White River Township Fire Department

Staff Meeting Minutes

June 26 & 27, 2001

 

Present During Tuesday’s Meeting:  Mike Tibbetts, Eric Brown, Joel Thacker, Bruce Alexander,  Jeff Wilson, Nick Alford, Chris Kindred, Chad Witham, Jory Cox, Tony Rizzi, and Ryan Cox.

 

Present During Wednesday’s Meeting:  Mike Tibbetts, Eric Brown, Scott Cassin, Joel Thacker, Kevin Skipper, Steve Rowland, Jerry Harder, Jason Arkins, Joe Settles, Ray Skipper, 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. Interviews for the Fire Chief’s process were conducted Monday night.  The final decision will be announced at the July 10 Fire Protection District Board meeting which will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Station 53.

 

  1. Station 53 Items:

-         The engineers have doubled the price of the drip system so we will now be installing a septic system.

-         Chief Tibbetts will be looking into hiring a cleaning service to come in twice each week to clean the downstairs offices, training room, conference room and restrooms.

-         Chief Cassin has been working very hard on getting all computers and telephones working properly.  Please be patient until the bugs are worked out.  This has been a very overwhelming project.

 

  1. Station 51’s sewer work will begin tomorrow and last 3-4 days.  Crews and equipment may be moved to station 53 until the work is completed. 

 

  1. Personnel Issues:

-         After receiving a recommendation from Lt. Alford, Angie Kerry has been dismissed for failure to take the compensated test.  She is in the process of grieving this dismissal.

-         Dave Ebert is re-joining the department sometime after the first of July.

-         Once the Fire Chief’s position is finalized, the District will be filling the empty Battalion Chief and Lieutenant positions.

-         An additional four Lieutenants will be hired after the first of 2002.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts thanked everyone from White River who was involved with the Morgantown Road fire with Bargersville FD.  All crews on the scene did an excellent job considering the circumstances and logistics of that incident.  Also, Bargersville was unfortunately denied a 2nd time for their station 2.  They have lost almost 20% of their operating budget for the rest of the year.

 

  1. Anyone having any suggestions for Employee of the Quarter, please contact Chief Tibbetts prior to July 10.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts thanked everyone who participated in the Strawberry Festival.  Unfortunately, it seems like the same people worked this year that worked it last year.  He hopes to see more people participating at next year’s festival.

 

  1. Work will begin this week on evaluations for the corporation members.  Instead of receiving the $.50 anticipated raise, they will be receiving their normal 3% raise.  Later on this year, they will receive the difference between their 3% raise and the previously expected $.50.  This will be retroactive to their anniversary date.

 

  1. Please use common sense on apparatus dispatched.  If station 51 or station 52 are at station 53, they are to bring the Rescue and the Aerial, respectively. 

 

  1. Anyone wishing to use the training room at station 53 must schedule it through Chief Thacker.  Also, please return the room to the condition and arrangement that you found it in.

 

  1. When turning in Meijer receipts to the office, be sure to have both the top and bottom copies. 

 

  1. We have two new vendors:  Zep and Calderon Brothers Vending.  Zep provides us with cleaning chemicals which are in concentrated form.  Even though they are slightly more expensive than what you buy at the store, they are supposed to last longer.  Calderon Brothers Vending will provide us with candy machines at each station, and will take control of the Pepsi machines.  We will still be receiving the 25% profit sharing from them.

 

  1. Whenever you retrieve a large amount of office supplies from the file room (i.e.:  last box of sheet protectors, etc.), or if there is anything you’d like to have ordered on the next office order, please make a note on the dry erase board in the file room by the door. 

 

  1. FireHouse has been showing Inspections on the daily calendar.  Please be advised that these are only for Lt. Wilson, Lt. Arkins, Tony Rizzi and Jeff Smith.

 

  1. There will be a Firefighter I/II class starting here July 5th from 6p-10p every Thursday.  Practicals will be every third Saturday.  If you are on duty during any of these classes, you will be expected to help out.  This class is open to outside agencies, as well as our own people, and will cost $100 + book.  See Chief Thacker for more information or to sign up.

 

  1. There will be a Hazardous Materials class on September 29th.  This is an all day class and will be for the Firefighter I/II class, as well as for annual in service for other Haz Mat personnel.

 

  1. Chief Thacker requested everyone’s assistance in completing prep work on the training house on Lake Drive this weekend.  He will be sending group pages this week to try to recruit personnel.

 

  1. Lt. Alexander stated that our SOR mistake ratio for last month is at 35%.  Per Dr. Gansman, this is unacceptable and needs to be closer to 15%.  Most of the mistakes come from SOR-ing patients with abnormal vitals.  If the patient has abnormal vitals and they are going to SOR, the vitals must return to normal or you must contact medical control.  Officers need to be aware of this.   There are several possible solutions to this problem.  Lt. Alexander will need to review them and determine which are the most appropriate.

 

  1. Lt. Alexander has distributed protocol books to all Paramedics and apparatus.

 

  1. Tanker 53 has passed inspection from the EMS Commission Tuesday, June 26 and is now ALS, non-transporting certified.  It will not be numbered, as we are waiting on Engine 53 to arrive.  Lt. Wilson was directed to remove certification numbers and “paramedic” off of Engine 51 as it is no longer certified.

 

  1. Lt. Alexander conducted a scenario-type EMS training last week.  He thanked those who participated as ‘extras’ and stated that he would like to do more of these in the future but they are extremely manpower intensive and take a lot of planning to be successful.  He anticipates more occurring toward the end of this year.

 

  1. Lt. Alexander stated that all CPR class requests need to be directed to him.

 

  1. Jory is working on improving the way the cadet program is conducted and anticipates recruiting 6 more who are current applicants.  Chief Tibbetts emphasized that many changes need to be made to keep this program successful.  Chief Thacker volunteered to assist with this.  Chief Tibbetts stated that he is against dissolving this program as it is a very beneficial one.

 

  1. A former Whiter River firefighter, Barry Lee, has been representing himself as a current White River firefighter and has been causing several problems in the public that we are becoming aware of.  Some of these are unlawful.  Chief Brown stated that he would take care of getting this problem resolved.

 

  1. Lt. Alford stated that seven people will be coming onto the Reserve program, 3 of which will be working on-duty within two weeks.

 

  1. Chief Thacker and Lt. Alford will be building a ‘low profile simulator.

 

  1. Discussion on changing the uniform policy and uniform t-shirts.  The uniform committee was established a few months ago and consists of Nick Alford, Joe Settles and Jason Arkins.  They will be meeting soon to discuss the potential changes.  If you have any suggestions, please forward them ASAP to the committee.  Anticipated changes will be effective after January 1st and will be after the new clothing balance goes into effect.

 

  1. Public Education update from Lt. Rowland:

-         Stephanie Arnold will be coming in to do a ‘pep talk’ for the MDA.

-         Upcoming events are 6/30, 7/7, 7/12, 7/14, 7/15, and 7/20.  Please check FireHouse and the station bulletin boards for more information.

-         Johnson County Fair is 7/15 through 7/22.  Steve will check on our commitments and post notices.

-         Thanks again to everyone who worked during the Strawberry Festival.

-         A girl scout from our community has contacted us regarding placing stuffed animals on the apparatus.  These should be appearing within the next couple of weeks.

 

  1.  District Board member Chuck Shufflebarger has raised some questions regarding allowing Shively for Sheriff to advertise during the Strawberry Festival.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts will be contacting Greenwood Police to see if they want to use station 52 as a substation since the JCSD is moving out to station 53.  If they don’t want it, Kevin will turn it back into an office for the Board of Directors and the Auxiliary.

 

  1. Kevin told Chief Tibbetts that his remodel wish list for station 52 has been completed.