White River Township Fire Department

Staff Meeting

Thursday, April 15, 2004

Present: .

Chief Tibbetts Chief Cassin Chief Slauter Chief Brown Chief Thacker Chief Young

Lieut. Settles Lieut. Alexander Lieut. Hart Lieut. Wilson Lieut. Alford Lieut. Skipper

Lieut. Engmark Lieut. Smith Lieut. Arkins Kim Clawson

1. Meeting called to order at 10:07 a.m.

2. Personnel updates:

1. Bruce Alexander has resigned and his last shift will be 4/26. He has asked to remain a contractual employee so that he can keep his Paramedic affiliation. In exchange, he will teach ACLS and PHTLS classes for free. Chief Tibbetts has approved this request but is checking to see if the department has any liabilities.

2. Jeff Wilson will be moved to station 52 on the B shift to replace Bruce. His first shift there will be 4/29. Chief Tibbetts stated that there was no one else available on the Paramedic list with seniority over Jeff so bidding this position out wasn’t an option.

3. Chris Kindred was hired back effective 4/1/04. A closer review of his last personnel file shows that he resigned. In a private meeting with Chief Tibbetts, he stated that the lawsuit was his Dad’s idea. Chief Slauter stated that he has been receiving complaints from the companies that Chris was rehired without having to go through a process like everyone else has been made to. Chief Tibbetts stated that this was his decision and that all complaints should be directed to him.

4. Nick Smith will be resigning.

5. Jake Kocher was on a 6 month leave. He has asked to rescind his leave, effective immediately. He stated that he will be able to work enough hours on the weekends to meet his minimum requirement and that circumstances have arisen that require this financial income. Chiefs Slauter and Cassin tried to urge him against this, warning him how it might possibly affect his recruit class at Washington Twp. Jake will be sending a letter to Chief Cassin requesting permission to rescind his leave.

6. Chief Thacker stated that with all the shift changes occurring, he will continue to run as Paramedic at station 53 and to fill the other stations with Paramedics first, whenever possible.

7. Mike Hoffman is off work until April 26 due to a knee injury. He has a physician’s note.

8. Lisa White did not meet her minimum hours requirement, but Chief Tibbetts will not be terminating her. Lawrence Twp keeps moving her to different shifts so she is unable to commit to a shift here.

9. John Zartman is working on getting Tony Slusher into another exam for his Paramedic so that he can take the fire department’s written exam on May 8.

10. John Zartman has also stated that Matt Myers will not have any problems getting affiliated.

11. The A shift ambulance position (EMT) has been temporarily filled. Chief Tibbetts has spoken with Jim White. He was assured that Jim is doing everything he can to help us but it is not always possible.

12. Shift Positions – Changes/Assignments

1) Jason Smith can no longer commit to a shift.

2) Station 53 B shift will be offered to Josh Meadows. If he declines, Sean Campbell will be moved back from station 51.

3) Mike Boone is going to Station 51 C shift.

13. Chief Tibbetts stated that at the end of this year he will conduct an open bidding process which will be awarded on a seniority basis. Moves will be done in the best interest of the department. This will be a rare occurrence. Paramedics will take priority and the new career hires will be “spread out” to best support the department. Decisions will be made collectively.

3. 17 applications have gone out for the part time firefighter process. Applications are due back on April 23. Those hired will fill the remaining shift vacancies. This will leave one day spot and one night spot per shift to be signed up in the book. Chief Slauter will review minimum requirements with the June schedule to see if any changes need to be made. He is unsure at this time if it will affect the 48 hour minimum hour rule.

4. Chief Slauter explained that during the construction and road closures on Smith Valley Road, responses have been altered. Mike Combs will be making the appropriate changes to the CAD. Station 52 will be assuming everyone north and east of the Smith Valley/Peterman intersection. Crews are NOT to take short cuts through the elementary school parking lot. Lieutenants will be held responsible.

5. Chief Slauter asked Lt. Engmark to get three price quotes on the type of flashlight he requested for the officer seat of all first out apparatus, as well as a truck charger for same.

6. Chief Thacker gave an update on the career hiring process.

14. 34 candidates remain after the CPAT testing.
15. 15 are testing for engineer, 6 are testing for lieutenant, and 18 are testing for both.
16. Written exam is May 8.
17. Oral interviews for engineer are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
18. Oral interviews for lieutenant are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
19. Please see Chief Thacker if you can help with the interviews.

7. Kim stated that she will be getting prices on re-doing our business cards soon.

8. FDIC house burn on Bluff Road will occur on the afternoon of 4/26 and all day on 4/27. There will be 1 piece of equipment from our department there, as well as other participating departments. The house is ours after 4/27.

9. Senator Borst is doing a house to house campaign this Saturday. They are meeting at station 52 at 10am. Anyone who is available to walk with them, please meet there then. Chief Thacker will send a page requesting off duty help. Chief Tibbetts urged everyone to vote for who they think is best suited for the job, and to carefully consider “all the things Senator Borst has done for us”.

10. Computers will be switched to the new server today. Watch room computers will be done first for the crews.

11. Lt. Smith was instructed to go with wall mounted gear lockers for station 53.

12. We recently lost a spare SCBA bottle from one of Engine 52’s torpedo chutes. This has still not been found. Please make sure these doors are secured. Spare bottles are expensive to replace, not to mention extremely dangerous when dropped from that height from a moving vehicle.

13. Lt. Arkins, Chief Slauter and Ryan Cox are still working on a gear proposal that they will be giving to Chief Young. The majority wants black gear but Chief Tibbetts has said no. Chief Thacker stated that studies have shown that there is no temperature difference between the black gear and the tan gear, but that the black gear is more easily identifiable on a fire or accident scene. Black gear is only $30 more per set. Tabled for further discussion.