White River Township Fire Department

            Senior Staff Meeting

           

            Thursday, April 15, 2004

 

 

                       

Present:       .

Chief Tibbetts

Chief Cassin

Chief Slauter

Chief Brown

Chief Thacker

Chief Young

Kim Clawson

 

 

 

  1. Meeting called to order at 8:08 a.m.

 

  1. 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.

 

    1. 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.

 

    1. 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.

 

    1. Nick Smith will be resigning.

 

    1. 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.

 

    1. 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.

 

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

 

    1. 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.

 

    1. 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.

 

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

 

    1. 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.

 

    1. 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.

 

  1. Joe Marsh checked into headsets for the staff vehicles.  Total cost for just the three Battalion Chief vehicles would be $7,500.  Chief Slauter stated that he performed sound testing on all the staff cars and all tested below the required 90 dcb.  He still needs to test Chief Thacker’s, but the probable solution will be to move Chief Thacker’s speaker.

 

  1. Chief Thacker gave an update on the career hiring process.
    1. 34 candidates remain after the CPAT testing.
    2. 15 are testing for engineer, 6 are testing for lieutenant, and 18 are testing for both.
    3. Written exam is May 8.
    4. Oral interviews for engineer are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
    5. Oral interviews for lieutenant are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
    6. Please see Chief Thacker if you can help with the interviews.

 

  1. Chief Slauter stated that 17 applications have gone out for the part time firefighter process.

 

  1. Kim stated that Chief Tibbetts has assumed control of the receptionist hiring process.  He will be performing the 2nd interviews by himself on April 22 and will make a final decision soon thereafter.

 

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

 

  1. 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.

 

  1. Sewer leak at station 51 has been repaired.

 

  1. Computers will be switched to the new server today.

 

  1. Chief Brown stated that we are having problems getting run reports entered into the computer again.  Reminder, Lieutenants are responsible for making sure these get entered.  Once Firehouse is back up and running, there should be no excuses.

 

  1. Nextels are working now and are once again receiving run pages.

 

  1. Chief Brown notified everyone of upcoming developments in our area.

 

  1. Chief Young issued safety vests.  Trainings are being completed this week on the SOG.

 

  1. We are still waiting competitor information on the communication towers.

 

  1. Chief Slauter stated that he will begin bringing his crews back out to station 53 for group trainings.  Company level trainings work for some shifts and on some topics, but not all. 

 

  1. Chief Thacker urged crews to get out and go through some of the new apartment buildings that are completed but unoccupied and practice advancing hose lines, etc.  He also stated that Lt. Alford is building a hose bed simulator so hose loads can be practiced.

 

  1. 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.

 

  1. 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.

 

  1. Chief Young stated that the training room will be used tonight, Saturday & Sunday for a CERT class.

 

  1. Discussion on recent purchases of on duty boots that do not meet our uniform policy.  They are perfectly acceptable boots except for the yellow side panels.  Per our policy, boots must be all black.  Chief Cassin stated that we needed to stick with the policy.  Tony Slusher has a doctor’s excuse and must wear tennis shoes until his foot problems are fixed.  Everyone agreed that we should stay with the existing policy.  Chief Cassin stated that if there are problems with a policy then there are steps to be taken to approve policy changes through Senior Staff at meetings.

 

  1. Chief Cassin stated that the only strategic planning update he has is that he has spoke with Steve Dyson who has reviewed the pending trend for health insurance premiums.  Per Steve, experts believe that the increases should reach a plateau soon.