White River Township Fire Department

                                                Senior Staff Meeting

           

                                                Thursday, February 1, 2007

 

 

                       

Present:

Chief Tibbetts

Chief Brown

Chief Slauter

 

Chief Cassin

Chief Thacker

Crystal Young

  

  1. Meeting called to order at 0805.

 

  1. Old Business
    1. Finalize and roll out new Mission Statement

                                                              i.      Chief Slauter believes we should keep it the way it is.

                                                            ii.      Everyone has had time to think about it and everyone agrees that it is a good one.

                                                          iii.      To efficiently and effectively provide professional services to our community.

 

  1. New Business
    1. Special Operations Tactical Rescue Team concept

                                                              i.      Everyone received a policy from Chief Thacker.

                                                            ii.      Chief Slauter talked to Capt Settles and the only thing he cautions is to be careful if we are under state control

1.      If a tornado comes through both Morgan and Johnson County we need to make it clear that our community comes first to us and that we will pull from a scene to cover any incidents that have occurred in our district.

2.      Chief Thacker stated that they would put in a provision that our community comes first.

3.      Chief Tibbetts stated that the more you stay away from the state the better.

a.      There are currently people in place that know what is going on but there is no guarantee that they will stay in place.

                                                              i.      Full-Time need to be technician in three levels while part-time needs operations.

1.      Trench we can do ourselves

2.      Capt Settles and Joe Sipes have talked about doing training together to utilize our teams.

3.      Most of our personnel are close to having these disciplines.

4.      We plan on doing as many classes here as possible.  We expect one or two here a year.

a.      Collapse:  operation is wood frame and technician is concrete.

                                                            ii.      A lot of the equipment and training is supplemented with grants

                                                          iii.      The biggest change concerns the Special Operations being moved from training to operations.  Chief Slauter, Thacker and Capt Settles are all in agreement.

1.      Chief Brown stated that it becomes operations once it is activated anyway.  Everyone else in attendance agrees that the move is appropriate.

2.      Chief Slauter was apprehensive in the beginning because he had not had the training or first hand knowledge of Special Operations but believes Capt Settles knows what he is doing and Chief Thacker will still be an integral part of Special Ops.

    1. Light Duty Policy amendments (change to current policy on pg 19)

                                                              i.      Chief Thacker stated that he could not find a light duty policy.  Chief Brown stated that there had been.

                                                            ii.      Chief Tibbetts stated that putting it as a work related injury or illness limits what we can do.  What if someone was injured in a car accident on their way home, which would not be work related.

1.      Chief Thacker stated that the final decision will be made by the chief of the department gives them leeway to make the decision based on the situation.

                                                          iii.      If it is work related light duty is what is best for the employee but if it is not the chief should decide what is best for the department.

1.      Once on light duty they report to the Deputy Chief.

                                                           iv.      The time line is two weeks to six months.

1.      Chief Slauter was gone 10 weeks for knee surgery which was not work related.

2.      Tim Smith was off for four months for his work related injury.

3.      Is a two week minimum appropriate?

4.      If there is not anything going on and nothing for them to do and the injury is not work related we do not owe them.

                                                             v.      Is there a policy for light duty on-line?

                                                           vi.      Still determine on a case by case basis how to handle an injury.

                                                         vii.      Chief Slauter believes we have the appropriate check and balances in line to handle any incident.  If we all work together in a group to discuss each situation everything should be taken care of fairly.

                                                       viii.      Chief Thacker stated that we should still use this as a guideline we will discuss each on a case by case basis.

    1. Alternative Future Funding Assessment Team brainstorm session

                                                              i.      Chief Thacker is setting up a meeting with Tom hopefully some time next week.

                                                            ii.      Chief Slauter was seated at a table with Rep. Frizzell during the banquet and spoke with him about our plans.  He informed him that we are stagnate and unable to expand.  The main issues stated were expanding the workforce and the addition of another firehouse.

1.      Rep. Frizzell stated that he was willing to be part of a grass roots effort.  We need to combine state and local government, community leaders and the union to push our efforts.

2.      Mark has mentioned certain new legislatures that are career firefighters who may help us write some bills.  Maybe we should talk to Tom about who he thinks the players should be.

                                                          iii.      Chief Brown stated that the easiest route would be to push the emergency loans.  When we push do we do it with just us in mind or for all districts?

1.      The biggest problem is the board.  Because they are appointed and not elected they are more leery of putting them in charge of large amounts of money.

a.      Chief Slauter stated that the MO district that he visited had three of their members elected.  We might want to look into changing that.

2.      We need to change how we get our money.  We have to go off of an equation established 20 years ago.

a.      Brownsburg has been allowed to raise their tax rate every year because they were grandfathered.  They have a new board member know and he hammered them about the increases in their tax rate.

b.      Chief Brown stated that he believes that it would be better and more stable to change the equation.  Chief Slauter stated that it needs to reflect the current trend of growth.

    1. Miscellaneous Topics

                                                              i.      Chief Slauter reviewed the SOG’s handed out by Chief Brown.  He stated that the concepts and procedures are good the only problems he found with them were grammatical.

                                                            ii.      Chief Brown – FYI

1.      The Marlin Dr. extension is definite.  It will come all the way to Smith Valley Rd.

a.      Chief Slauter states that he can’t believe the CVS will even fit there, it looks too tight.

b.      Chief Thacker asked if we could do burns on some of the houses located in the area.  Chief Brown stated that he has talked to them about it.

c.      The concrete island is no longer in the plan.

d.      Marlin Dr. will line up with Schoolcraft Dr. and eventually they will put up a light.

e.      They plan on connecting the CVS lot with the Big Foot and another adjoining lot so the area will be easily accessible.

2.      Morgan County has also locked in their comprehensive plan to join Hadley Rd with Smith Valley Rd.

a.      Chief Tibbetts stated that during the commissioners meeting they stated that the county is not responsible for the extension, it was given to IMI.

3.      Ron’s Coins is now gone and the environmental testing has started for the area.  It takes approx 45 days to complete.

                                                          iii.      Chief Thacker – Jordan Russell has now turned everything in, brought his badge in yesterday.

                                                           iv.      Chief Tibbetts will be out of town for the weekend.  Chiefs’ Cassin and Brown will be on vacation starting this afternoon.  Chief Thacker will be in charge.

                                                             v.      Chief Tibbetts stated that the awards banquet went well.  He has been trying to get Anna here; she should come in sometime today to receive her award. 

                                                           vi.      Chief Tibbetts also has a list of bills if anyone would like to review them to see if any will help.

 

  1. Meeting called at 0855.