a three week process
for the approval.
iii.
The painters
were in the building today and the landscaping still needs to be done but can
be complete within a week.
i.
There is no new
information since the seller requested a sixty day extension.
1. The board did not actually ok the extension or take
action because there was nothing to gain by entering into the contract.
2. The department fall back is that if St. Francis
purchases the property they may want a station on the property and may give the
department a better deal.
a. The latest rumor is that St. Francis wants to build a
hospital on the property that they already own north of the property the
department is looking at.
ii.
Dr.
Shufflebarger asked how long the department is willing to wait.
1. Chief Brown stated that he will contact St. Francis
to find out what their plan is. Wal-mart
the other prospective buyer has decided to go North of County Line Rd.
2. Dr. Shufflebarger asked if the department has a
timeline on when to bail. Currently
everyone is still gathering information and no timeline has been set.
iii.
Mr. Sutton asked
who Kathy is representing. Chief Brown
stated that she is representing the firm that is selling the property and that
we are going through her because she is the one listed.
i.
No other old
business.
i.
Chief Pell stated
that the senior staff with the Battalions met on August 16 to discuss
expectations for the department and each other.
1. Chief Pell intends on having meetings with the
Company Officers as well as the rest of the department.
ii.
The Command Structure
was discussed and once the budget allows the specific structure will be
proposed to the board and changes will be discussed.
iii.
The Senior Staff
also reviewed some action items from the last retreat.
iv.
The meeting was
also attended by Rep. Frizzell, Sen. Waltz and Mr. Hannify to discuss the
current tax climate and possible routes for the department in the future.
1. The department will not move on any options until
thoroughly discussed with the board.
i.
Due to personal
issues and concerns has asked to step down from prevention. There is currently a float position open and
he will be placed into that position temporarily.
ii.
Chief Cassin
stated that the position was posted to current captains and there has been no
interest in the position.
iii.
The recommendation
is that the position be an officer. The
department would like to open the position to a Lieutenant but that the person
is left as permanent LT with the appointed rank of captain.
iv.
Mr. Sutton
stated that he believes this to be an issue for the lawyer to look into. Dr. Shufflebarger agreed to explore what is
possible.
1. Chief Pell stated that this is an important spot and
would like to move ahead quickly.
2. Mr. Raker reiterated that the department would like
to pay the position as a captain even if it is appointed rank and not
permanent.
3. Chief Pell agreed and stated that it is not a budget
issue but permanent as apposed to appointed rank.
4. Dr. Shufflebarger stated that it is something the
legal representative would need to look into as respect to size of department
and upper level policy making position.
Mr. Sutton stated that he believes there are only so many levels allowed
and that there had been a conversation on this issue when the position was put
in originally.
a. Chief Thacker stated that there was no issue
originally since
b. Chief Brown stated that Ms. Leminger should have the
language.
v.
Chief Pell
stated that the position needs to be a captain pay rate to get someone in the
position and they need to be given the appointed captain rank if that is
possible. The current position is at
captains pay.
vi.
Mr. Sutton
confirmed that the department would like to have the position be appointed and
have a temporary fill in. Mr. Raker
reiterated that an LT could do the job and takes the appointment temporarily
but will go back to their permanent rank of LT after. Currently the Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief
and Fire Chief are all appointed positions.
vii.
The current
concern is how to handle the position in administration. An appointment of Capt would be discretionary
and if someone were to move they could go back down and would keep their
permanent rank of LT.
viii.
Mr. Logsdon
stated that the Safety Board would have to appoint back to permanent rank and
there needs to be a determination of the number of appointed positions.
ix.
Dr.
Shufflebarger stated that it would be temporary but long term temporary.
x.
Mr. Dodson
stated that he was confused as to why it needed to be a rank of Capt.
1. Chief Pell stated that in the culture of the fire
service rank is important. To a guy in
the companies it does make a difference.
It is in keeping with the history of the department.
2. It also needs to be Capt because of the work load,
scheduling, and after hours work.
3. Maybe the department does not need to appoint but
fill the position with a LT but give them Capt pay.
xi.
The department
would like to fill the position as soon as possible and would like to offer the
Capt pay as an incentive. The department
would like to open the position up to LTs and if no LTs want the position we
may be back in front of the board.
xii.
Mr. Sutton
stated that the board should post the position pending the decision, maybe post
for letters of intent.
1. Dr. Shufflebarger stated that the interest may be
contingent on rank.
2. Mr. Raker believes that it would be more so on
pay. The person would be giving up money
for more work.
xiii. Jon Raker motions that the position be offered to rank of LT but paid at current Capt pay. Butch Sutton seconds.
1. Since the Safety Board is the appointing authority,
if an LT or any interested party is chosen will the department need to bring
the name to them? The majority of the
board answered no.
2. The department needs to post he position find out who
is interested then fill at discretion.
3. Mr. Raker reiterated that the motion was “if filled
with a current LT”. If no current LT is
interested the department will need to bring the topic up to the board again
for the next step.
xiv. All in favor and motion carries.
i.
September 8 at
1:00 p.m. there will be a 9/11 memorial at Forest Lawn.
ii.
September 10 is
the Johnson County Council meeting concerning the budget.
iii.
October 11 &
30 will be meeting concerning the Johnson County Master Development Plan.