MINUTES OF THE BUCKSKIN FIRE DEPARTMENT DISTRICT FIRE BOARD

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF THE BUCKSKIN FIRE DEPARTMENT DISTRICT FIRE BOARD 5/11/16 Open Meeting Minutes to be approved at open public meeting on June 8, A public Open Meeting of the Buckskin Fire Department was convened on May 11, 2016 at 6:00p.m. in the classroom of Station I of the Buckskin Fire Department located at 8500 Riverside Drive, Parker, AZ The following matters were discussed at the Work Shop/Open Meeting. 1. Call to Order: 6:02pm: 2. Roll Call: Members Present: Robert Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, Jeff Daniel, and Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson (via conference call) Members Absent: Robert Gory Staff Present: Chief Chris Chambers, Administrative Assistant Pattie Lonnee, Administrative Clerk Shannon Shuck, Captain Mike Byrd Guest Speaker: N/A Public Present: Sharon Schuler, Dennise Jones, Pat Jones, Wayne Posey 3. (Discussion) Budget Planning Workshop 2016/2017. Chief Chambers: On the proposed budget Salaries and Wages have gone up since last year. A 2% percent cost of living raise for the career Captains and Firefighters as well as a raise for Pattie is part of the reason for the increase. The other part of the increase is due to hiring Brandon Quinn full-time at the six-month mark. Although $10,000 was cut from the budget last year, Contracted Overtime cannot be changed. With the FLSA, firefighters have a 53-hour straight timework week. The fire service is not paid overtime until after 53 hours. Our guys work 56 hours a week which equates to 12 extra hours a month. The Safer Grant Firefighters are not going to be able to cover for the Career Firefighters until they are qualified to drive the boat, engines and learn to pump. Jeff Daniel: Doesn t understand why with doubling the manpower has the Contracted Overtime only gone down a few thousand dollars? Chief Chambers: Explained again, the 56- hour workweek which includes the 3 hours of Contracted Overtime. Beside the Contracted Overtime, the Safer Grant Firefighters are not allowed overtime because it will cost the department. Wayne Posey: Referring to the November 11, 2015 board minutes, under Item 9, Chief Chambers stated that hiring the Safer Grant personal could possibly save the department $50,000 in overtime. Chief Chambers: stated that it possibly could, but not initially. Over the period of the grant it may lower it by $50,000. It is going to lower the Public Safety Retirement a lot. Wayne Posey: At the November 11, 2015 board meeting the board approved the purchase of a Type 3 with leasing options with the stipulation that the payments be made strictly out of the Wildland account for all payments during the lease. To ensure transparency to the public, Wayne recommends a Profit and Loss statement for the Wildland fire enterprises be presented to the board at least quarterly. This budget does not show the P & L. It shows the revenue and it shows the expense. It does not show the lease payment in this budget. Wayne continued that this was documented in the minutes and that this was the approval of the motion that the lease payment would be paid out of the Wildland Fire account. He went on to say that he does not see this in the current proposed budget nor does he see a P & L. Chief Chambers: The payments are paid out of the Wildland fund and the board is well aware of it. They 1 Page

2 were given a P & L statement at the last two board meetings. Chairman Greg Bachmann: Wanted to know if we ve gotten a quote on the medical insurance for next year. Pattie: Yes, it is included in the budget. Chief Chambers continued with the proposed budget stating that the Safer Grant is going to cost a little more in training because of having full crews at the stations and in the amount of training they are doing. Pat Jones: wanted to make a comment on the new guys. As previously discussed at one of the meetings, before the grant guys were hired, there wasn t going to be any expense to the taxpayers out of the taxpayer s funding. Well the problem is, that leaves you grant money and Wildland which is sketchy anyways because of the fact that the taxpayers have paid for the vehicles that go to the Wildland fires. So, if you re going to spend money on training, it s got to come from someplace else. It was stated somewhere, Mr. Posey may have the exact minute date, but this was supposed to cost the taxpayers not a dime and just listening to what is going on there is money coming out of the General Fund for these guys. That wasn t what was discussed and that wasn t what was approved by the board. Chief Chambers: For one, Mr. Jones statement was wrong. The vehicles were not purchased by the taxpayers; they were purchased by Grants and solely paid for by the Wildland Fund. Pat Jones: The Big Red that went to the fire was that paid for by Wildland? That Big Red that went to that fire was taxpayer money that paid for the truck. Chief Chambers: It was taxpayer money that paid for the truck, but it earned a lot more money when it went to the fire. That isn t a normal Wildland rig that we take to fires. Pat Jones: Then my statement wasn t incorrect. Wayne Posey: If I look at your Wildland statement, when you are getting reimbursed you are getting reimbursed based on your actual costs for your personnel costs, hotels, meals, fuel and repairs, so your profit is basically what you are getting on your equipment? Chief Chambers: Yes. Pat Jones: But you don t have any costs under expense under equipment because you got tires wearing out when you are driving it, you got depreciation, you got all those items that you are not subtracting off the actual depreciation of the schedule. Chief Chambers: Sure, anytime we buy tires or anything it is subtracted off that schedule. Anything that is bought or purchased for the Wildland truck is taken solely out of Wildland. Pat Jones: It is not on this one (budget). Chief Chambers: It is, less cost of goods fuel $2,400, less cost of goods repaired $1,250. We are running with a 2002 Ford F350, so it s been written off, long ago. There s no depreciation on it. When we bought it, our first fire paid for it. Neither tenders cost the taxpayer any money. Pat Jones: So this wildfire enterprise profit only gets used on capital expenses? It can t be used for budget purposes like buying new turnouts? Chief Chambers: It was agreed upon by the board that the money would be put in a separate fund and it would be used for capital expenses; that s why we are using it to purchase the vehicle. Wayne Posey: Based on Pat s comment, could this Wildland profit be used in lieu of the need for extra training budget money instead of increasing the training budget out the taxpayer fund? Chief Chambers: We could, but the problem is we are going to get to a point where we overuse the Wildland money because you can t count on it. Right now we are purchasing a new rig with it. Pat Jones: It was stated that anything that had to do with the new firemen wouldn t come from taxpayer dollars. It was in the minutes. Chief Chambers: When you take in the fact that the taxpayers are going to save over half a million dollars in the end, then no, it won t come out taxpayer money. Pat Jones: I m not worried about your savings; I m worried about what was stated in the meeting and the facts of the meeting that no taxpayer money will be spent on the new firemen. I m not looking 20 miles down the road because I don t care about that, just year by year. Chief Chambers requested rolling over the money that is leftover in the Building Fund into a reserve account to be added to next year s Building Fund. A new roof is needed at Station 11 and there is not enough money to do it in one fiscal year. Assessed value has gone up approximately $400,000 this year for our district. Wayne Posey: Seems like the budget is fair and Chief Chambers stayed within the numbers. I appreciate the tax rate not changing. However, one item I don t see is the reimbursement for the reimbursable accidents which I d like to see a line item under Income. Pat Jones: They had a 2% raise two years ago and now they are doing another 2% raise, which I understand, the guys need it. The problem I have is every time I look at a breakdown on Wildland, those trucks stay in this building, and the employees stay in this building. I don t 2 Page

3 see any percentages on the Wildland that splits percentage of the Wildland back into the General Fund because the taxpayers pay for the building, the taxpayers pay for everything that vehicle does except for the purchase price of it. Are the taxes covered? I don t see any of that and I know there is no breakdown on any sheets I see. What percentage goes back to the taxpayers because this thing is housed here, the people live here; it s all part of it? They are dispatched out of here. It s not like they are dispatched out of a separate Wildland building, and I don t see any breakdown that shows any of it going back into the General Fund. Chief Chambers: The $110,000 for the personnel is the padded rate. Pat Jones: I understand the personnel part, but your normal maintenance; every time a guy uses the shower it uses something every time you park in a parking lot it uses something. It s just normal budgeting; you always budget that percentage into your budget because it s used here and supplied here. I don t ever see a breakdown on how the taxpayers get reimbursed. I know they get reimbursed for salaries, there s no question about that being covered. The vehicle gets covered, but what about the maintenance and the upkeep? You ve got guys out there shining that truck when it sits there. I don t ever see a breakdown on that. Chairman Greg Bachmann wanted to clarify that everyone understood exactly what was said about the Board s approval of the grant and the statements that taxpayer money would not be used. He did not recall those exact words being said. Greg was under the impression that he knew there would be some costs, especially when we found out after the grant was awarded that turnouts would not be covered. Greg wanted to make sure everyone was clear on what was said and what was approved. 4. 7:07pm, Adjourn Workshop and Convene Open Meeting: Chairman Bachmann convened Open Meeting. 5. (Action Item): Approval of Minutes submitted for Regular Session April 13, Motion made by Monty Rust to accept the minutes for the Work Session/Regular Session dated April 13, 2016; seconded by Secretary/ Clerk Glenda Gerson. Ayes: 4, Board Member Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, Board Member Jeff Daniel, Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Nayes: 0 Abstain: 6. (Action Item): Discussion & possible action: Acceptance of monthly expense report for 04/01/ /30/16. All transaction approved by Administrative Fire Chief; documentation for these expenses were reviewed and authorized by a minimum of two Fire Board Members whose signatures are on the warrants issued to vendor(s), as per Buckskin Fire District policy and procedures. Motion made by Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson to accept the monthly Expense Report for 04/01/ /30/16; seconded by Board Member Monty Rust. Ayes: 4, Board Member Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, Board Member Jeff Daniel, and Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Nayes: 0 7. (Action Item): Discussion and possible action: Board to approve payment of $19, from capital funds ($17, principal, $1, interest.) The amount includes interest that was calculated by the County Treasurer s office for the interest due in November The deferred payment was approved by the Fire Board in 2015 and is due to a tax roll correction on a property that was taxed incorrectly for the 3 Page

4 years by the County Assessor s office; taxing a parcel belonging to the BLM. Sharon Schuler commented that she wanted to clarify this item as it is stated that this property was taxed incorrectly for the years stated above by the La Paz County Assessor s office. Sharon wanted to make it clear that her office does not do surveys. This all started in 2008 from a survey that a surveyor did and said that the parcel went clear to the river. BLM approved this when the buyers bought the tax lien. Sharon s office does not write legal's, nor do they do surveys, but they have to work off of surveys that are recorded. She felt that the way this item was worded was demeaning and tried to prove that her office had done something wrong. Chief Chambers stated that we did nothing but copy an from the La Paz County Treasurer s Office, and it wasn t meant to be derogatory. He provided Sharon with a copy of the s. She will be taking this up with the County Treasurer s Office. Sharon also had a statement about grants. Grant money is not free. We might as well get the money because they are going to give it to someone else. Motion made by Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson to approve payment of $19, from capital funds; seconded by Board Member Jeff Daniel. Ayes: 4, Board Member Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, Board Member Jeff Daniel, and Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Nayes: 0 8. (Discussion): Discussion and possible action: Approval of the proposed Budget (July 2016 June 2017) to post on the Buckskin Fire Department website. Pat Jones had a comment about seeing a better breakdown between all the entities. It s hard to be a taxpayer and pull up a sheet and it never tells what percentages come from Wildland staffing expenses. He would like to see a breakdown to see what is being spent. Pattie Lonnee stated that the accounting software is not designed to pull a P & L for Wildland. It pulls the financials for the entire operation. It is her hope to eventually switch to QuickBooks that will allow data to be pulled in different ways. Motion made by Board Member Monty Rust to approve the proposed Budget (July 2016 June 2017); seconded by Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Ayes: 2, Board Member Monty Rust and Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Nayes: 2, Chairman Greg Bachmann and Board Member Jeff Daniel. Chairman Greg Bachmann realizes that a lot of work has gone into this budget, but since it was just given to everyone today it might be nice, especially with two board members not present to chew it over. Jeff Daniel stated that he would like to see the budget without the 2% raise. Chairman Greg Bachmann made a motion to table this action until the June 8, 2016 meeting with direction of the board to get the numbers that Board Member Jeff Daniel requested regarding the pay raise and have this for the regularly scheduled meeting on June 8, 2016 for approval; seconded by Board Member Jeff Daniel. Ayes: 3, Board Member Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, and Board Member Jeff Daniel. Nayes: 1, Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. 9. (Action Item): Discussion and Possible Action: Board to approve Chief Chambers backfill coverage for Wildland at a senior captain s rate. Wayne Posey was concerned with State and Federal Labor Laws. He believes this needs some legal discussion on this subject to see if it can actually be done based on the law. Wayne Posey discussed his understanding of backfilling which Chief Chambers had to clarify several 4 Page

5 statements. Pat Jones doesn t understand why Chief Chambers has to cover when there are 24 other firemen that can pull those shifts. He asked why is it so hard for the other guys to cover the position. Motion made by Jeff Daniel to seek legal counsel and get approval through the Labor Board to approve Chief Chambers backfill coverage at a senior captain s rate; seconded by Board Member Monty Rust. Ayes: 3, Board Member Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, and Board Member Jeff Daniel. Nayes: 1, Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Abstain: (Action Item): Discussion and possible action: Approval of 7 sets of turnouts from the contingency reserve. The cost of the turnouts will total $24, Wayne Posey commented that he recommends that the board approves this item, but the money should come out of the Contingency or Wildland account. Pat Jones agreed. He wanted the taxpayers to know that the money didn t come from their tax dollars. He feels that Wildland has enough money to foot the bill. Motion made by Board Member Monty Rust to approve 7 sets of turnouts from the Contingency Reserve totaling $24,000.00; seconded by Chairman Greg Bachmann. Board Member Jeff Daniel withdrew his second. Ayes: 3, Board Member Monty Rust, Chairman Greg Bachmann, and Secretary/Clerk Glenda Gerson. Nayes: 1, Board Member Jeff Daniel. Abstain: (Report) Chairman s Report: Greg Bachmann did not have anything to report. 12. (Report) Fire Chief s Report: Summary of Incident Report/Activity Log: Brush Fire 3 Mutual Aid Response 1 Medical Aid 28 Boating Assist 2 Public Assist. 2 Vehicle Accident. 4 Possible Bomb. 1 Boat Accident 1 Hazardous Condition 1 Snake Abatement 2 Fire Alarm 1 Dispatch error 1 Boat 1 Medical 3 Quad Accident 1 Total Responses 51 5 Page

6 Boat & ( ) Station 11 1 Station Monthly Activities to : IMD: This Month is Child Abuse and Neglect, and Pediatric Fever & Fever in Children. Nathan is putting together a video library of his CME s from here on out. If anyone misses a class they will be required to make it up, this way they will also get the credit for National Registry. Chad Conlin will be taking over the CPR classes and we will be starting to teach them again this month. We have continued our ongoing training of the new firefighters getting them used to working shifts and our daily routine. It has been going very well with no problems so far. Shannon is working very well with Pattie and is learning the logbook, computer time schedule, and payroll, among the many other tasks and requirements. Barb and I are focusing on our SOP s and SOG s. She has completed the new Personnel Policy Manual for our new F.F s Lt. s and the existing crews for Reference and guidance. The Homeland Security Grant meeting went well. Buckskin was awarded around $15, for 3 MCT (mobile computing terminals) for 1101, 1102, and We still may receive fallout funding at the end of the year was taken to Phoenix for A/C repair. The clutch and compressor were bad, and we had an electrical problem. Empire Cat: Came out to service the two generators at each station. We have been having trouble with them since day one. They were both awarded from a homeland security grant that Greg Bachmann put in for Buckskin Fire. A lot of electrical issues; the warranty is now expired and they previously extended it for an additional two years, but that is now up the old engine under the shed is going out to bid. We had an offer of $ , but the person backed out. The three new Lieutenants are doing a great job so far. They are keeping busy training and doing area familiarization with the crews. Jason Weatherford has submitted his paperwork for Engine Boss. We should be hearing back any time with the approval. Last week we had Haz-mat training with IHS Hospital. We will have a future training to set up the decon tent that they have. Buckskin will also have a rope 1-2 & 3 class put on by Captain Earl Saucier of Lake Havasu City Fire. I am getting the material from the Arizona State Training Committee. I hope that we will have the material soon so Earl can start to schedule the class. Blake School had a field trip on Tuesday the 25 th. They rotated 3 busloads of kids through station 11. The kids had a great time. The teacher dropped by thank you cards from the students. 6 Page

7 Monthly Totals for Buckskin Fire District April, 2016 This monthly status report gives you a quick snapshot (as of ) of the claims which have been submitted and paid in the previous month. Last Month (Apr) All Year (2016) # Claims $ Amount # Claims $ Amount Claims Submitted 1 $ $2, Payments Received By FRUSA 3 $1, $2, Claims Denied 0 $ $0.00 Non-Billable (Other) In Progress Upcoming Training: Basic Designated Infection Control Officer Training Course - May 18-19, Kingman Regional Medical Center, East Campus, Kingman IAFC Fire-Rescue Med - May 21-25, Green Valley Ranch, Henderson, NV Superstition Fire & Medical Leadership Conference - May 23-24, The Views at Superstition, Gold Canyon Fire Inspector 2 Certification Course - May 25-27, Coconino Community College, Flagstaff Forcible Entry and Taxpayer/Strip Mall Fires - May 26, Riverside Casino, Laughlin, NV (Mohave County Fire Officers Association) We will be conducting OSHA fit testing this month. 13. Call to the Public. Consideration and discussion of comments from the public. Those wishing to address the Buckskin Fire District Board need not request permission in advance Pursuant to A.R.S (G), the Fire District Board is not permitted to discuss or take action on any item raised in the call to the public that is not specifically identified on the Agenda. However, individual Board members may be permitted to respond to criticism directed to them. Otherwise, the Board may direct that staff review the matter or ask that the matter be placed on a future agenda. Public input is limited to two (2) minutes per session unless a greater amount of time is approved by the Board. The Fire District Board cannot discuss or take legal 7 Page

8 action on any issue raised during the Call to the Public that is not on the current Agenda; due to restrictions of the Open Meeting Law. Public: Wayne Posey: Based on the Board minutes of December 9, 2015 regarding the current pension, it was discussed that if a disability comes off it would reduce the department s unfunded liability $600,000. He hasn t seen or heard anything about it. He would like the board to consider the possibility of investigating these special property assessments to pay down this unfunded liability. Everybody would pay a fair share per parcel to get this unfunded liability paid down. Otherwise, this district will never get this paid down. It s the Board s due diligence to at least research this. Pat Jones questioned responding to medical aid with San Bernardino and if so, he would like to see the agreement. He would like some verification and facts as to why his tax dollars are going to San Bernardino County s people on the other side. Pat also voiced his concern about the unfunded liability. He s worried that the district will have to pay pensions. 14. Poll Board Members for items to be considered for inclusion on next agenda. Work Shop Budget Update on the retired former employee Chief to be paid at highest captain s rate for Wildland backfill 15. Schedule next Work Session and/or Regular Session; June 8, 2016; 6:00 p.m. 16. Adjourn: 7:55 p.m. Greg Bachmann; Chairman Date Shannon Shuck 05/16/16 Administrative Assistant Date Minutes approved by: Date: Minutes approved by: Date: 8 Page