White River Township Fire Department
Staff Meeting * May 26 & 27, 1998
Tuesday (26th) meeting called to order at 1310 hours. Present: Mike Dutton, Eric Brown, Troy Wymer, Steve Coover, Dave Sherfick, Kevin Johnson, Kevin Skipper, Scott Cassin, Steve Rowland, Mike Hoffman, Joel Thacker and Kim Clawson
Wednesday (27th) meeting called to order at 1312 hours. Present: Mike Dutton, Casey Arkins, Jeremy McKee, Mike Shoemaker, Carey Slauter, Troy Wymer, Jeremy Pell, Joe Settles, Joe Marsh, and Kim Clawson.
IF YOU WERE UNABLE TO
ATTEND, REMEMBER TO CONTACT YOUR LIEUTENANT IF YOU
HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR
COMMENTS REGARDING ANYTHING THAT WAS DISCUSSED.
1. Correction to Jeremy Pell’s
memo regarding placing Perry Engine 669 in service. Currently states that E669 will go in service
when Engine 52 goes out of service. It
should state that it goes in service when either of the two engines goes out of
service. There has been no official word
yet regarding their movement of Aerial 662 to station3.
2. New rescue will be housed at
station 51. Training division hopes to
have enough people cleared on it to have it in service the second week of June. When in service it will respond only on PI’s until
staffing allows us to do otherwise.
3. Effective immediately, inspections
will no longer be performed at company level unless the person is certified as
an Inspector I/II/III. Reinspects will
still be performed at company level. Both
are to be done in a Class B uniform.
4. Training for June will be
focused around new equipment (i.e.: new
rescue, extrication tools, water rescue, etc.)
5. We will no longer be taking disregards
from other agencies. Chief Dutton will
have Jeremy Pell issue a policy on this on May 27 and distribute. The first due apparatus is to respond to the
scene to determine extent of situation and obtain a report.
6. Speaking of reports, when in
doubt get insurance information! We have
lost an estimated $18,000 because crews are not getting insurance information
for billing purposes. Also, all
investigations must list a “cause”. Any
questions, please contact Eric Brown.
7. Joel Thacker, Carey Slauter,
and Jeremy Pell are working on permanent station assignments. Hoping to have this in service around July or
August.
8. Problems with chauffeur
assignments at station 52. Current non-chauffeurs that are on the roster will
have six months to be cleared to drive. Otherwise,
they will be assigned to station 51 permanently, or until such time that they
are cleared to drive.
9. Automatic safety officer
response will be to smoke/fire in a residence, MVA w/entrapment, Haz Mat,
tactical rescues, firefighter injury or fatality, when called by IC, accidents
involving fire department apparatus , or any time a safety officer believes it
to be necessary. Day safety officer will
be Eric Brown and night safety officer will be Carey. If it is a C shift, Carey will appoint Casey
Arkins to respond at night in his place. Any personnel responding to the scene
must report to IC. Any time a safety
officer is needed, they are to be paged by the battalion’s laptop (do not call
dispatch to do this).
10. Discussion on Chief Officer
responsibilities. Chief Dutton notified
everyone present, and will do so again at tomorrow’s staff meeting, that any
Chief officer will appear on any scene they choose to and will have the Chief’s
permission to do so. The Chief officers
will also be involved in all job details until such time that the department
changes and allows for individual job descriptions. (i.e. career battalions and lieutenants,
etc.)
11. Meeting with FPDB on May 13
went well and the Ten Year Plan was proposed.
They will be meeting again June 16.
In the mean time, Chief Dutton has Jeremy Pell to work with them. Eric Reedy notified Chief Dutton that Bushman
is having senators introduce the Cumulative Fund and Emergency Funding for us.
12. Budget is still tight so
only emergency expenditures please.
13. If Methodist hospital does
not commit to sponsoring EMAS ambulance by Wednesday at Midnight, we will opt
for “Plan B” which entails hiring their personnel and leasing their truck in
order to continue ALS service to this area.
14. Dan Reed has resigned and
Dave Sherfick is working on obtaining a letter from him stating same. The list of personnel in danger of not
meeting hours will be out at the end of this month.
15. Reserve Lieutenant job
description is to remain posted until May 27 (tomorrow), hopefully at which
time a decision will be made as to who will fill it.
16. Mike Hoffman mentioned to
everyone that newer model Buick Rivieras and Oldsmobile Auroras now have
batteries which are located under the back seat on the passenger side. Chief Dutton asked Joel Thacker to issue a
memo on this and address it during department training sessions.
17. All tuition reimbursement
forms are to go through Joel Thacker. We
will try to get everyone through one major class (within reason) per year, as
the budget allows.
18. There will be an Ivy Tech
sponsored Master Driver Operator course starting in June at C9 and will be
taught by James Sipes of GFD. Five
people from WRTFD will be allowed to attend.
Please submit tuition reimb. forms to Joel.
19. Reminder that we need to
portray a positive public image.
Whenever a unit reports for duty in a dirty uniform, make sure they have
an order for new uniforms in. If not,
send them home. Shorts and sandals
should not be worn out in public. At a
very minimum, wear turnout gear over them.
But personnel should be strongly encouraged to be in a
regular uniform when out in the public.
Reminder that when out in public everyone should act professional (no
loud behavior, lewd jokes, etc.) as well as dress professional. The engine officer is ultimately responsible
for this!
20. Troy Wymer has until June 7
to propose a policy that will address goatees, pony tails, etc. After much group discussion, Chief Dutton
referred it to Senior Staff for discussion.
21. Chief Dutton reminded
everyone that attendance records are now kept in FireHouse under ‘history’. All lates and absences must be recorded here
for evaluation purposes. Absolutely no
entries were made in FireHouse over this past weekend. Again, it is up to each battalion to make
sure this is done!
22. Once again, you are not
required to meet with each employee before turning in their evaluation. Make every effort to meet with them or talk
to them on the phone, but do not hold an evaluation and get into a back pay
situation.
23. Rescue 51 will be returning
to TKO for more graphic work.
24. Joe Marsh will be on
vacation June 1 – 5 and again 14 – 21.
See Kevin Skipper with any apparatus problems.
25. Due to recent incident
involving a PI and having three pieces of apparatus on the scene with no oil
dry, Maintenance Division will assign one person to thoroughly check each truck
at least once per week.
26. Please stick with 10am
details at 10am .
27. Jeremy Pell will draft a
policy to list minimum staffing on first out trucks as three personnel.
28. Carey will be out of town
June 11 – 18. Casey will be acting
safety officer. Any administrative problems
should be taken to Chief Dutton.
29. Eric Brown will be out June
9 – 15.
30. Joel Thacker will be out
June 15 – 28.
31. Effective immediately,
station 51 is not to eat in the district anymore. Get it to go and bring it back to the
station.
32. All daytime trainings are to
be held at station 51. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make sure it is
straightened after each use and ready for the next group.
( )
Dutton ( ) Pell ( )
Cassin ( ) Thacker
( )
Slauter ( )
Marsh ( )
McKee ( )
Wymer
( ) Abel ( ) Settles ( )
Sherfick ( ) Arkins
( )
Shoemaker ( )
Mourer ( )
Johnson ( )
Sichting
( )
Martindale ( )
Coover
ADDENDUM TO STAFF MINUTES FOR MAY 26 & 27
(as discussed in the Senior
Staff meeting 6/3/98)
1. WRTFD and EMAS have signed a contract which (making a long story short) will allow their ambulance to stay here. If questions, contact any of the senior staff.
2. Personnel changes are as follows. Kim will issue a new command tree as soon as possible. Be sure to review your division for any changes.
Moved from reserve to compensated - Brian Griffith, Bob Cesnik, Jeff Campbell, Robert Crocker, and Mike Tibbetts.
Hired as reserve – Wayner Fletcher, Jim Jackson, Joe Marcum, John McMillan, and Jerry Harder.
3. Effective immediately, Station 51 may no longer go north of Main Street
for meals. Both stations are to contact Battalion 5 ANY TIME they go off station.