White River Township Fire Department

                                                Bi-Weekly Strategic Meeting

           

                                                Thursday, December 20, 2007

 

 

                       

Present:

Chief Pell

Chief Brown

Chief Slauter

 

 

Chief Cassin

Chief Thacker

Crystal Young

 

  

  1. Meeting called to order at 0810.

 

  1. Old Business
    1. Station 51 Update (Old Station 51 maintenance and property sale)

                                                              i.      The new station is all wrapped up.

1.      Chief Brown told Chief Cassin that the final has been done and he will get the Certificate of Occupancy from Rex as soon as he sees him.

                                                            ii.      Chief Pell made the comment that the external lights are staying on 24/7.

1.      Chief Cassin asked the electricians about that and they told him that they are and emergency egress and they are supposed to be on at all times (the lights above the doors).  The rest of the lights should be on the cell.

                                                          iii.      Old 51 maintenance and disposal has been discussed.

1.      Chief Pell has asked Capt. Settles to get the building ready to sell.

a.      The trash and junk needs to be gone.

b.      He will take what his station still needs.

c.      The other two stations will then have the chance to remove anything they want.

d.      Administration will then check the building for what may be left.  Decide what will be kept, sold separate, or sold with the building.

2.      The broker called and they have people that are very interested.

a.      Capt. Settles was to do a quick cleaning and the interested party will be looking at the property today.

3.      What to do with the siren?

a.      Should the department keep it or try to sell.

b.      Right now the department will take the siren down and put it in the mini barn until we decide.

4.      Chief Cassin stated that he will contact Wireless Networking to get the equipment off the tower.

5.      Chief Thacker asked what was going on at the old Station.

a.      Chief Pell stated that the HOA for Turfway Park asked if they could use the area for staging items and work trucks while they are working on their retention pond project.  It should only be for a couple of weeks.

6.      Chief Cassin asked what the list price is

a.      Chief Pell responded $160,000 – 180,000 and the broker said $200,000+

b.      Disposal of Property – sealed bid will be necessary.

                                                                                                                                      i.      The department does not want anyone to know the range.

c.      Why is the department working with a broker?

                                                                                                                                      i.      The purpose is to se the minimum bid.

d.      Chief Pell has recently been reviewing the manual put out by the State Board of Accounts.

                                                                                                                                      i.      He has been checking the section on disposal of property and disposal of real property.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      One item below $1000 or several under $5000 call for a true auction.

                                                                                                                                  iii.      Also if administrative costs are higher then money received from the sale the item needs to be trashed.

 

  1. New Business
    1. Spending Limits requiring FPDB approval

                                                              i.      There was some kind of informal agreement where not all purchases of $5000 were brought to the board.

1.      Chief Pell sent an e-mail to Dr. Shufflebarger concerning this topic and he stated that the rule needed to be followed.

2.      Dr. Shufflebarger wants it there for the department’s protection.

3.      Chief Pell stated that he will not halt fire department business.

a.      If a truck breaks down it will be fixed then placed on the agenda.

b.      He will take the risk and take the slap on the hand if he has to.

                                                            ii.      Chief Thacker clarified that everything over $5000 needs to go to the board.

1.      Chief Pell stated for example that when exercise equipment is purchased, do you put everything on one invoice or make it independent.  He believes if you are buying a piece of equipment for different stations have them bill them separately.  He does not see a problem with that.

                                                          iii.      Chief Cassin stated that the only real issue is that the monthly meeting will be longer

1.      Such as when Capt. Hart purchases a monitor and he has to bring it to the board there will be some back and forth dialog.

2.      Even if things are in the budget they still need to be brought to the board.

    1. End of Year purchasing

                                                              i.      Chief Pell does not come from the philosophy of use or loose it.

1.      The cash is not gone; it goes into the rainy day fund.  Once three funds can be re-appropriated later when needed.

                                                            ii.      Chief Pell wants to base purchasing on the merit of the purchase.

1.      He is okay with saving large purchases until the end of the year.  The method leaves the money in the account for emergency purchases throughout the year.

                                                          iii.      Chief Thacker stated that the Uniform and Training Funds are “use it or loose it”.

1.      Chief Pell stated that this is mostly for large purchases at the end of the year for the Department.

2.      This is more of a budgeting item.

a.      Employee Benefits should be looked at as spent from a department stand point.

                                                           iv.      For department purchases, judge them on need or merit of the purchase.

    1. Officer development training - Handout

                                                              i.      Chief Thacker stated that he had already given the schedule to Chief Slauter for review.

1.      He had officers come in with ideas

2.      He wants to do monthly meetings with issues to build up company officers.

                                                            ii.      The first eight or nine months cover specific issues.  The rest of the schedule is for reviews.

                                                          iii.      Chief Thacker would like to schedule them the third Thursday of each month from 8am-12noon.

1.      The February leadership program will be very beneficial program.

2.      For March Chief Thacker was thinking of bringing in Trish or some other speakers he has heard.

                                                           iv.      There has been some discussion as to how often the meetings should be.

1.      Chief Pell believes every other month.

2.      Chief Thacker believes every month would be better.

                                                             v.      January 9th will be the first meeting.

1.      The overtime budget has been looked at to see how this will impact it.

2.      It is beneficial to have everyone there together as a group at the same time so everyone gets the same message, questions and dialog.

3.      Chief Cassin believes the department should try it and everything will shake itself out eventually.

a.      He budgets FLSA at 100% but in reality it will come up short and the department won’t need to tap into the training budget.

4.      Chief Cassin believes the meetings are a good idea to get the officers (leaders) in the department on the same page.

a.      Chief Pell agreed that it is a 100% valid program to keep everyone informed.

                                                                                                                                      i.      He would like to go every month until June and see how it will affect the budget.  If everything is ok then the department will stay with the every month schedule, if there are problems it may have to be adjusted.

                                                           vi.      Chief Thacker scheduled the first three hours for the issue and the last hour will be for brainstorming, ideas, concerns and just airing out issues.

1.      There have been staffing issues lately and that would be a good way to explain the big picture to everyone in an open forum.

                                                         vii.      Chief Brown asked Chief Thacker to move the Fire Prevention issue to the month before or after October since that is a very busy month for them already.  Chief Thacker will get that changed and let him know.

    1. Firefighter of the Year and EMT of the Year

                                                              i.      Chief Cassin will be sending out an on line survey in an e-mail.

1.      The voter will have to explain their nomination and explain why they believe that person deserves that award.

                                                            ii.      Chief Cassin stated that the voting in the e-mail is for Firefighter and Officer.

1.      Paramedic and EMT was not voted on, Capt. Hart usually chose those.

2.      Direct them to Capt. Hart but Chief Pell would still like to have the guys have input.

                                                          iii.      Chief Thacker asked if we could have the names of the nominees for the next Senior Staff Meeting on January 3rd.

1.      Capt. Hart and the three Battalions need to be here to discuss them along with the EMT and Medic of the Year.

2.      Chief Pell asked Chief Cassin how difficult it would be to modify the survey to include other nominations and section to justify to which Chief Cassin stated that it would be easy and that he would just add an open field for any nomination.

                                                           iv.      Chief Pell just doesn’t want it to be a popularity contest.  He had heard from several people that believe the last few years have been just that.  By putting the narrative with the nomination the person who really deserves the award should get it.

1.      Chief Thacker stated that a Chief’s Award can be given out to those who have been here for a while and have gone above and beyond.

2.      Chief Pell doesn’t want to water down the award by giving one out for everything and without reason.

3.      Now there are a hand full of awards that truly mean something.

    1. Awards banquet

                                                              i.      Chief Thacker stated that the invitations are being printed.

1.      Employees are receiving theirs in the mailboxes here at the station to save on postage.

                                                            ii.      Chief Cassin stated that the lineup is the same.  He has been working on the year in review which is a nice recap of the events of the year.

                                                          iii.      Chief Thacker is working with Chief Slauter on coverage for that evening.

                                                           iv.      Chief Pell asked to see the program (Chief Thacker pulled up the timeline and program for Chief Pell)

                                                             v.      Chief Pell stated that Chelsea Flower will charge $3 per disk and $6.50 for the disk in a hard case.

                                                           vi.      Chief Slauter will not be in town for the January 3rd meeting but will write up something for the FF/Officer and Medic/EMT.

1.      Chief Slauter is glad to see the Officer Training laid out and believes overtime should not be a problem once Randy Becker starts.

2.      He is also going to meet with Chiefs Engmark and Wilson to discuss the directives and get on the same page.

 

  1. Meeting called at 1005.