White River Township Fire Department

            Senior Staff Meeting

           

            Thursday, March 18, 2004

 

 

                       

Present:       .

Chief Tibbetts

Chief Cassin

Chief Slauter

Chief Brown

Chief Thacker

Chief Young

Kim Clawson

 

 

 

  1. GFD update on policy for their mutual aid responses to our area.  They will not respond on lifting assistance runs, alarms, etc. with lights and sirens.  Chief Tibbetts tried to get this changed for responses to our area.  We must request that they respond emergent to our runs.  Our Battalions should use their best judgment.

 

  1. If we have an incident where two or more trucks are responding, you either need them or you don’t.  If you do, they are to respond emergent.  If you don’t, disregard them.

 

  1. Medic 52 will remain running between GFD and WRTFD.  They will not dedicate an ambulance strictly to our FD for daily operations but will do so on a working incident.  They must have 3 transports a day in order to dedicate an ambulance to the fire department.  Chief Tibbetts told Jim White that we were planning on our staffing our own ambulance but it would not be for a few years.

 

  1. No new news on the corporation restructuring.  Attorneys have not provided us with an update.  Supposedly the attorneys from both sides are having problems getting their schedules worked out.  Chief Tibbetts will try to get a lunch meeting set up.

 

    1. Quartermaster restructuring is still waiting with Tricia.

 

  1. Career hiring process update.
    1. Applications are still coming in.  Eleven are in so far.
    2. Candidates are having problems getting their full criminal history.
    3. CPAT April 5,6,7,8 of April at Pike.
    4. Three candidates are out of the process…2 due to age and 1 because he didn’t want to go through recruit class.
    5. May 8 is written exam(s).
    6. Everything is staying on schedule.
    7. Recruit class schedule should be done in the next few weeks.

 

  1. Station 53 re-keying will occur tomorrow.  Please return all old keys to Chief Brown tomorrow – no new keys will be issued until ALL old keys are returned.

 

  1. Random drug and alcohol testing update.  Chief Young met with Public Safety Medical and asked them to look into this for us, as well as look into the EAP.  They will respond back to Chief Young.

 

  1. Kim made the proposal for the strawberry festival shirts.  Everyone agreed on the design and Chief Young will be calling the company to get prices.  Both shirts will have the helmet logo on the front.  One style shirt will have the union saying on the back, one style shirt will not.

 

  1. Kim is developing a proposal for an exit evaluation.  She will finalize this and bring it to the next senior staff meeting.

 

  1. FEMA Grant update given.

 

  1. Computer class.  July 22 at 1800.  Kim will be sending out questionnaires to the officers to see what their knowledge base already is and what they would like to be taught.  Class will center on basics of Microsoft Office as a whole, Excel, and Word.

 

  1. Computer system update:
    1. Order coming between 11 and 3.  63 boxes total. 
    2. Tomorrow computers will begin being connected. 
    3. Network switchover tentative date is March 31. 
    4. Firehouse is coming in on March 31 to set up our new software. 
    5. Will be rerouting antenna signals to improve speed of network.
    6. New paging program is in.

 

  1. Chris Kindred is back and wants to be rehired.  Tony Slusher has already given him his test and he passed.  Chief Cassin is not necessarily concerned with rehiring Chris, but with the procedure in which the corporation brought him in.  Chief Cassin states that this is THEIR issue and has nothing to do with the Fire District.  Chief Tibbetts feels that, in talking with him, he seems to have matured significantly.  Chief Thacker disagrees with rehiring him.  When Chris was terminated, he threatened legal action against the department.  When we cleaned out his locker we found alcohol.  Chief Thacker states that this goes against the integrity of the department.  Chief Thacker urged that Chris go through a part time hiring process, just like everyone else is required to.  Everyone agrees that he should be given a second chance, but in the proper way.

 

  1. No letters have been received yet for the open b-shift position.  Mike Shoemaker may have shown some interest in this to Chief Slauter, who is currently at the National Fire Academy.  Chief Cassin will follow up on this.  We may need to move the part time process forward by a few weeks to accommodate our growing need for part time firefighters.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts reminded everyone that he does not micro manage people.  He stated that lately there have been some things going on that he felt should have been notified of.  Please keep him notified of significant occurrences in the future.

 

  1. CPR training at Community Church.  Charging $15 per person for first group of 16.  The next group is being charged only for cards as they are keeping their books.  Thom Hord would like to offer the Gathering Place for all of our employees for free, in turn we provide CPR classes for free for them.  No religious material will be “pushed” onto anyone.  However there will be church staff on hand to answer any religious questions anyone should have.  Chief Thacker will speak to Chief Slauter about this.

 

  1. Training library has been cleaned up.  Old meds and needles have been removed.  There is still one small bag of medical items in there for training.  He is currently marking all items.  Sign out sheet for borrowed materials requires an officer’s signature.

 

  1. Expired drugs should be placed in the biohazard trash since we are not using them as training aids.  Chief Thacker will work with Lieutenant Hart on developing a procedure for the destruction of these items.

 

  1. FDIC – Robin Nicoson contacted Chief Young about being a co-safety person for the HOT training at the Bluff Road house. 

 

  1. Marion County safety chiefs meeting.
    1. A company made a presentation for fire gear cleaning.  IFD has been talking with this company.  They are charging $30 for a full set of gear (liners and shells).  IFD will not be contracting with this company due to the cost.
    2. Don, Jeff Quinn and Paul Spurlin were delegated to a subcommittee looking into getting firefighters into hospital in a timely manner in the event of an exposure.  They are meeting with the State Board of Health soon.  They are hoping to minimize the paperwork involved.

 

  1. Traffic safety vests have been ordered.  SOG will be drafted by Chief Young and presented to Senior Staff.

 

  1. Meeting adjourned to strategic planning session.  Chief Cassin distributed copies of the drafted financial projection through 2016.  It was generally agreed that as staffing increases, office responsibilities are going to increase as well.  Full time training officer would be the first priority as finances become available.  Chief Tibbetts felt strongly that this should not be a Chief position.  Others present disagreed but stated that this could be later on, when the reality of adding a training position comes closer.