Senior Staff Meeting
Thursday, January 18, 2007
|
Present: |
Chief Tibbetts |
Chief Brown |
Chief Slauter |
|
|
Chief Cassin |
Chief Thacker |
Crystal Young |
- Meeting called to order at 0805.
- Old Business
- Recognition Dinner – Chief Thacker
i.
Chief Thacker
has set the menu and ordered the glasses.
ii.
Chief Brown has
faxed the order for the 5, 10, and 20 year; he has just ordered the bars. Chief Thacker will order the plaques.
iii.
Chief Cassin is
doing the year in review. He has
completed the PowerPoint and the language that goes along with the presentation. He used the website, firehouse and polled
everyone on the major events to pull it together.
1. It is under training – safety – general
iv.
Chief Thacker
will be doing what he has done before but has trimmed the fat.
v.
Saucier, Fraker, and Slusher will be sworn
in; Witham was sworn in last year.
vi.
Chief Brown will
present the awards for the Santiago Rescue
1. 52’s crew will receive more than the rest. The Engine will receive valor.
2. Everyone else will receive commendations.
- New Business
- Policy Changes – refer to meeting packet
i.
Code of Ethics –
originally handed out for review at the off-site was review by everyone and no
changes were suggested.
1. Chief Slauter would like to
also have a list of core values. It can
be attached to this code or something separate but he would like to have a list
of 3 or 4 main values that everyone should know.
2. Chief Cassin believes that it should be
separate. For the next BWS Chief Slauter will bring in an exercise that was used at his
church to rank values to come up with a list of up to 5 values.
3. Chief Cassin inquires about the plan on rolling
policies out. Should it be through
training, shift meetings, and/or annual department meetings?
a. As we go along we should get the information
out. During training the problem is that
not every group gets the same information.
The same occurs if the information goes through the Battalions.
b. Another idea is to have the Chief sit down and record
the information and play the tape for each shift. If there is one individual with a prepared
statement everyone is presented the same information.
c. After issues are discussed in the BWS they will go straight
into the newsletter and that will also help to get the same information to
everyone.
d. For accreditation we need to start signing off on new
policy. We need to get out a signature
sheet.
ii.
1. The benefit day will change to Christmas Eve and Day
no matter which day they fall on.
2. This policy will define the holiday permanently.
3. It still needs a slight adjustment because the staff
and shift will have to be defined separately.
Staff will receive the day before or day after when falling on a
weekend.
iii.
Commendation
Bars
1. Chief Tibbetts would like
to add the Honor Guard pin to the list.
He would like them to have the pin because they are visible to the
public. They volunteer their time to be
part of this group. (Esp. the funeral
for the firefighter)
2. Chief Slauter wanted to
know what to do if other groups come in and ask for their groups to have a
pin. Maybe we should make it part of the
uniform and not make it as the list of awards.
3. Chief Tibbetts wants them
to be recognized and for them to have a pin.
iv.
Policy Changes
are listed on pg. 172.
1. Four times policies have been changed and they are
listed on an amendment sheet that shows when changes have been made. We need to keep track of who receives
these. Signed sheets would show that
everyone had received the changes.
2. Amendment to include Code of Ethics effective 2/1/07.
v.
Fiscal
Worksheets
1. Chief Cassin has tentatively made the proposed
changes of which the biggest is the Staff Chief position.
2. There is one line item, photography, which is not
used that was replaced by an accreditation budget line of approximately $5000.
3. He then tightened and reduced overtime.
a. Chief Slatuer stated that a
reimbursement is filled for CPR class that keeps it separate from payroll. Chief Brown inquired as to whether it has
been run through legal to make sure that it isn’t too close to job
description. Could a reimbursement
process be used for the pre-plan project since an entire truck is sent?
b. By keeping these things separate it reduces OT.
4. The fund went negative after purchasing the new
ladder, once the changes are made it no longer goes negative.
5. The interest calculation percentage was also
incorrect showing a lower amount accumulated than actually accumulated in the
Gen Fund.
6. This change along with reducing OT was enough to add
a staff position.
7. Chief Thacker asked if we are going to spell out the
difference between OT and reimbursements as “if you are not sitting on a fire
truck.”
a. CPR, Fire Investigations, Special Events, and
Football coverage would fall under the reimbursement policy.
b. Capt Skipper knows that band coverage is only
guaranteed only if compensated.
8. Brown stated that it needs to be defined before it
goes for cuts; the biggest OT expense was pre-plans. Chief Thacker stated that the compensation is
an incentive to get even the PT guys to come in and help.
a. Chief Cassin will put something out for
discussion. People who do scheduling
cannot generate OT for themselves.
b. Chief Brown stated that we have to be careful because
of the qualification from Trisha Leminger “if it is
like work.” (Couldn’t define like work)
9. If class instructors and people are getting billed
they get paid separate. We need to
strictly define separate function. We
did a whole year of CPR classes and it worked out okay while getting a surplus.
10. The third page shows the General fund, the last line
(Diff rev-exp) when reducing OT and fixing the interest calculator then adding
the shift chief stays positive. The only
caveat is insurance. Balanced budget all
the way out.
11. Cash Balance
a. Cum Fund in 2014 goes to approx. $500 but stays
positive. Our lowest cash flow is approx
$2mil. Every fund is self-sustaining.
12. Chief Thacker inquired about the balances on hand in
2007 as to whether the cash will stay in the fund until we appropriate it. Is it possible to put half of that elsewhere
since only so much can be put into the Rainy Day Fund?
a. Chief Cassin replied by stating that all of the funds
are in a savings account accruing interest.
We get tax money for specific funds and that is split in house. He has considered putting the extra income
into CD’s to gain more interest, it is possible and legal but the problem is
that it is time consuming.
b. If the money was taken from a certain account it
would then be put back into that account and could be spent as long as it is
appropriated.
c. It would be nice to take the extra funds to hire more
people, but we need the funds to stay positive for five years down the road.
d. Chief Thacker would like to see annual raises at 5%
or even 4%, even 1% would be dramatic.
Chief Cassin states that that would be a goal to work for.
13. Chief Slauter inquired as
to whether Chief Cassin had spoken to Steve Dyson. His main concern is revenue, as long as expenditures
match.
a. Revenue is decreasing over time. We have received check from the county when
more is collected than previously expected.
At other times the funds are less than expected, these changes even
themselves out. The problem is that the
board does not believe in carrying a balance.
14. Chief Thacker stated that the county will be
collecting later than normal. The
general assembly is looking to erase property tax completely.
a. A tax at the local level will be created. Also an increase in sales taxes (innkeeper,
income, food/beverage and wheel/excise) will make up the difference for there
not being a property tax.
b. Two of our senators are in on writing this bill
c. Democrats are determined to erase property tax.
15. Property tax is usually collected in May and we get
it in June, this time will be approx. two months later. The General Fund will go negative but the
overall cash is sizeable.
16. The last change made was the removal of two battalion
vehicles and placing one larger vehicle into the rotation. This change did nothing to the Cum Fund so we
can keep this in our pocket in case something does not work out correctly.
vi.
Newsletter
1. Chief Cassin gave Jackie the option of the
design. He handed out a sample. He will print out a dozen or so and send them
to the stations.
2. Chief Slauter stated that
he does not see the rumors column.
a. Chief Cassin believes we will address any rumors
under the section to which it applies.
b. The buck stops with the Chief; if the statement is
coming from him it will curb the rumors better.
Chief Tibbetts thinks that it might be better
to send an e-mail response department wide as soon as the rumor is heard.
3. Each different section needs to come from each
department head.
a. The article (section) is due to Jackie the Wednesday after
the BWS meeting. This will give everyone
Friday, Monday, and Tuesday to write their section and Jackie Wednesday and Thursday
to put it together and review it to be sent out on Friday with payroll.
4. Everyone believes there should always be Operations
information. The format is short and
concise. There was a lot of information
this time and it should be simple from here on out.
vii.
1. To effectively and efficiently provide professional
services to our community.
2. Chief Thacker suggested that maybe we use the first
sentence of the current statement.
3. Everyone believes that the one we came up with
re-states the current one with fewer words. Everyone still likes it and will present it to
the union meeting for feedback.
viii.
Chief Tibbetts
1. He has been married 32 years today!
ix.
Chief Thacker
1. He spoke to Center Grove Schools, Bill Long
concerning the sale of a piece of their land.
They would like to sell the land and he will try to come up with a price
that we could work with.
2. Chief stated that it is approx 40 acres of which half
is owned by the school.
x.
Chief Slauter
1. He will be seated at the table with David Frizell during the Annual Banquet and has created a list of
items to speak with him about.
2. We need to get Mark and Cory to the Hometown Matters
meeting and let them know we are help 100%.
3. Maybe we should make some things detailable
to loosen him up to mingle and attend events.
4. Chief Thacker stated that we need a point person from
here on that project.
5. Chief Slauter stated that
we will then need to brainstorm at the next BWS once we have made contact and
planted some seeds.
- Meeting called at 1000.