White River Township Fire Department

                                                Senior Staff Meeting

           

                                                Thursday, July 14, 2005

 

 

                       

Present:

Chief Tibbetts

Chief Cassin

Chief Slauter

Chief Wilson

Chief Brown

Chief Thacker

Chief Engmark

Capt. Settles
Lt. Hart


Kim Clawson

 

 

  1. Chief Slauter discussed mayday and RIT SOG.  This is what all of Marion County is going to and it is NIMS compliant.  He feels that since we do frequent mutual aid with Perry Township Fire Department, we should consider implementing their SOG as well.  Everyone agreed.  Chief Slauter will implement this and arrange training for our personnel.

 

  1. If we have an apparatus accident, Chief Thacker stated that we have a drug screen procedure set up at Community Occ. Health.  If it is after hours, report to Community South Hospital and have a police officer present to provide a chain of custody, which the hospital will not provide.  We are still working on the policy.  Chief Tibbetts stated that at IFD, if they refuse to take the test, it will be counted as a positive test and they will be suspended without pay.  He further stated that he would like us to table this portion of the discussion and address it again at the next senior staff meeting, in order to think about the best solution for our agency.  Chief Tibbetts would like to see the policy address medicines, both prescription and over-the-counter.  Chief Thacker will research this further and discussion will be continued at the next Senior Staff meeting.  He will also be researching the implementation of random drug testing with this policy.  Chief Cassin urged that we present this to the members as something that is being implemented to protect them.

 

  1. Mike Combs was suspended from driving because this was his second incident in a month.  This suspension is until the accident review committee can investigate the incident.  In this case, the damage to the deputy’s car was just under $3,000.

 

  1. Chief Thacker distributed evaluation criteria for the Chief and Deputy Chief.  He stated that everyone should begin on January 1, 2006, with the exception of those who were hired in October 1, 1999, who will be evaluated immediately.  This will give us an idea of how the evaluations are working before they are implemented for ALL personnel January 1.  Chief Thacker will be responsible for scheduling the evaluations. 

Ø      Personnel will be evaluated by their Lieutenants and Captains;

Ø      Lieutenants and Captains will be evaluated by their Battalion Chiefs;

Ø      Battalion Chiefs, Fire Marshal and Division Chiefs will be evaluated by the Fire Chief and the Deputy Chief;

Ø      Administrative personnel will be evaluated by the Fire Chief and Deputy Chief;

Ø      Fire Marshal will evaluate personnel in the prevention division;

Ø      Fire Chief and Deputy Chief will be evaluated be a committee consisting of two battalion/division chiefs and one member of the District Board.

Chief Thacker will be addressing the form next week with the company officers.

 

  1. Posting has been made for the open shift position and interested parties are to respond to Chief Cassin by July 21.  Nothing has been heard from Mullis or T.Wilson, and everyone feels we should send them termination letters.  Everyone agreed that it is probably time to hold another part time hiring process because our fill-in list is dwindling.

 

  1. Task force responses involving our personnel:

Ø      Darryl Slevin has been deployed.  Lilly will pay his salary but Lilly is not eligible for reimbursement.  However, we are eligible for reimbursement to fill in his part time position.

Ø      Chief Slauter stated that there will be 5 or 6 of our personnel who will become deployable very soon and wants to know how reimbursements will be handled.

Ø      Also, we will need to add something into our policy for task force deployment.

Ø      Chief Tibbetts wants someone to be a department field rep.  Lt. Hart stated that this is mandatory.

 

  1. Cones will be placed on the apparatus and the Engineers MUST put these out.

 

  1. Chief Thacker presented the new accountability system.  IFD, Perry & Franklin Twp use this same system.  Everyone agreed that this was a good system.

 

  1. Captain Settles gave a presentation on adding Rescue 51 to Box 501 responses.  Chiefs Cassin & Tibbetts commended him on a well-made presentation.  Chief Tibbetts wants the Battalion Chiefs to report back to the next senior staff meeting with their lists of pros/cons and what their decision is.  Chief Tibbetts reminded everyone that we should always do what is best for the department and the public it serves.

 

  1.   Chief Slauter stated that we are having problems with radios missing.  TSU radio was missing for one week and “mysteriously” reappeared yesterday.  Battalions Chiefs should discourage this with their personnel.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts has been appointed by the County Commissioners to the E911 consortium which consists of  Borges (Franklin PD), Sheriff McLaughlin, Princes Lakes Town Marshal, Steve Dhondt (Greenwood FD), and Tony Napier.  Chief Tibbetts’ goal is to get dispatchers that want to dispatch for firefighters.  Chief Tibbetts told the sheriff that he understands the sheriffs’  dispatchers don’t like firefighters, and that the feeling was mutual.  Chief Tibbetts stated that RJ would probably be the commissioner that will be in charge of this consortium.

 

  1. Lt. Hart stated that Zoll monitors are being rotated out for preventive maintenance.

 

  1. Lt. Hart and Chief Cassin are working on the ambulance project.

 

  1. Chief Brown stated that next Friday is WRTFD day at the fair and needs personnel to help.

 

  1. No further new business and meeting adjourned at 0940.