White River Township Fire Department

Senior Staff & Staff Meeting

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Present: .

Chief Tibbetts Chief Cassin Chief Slauter

Chief Brown Chief Thacker

Kim Clawson Lt. Settles

1. Chief Cassin presented photos of the proposed lettering/striping change for the Battalion Chief vehicles.

2. Chief Thacker discussed the October schedule, which will be extremely tight during the career recruit school. Battalion Chiefs will need to monitor daily scheduling and fill open shifts as they come around. Weekends are especially bad. Chief Tibbetts suggested allowing shift employees fewer days off per year. Chief Thacker suggested better monitoring who is allowed off and when. Chief Brown suggested that before a fire station is closed for lack of staffing, to notify him and he will work his schedule around and try to help out. Chief Slauter stated that he wanted to keep the Chiefs “out of the loop”

3. Chief Thacker stated that the new foam equipment is in. After discussion, it was agreed that enough foam would be purchased to place 10 gallons on each engine and surplus on Rescue 51 and the new tactical.

4. Captains process is complete and all but one are eligible to submit letters of intent for the open Battalion Chief position. These letters are due to Chief Tibbetts by Monday.

5. Three Captains and one Battalion Chief will be presented to the District Board at their October meeting.

6. Career orientation class update.
1. Same people as originally presented at the District Board meeting.
2. Physicals are completed. Waiting on physician signatures.
3. Chief Thacker will review PERF Board requirements.
4. Chief Tibbetts will contact Butch Sutton and see if he can be available to talk to the recruits on their first morning of class.

7. Chief Tibbetts suggested that now that we have career chauffeurs we implement a drug testing policy. Chief Tibbetts will follow through on this with Tricia Leminger.

8. Part time hiring process has been completed and 22 people interviewed. Chief Slauter stated that approximately ½ are experienced and the rest are newly certified. They should be ready to go by late October or early November.

9. Chief Slauter addressed uniform issues for Ryan Cox.
1. EMS Coats were never approved. Everyone agreed that these were fine and Chief Cassin requested that they all be the same.
2. Mesh shorts were presented. General consensus is that most people do not like the cotton shorts we currently have. Everyone agreed that these were fine as long as the embroidery is moved more towards the front. Chief Slauter stated that although they were flammable (nylon), that if someone is in that type of position, they have bigger things to worry about. Our duty pants are not 100% cotton either but we allow those.
3. Pullovers were presented. There is not much difference between these and the rubens. Chief Slauter asked that Ryan send an email asking which one people would prefer and then allow only that one.
4. No BDU pants are allowed.
5. Discussion on shorts and the abuse of the policy. Chief Slauter suggested that the way to eliminate this is to not allow shorts at all. This decision was tabled until the next senior staff meeting. Until then, absolutely no shorts are to be worn during a classroom training session, including A&R.
6. Chief Cassin asked that Ryan get price quotes on EMS pants.

10. Chief Slauter will be sending an email later today that everyone’s backup gear is due in next week.

11. Chief Thacker discussed the current policy on facial hair. Everyone agreed that the entire policy manual needs to be reviewed and revised accordingly. It needs to be written “vague” to allow us more leeway and some of the terminology needs to be changed (ie: “sponsoring hospital” instead of “Community Hospital South”). Chief Cassin stated that this is something that will need to be done over time. He asked Chief Thacker to present a policy revision regarding the facial hair at the next senior staff meeting.

12. Chief Cassin stated that the 2004 budget is getting extremely tight. He also stated that there will be no overtime allowed during 2005. After discussion, the minimum staffing was set at 15.

13. Chief Tibbetts stated that a salesman for decon equipment would be here Wednesday, September 22 to make a presentation. Everyone is welcome to attend.