January 3, The January 3, 2013 meeting of the NIESA Board was called to order at 7:01 pm by the Chairperson Earl Griffes.

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1 The meeting of the NIESA Board was called to order at 7:01 pm by the Chairperson Earl Griffes. Voting Members Present: R. Lillywhite, B Stiffler, E Griffes, R. Pollok, R. Hanna, R. Hayes, R. Cole Non-Voting Members Present: Fire/ EMS Personnel present: F. Wilbrink S Davis, A. Chase, H. Bick. B. Siegel, Mark House, M. Flynn Other: Charles Galbreath, Director Guests: Scott Diederich- Trustee- Leroy Township James DeForest- Mayor - City of Williamston Consent Agenda (Agenda I): - Minutes to the December 6, 2012 Regular Meeting -Operations Checking Account Summary December Operational Budget through December 31, Building & Equipment Budget through December 31, 2012 Mrs. Curtis requested the Operational and Building & Equipment budgets be pulled from the consent agenda. Motion by Mr. Lillywhite to approve the minutes of the December 6, 2012 regular meeting and the operations checking account summary for December 2012 as presented, seconded by Mr. Pollok. Motion carried. Public Comment (Agenda II): DDA / TIFA Funds- Village of Webberville (Agenda III-A): Mr. E. Griffes stated the Village of Webberville did not discuss the issue at their last meeting. Billing Ordinance Revision (Agenda III-B): Mr. Galbreath advised NIESA s attorney reviewed NIESA s current billing ordinance and the billing ordinances of the units of government. He was looking at the various units of government ordinances to make sure NIESA was allowed to bill individuals for expenses incurred by NIESA not related to structure fires. He was concerned with the Village of Webberville s ordinance and Williamstown Townships. The Village of Webberville s ordinance names Leroy Township, and Williamstown Township names the fire department. He felt it should be changed to NIESA. Page 1 of 6

2 Another area of concern is that NIESA s ordinance, in regard to fire service, waives all fees for fire service if it occurs on tax payer property. With this wording that would include any Hazmat situations that occur on the property whether it s commercial or residential. This could result in NIESA incurring a significant expense. The attorney is recommending a change, to protect NIESA, which would allow NIESA to bill individuals for expenses incurred for such incidents. Discussion followed regarding the changes of the wording of the ordinance, and the possibility of these type of situations occurring. Mr. Galbreath also felt NIESA needs to educate their fire personnel on how they want them to handle Hazmat situations. Discussion followed regarding hazmat procedures. Mr. Galbreath requested the Board refer the Billing Ordinance change recommendations to the Finance Committee for review. Discussion followed. The Billing Ordinance was referred to the Finance Committee for further review. Mr. Galbreath requested the Board s permission to meet with the Village of Webberville, and Williamstown Township to discuss changing the wording of their ordinances to NIESA. The Board advised Mr. Galbreath to move forward with the meetings. Directors Goals & Objectives (Agenda III-C): Mr. E. Griffes asked Mr. Galbreath if he had any recommendations for goals and objectives for the Director position. Mr. Galbreath thought the Board members were going to bring additional recommendations. The Board members did not have any additional objectives. New Business (Agenda IV): Treasurer Report (Agenda V): Mr. Hanna provided the Board with a verbal report. He advised the expenses for December 2012 were $285,710.72, however $182, was for the new ambulance. The reason for the prepayment is because Horton put the funds into an escrow account and will pay us 4% interest per annum on the funds until the ambulance is completed. We will earn approximately $600 per month, for about 4 months, which will reduce the interest we are paying to Citizens on the overall loan. $52,000 was the annual payment for NIESA s insurance policies. The remaining amount included some new equipment for the fire departments and a lap top computer for the EMS department for the ambulance. Page 2 of 6

3 Mr. Hayes questioned the computer expense of $4,000, why was it so expensive. Ms. Davis advised it was a tough book type of computer that was military grade. It is water resistant, shock resistant, etc. Mr. E. Griffes asked for an explanation of the SCBA epic amplifier listed on the credit card payment sheet. Chief Siegel advised they are for the Scott Air Packs so you can hear the firefighter. He indicated we purchased 6 devices at half price. Personnel Committee (Agenda VI) Work in Progress: Educational Reimbursement SOG Fire Department Positions SOG Compensation - Jury Duty SOG Compensation- Legal Proceedings SOG Ambulance Service Billing- Employees SOG Mr. Wilbrink advised they did not meet in December. Finance Committee (Agenda VII): Work In Progress: Disposal of Equipment SOG Purchase Order SOG Mr. Hanna advised they did not meet in December, however they scheduled a meeting for next week. Comments from the Director (Agenda VIII): Work In Progress: Standardization of Vehicle Lettering Performance Reviews Mr. Galbreath apologized for missing last month s meeting. He advised he is working on the wording for the standardized lettering. Regarding the performance review, he will be working on them this month. He did not work on them in December because of illness and the holidays. He contacted Kevin Ammerman from Lansing Mason Ambulance to see if he would be interested in purchasing ambulance Mr. Ammerman sent over an individual to check it out and drive it, and they are interested. Mr. Galbreath would like to get $5,000 for the ambulance. Chief Siegel and Mr. Lillywhite both felt $5,000 was a good price. Mr. Pollok asked if the ambulance had been advertised to other individuals. Mr. Galbreath stated it had not. He wanted to give Mr. Ammerman a chance to purchase it first. nd Mr. Galbreath advised on January 22 NIESA will be hosting a meeting of the Michigan Rural Page 3 of 6

4 EMS Network. He was approached by Mr. Janson, State of Michigan Inspector regarding hosting the meeting. It is concerning a high performance CPR initiative. Discussion followed regarding the meeting. Mr. Pollok asked if NIESA passed their annual ambulance inspection. Mr. Galbreath advised we did, and complimented Ms. Davis for her efforts. Comment from Department Chief s, Supervisors, Biller (Agenda IX): Sherry Davis, EMS Supervisor: Ms. Davis indicated Mr. McGuire planned on attending the meeting this evening, but had something unexpected come up. He provided her with some information to share with the Board. Ms Davis reported that EMS responded to 77 calls in December with 19 refusals, and they gave away 10 calls. Per Mr. McGuire the total calls for 2012 was 997, and NIESA gave away 100 calls They have a driving class scheduled for the end of January. The class portion is mandatory for the EMS personnel, but she would like the fire personnel to be involved in the driving course. Discussion followed. She advised that Mr. McGuire hired a new EMS Instructor Coordinator, and that individual and Mr. Cousino are working on the details for the MFR class. They plan on starting the MFR class in February. Mr. McGuire has two proposals from Curt Zondervaan from Physio Control regarding the Life pak and the Lucas. He will make copies and get the information out to the Board members. Mr. Hanna advised the information should come to the Finance Committee first before going to the Board. Discussion followed. Chief Siegel suggested applying for a FEMA grant for the Monitor. Mr. Shuck could try and put in a grant, however the EMS department would need to provide some information. Chief Siegel: Reported Williamston Fire responded to 13 calls in December. Four were EMS st assists, and they had a couple of fire and CO2 alarms. On December 31 they had a house fire caused by food in the oven in downtown Williamston. The police department extinguished the fire prior to the departments arrival with a CO2 nd extinguisher. The resident suffered 2 degree burns. Williamston Fire had a record number of calls in 2012, ending with 197. He provided Ms. Curtis with an annual report, with a breakdown of the calls. If any of the Board members would like a copy Ms. Curtis will provide it. Chief Siegel met with Mr. Hanna and Mr. E. Griffes to review the sales agreement for the Ladder truck. He also met with Mr. Galbreath regarding a couple of issues. Page 4 of 6

5 Chief Flynn: Reported Leroy Township Fire also had a record year in The responded to 167 calls total, with 16 calls in December. A lot of their calls in 2012 were cancelled en route and the majority were related to the automatic mutual aid with Fowlerville Fire. He plans on meeting with Fowlerville to discuss the issue. Ms. Curtis also has Leroy Township s annual report, and if anyone would like copies she will provide them. She also has a copy of Leroy s tentative training schedule for 2013, which she will be sending with the minutes. Last months training was Reading Smoke, which is a series of videos. Regarding vehicle repairs; Engine 6-14 received new tires, and some of the vehicles are scheduled for DOT inspections in January. The Firefighter s Association sponsored 8 families for Christmas, providing gifts and dinner. Six of the families received their gifts directly from Santa riding on the fire truck. Charles Galbreath, Biller: Reported his records indicate EMS responded to 817 calls in 2012, which is not our highest but is up from The budgeted ambulance revenue was $205,000, and we are at $245, Using the 817 calls in 2012, NIESA averaged $ per call. We did give away 100 calls this year, however we don t know how many of those calls were third and fourth calls. In December there have been several times we ve had 3 ambulance request in a short period. We do need to look into putting something in place to man the second ambulance. Discussion followed regarding funds needed to staff an ambulance. Regarding our collection company Tek Collect. Our current contract started October 2010, and so far we have sent 363 accounts to them for collection. Of those 363 accounts, 86 were considered skips which they can t locate. The skips were primarily for expressway calls. The current contract was for 550 submissions for $1,800. To date we have received $5,605 on the submissions. Discussion followed regarding collection companies. Mr. Pollok asked how Obamacare is going to effect the ambulance revenue. Mr. Galbreath advised he has no idea. Discussion followed. Mr. Galbreath advised he had two individuals apply for the Billing Assistant position. He has spoken with both of them, and has made one of them an offer. He is waiting for a response, and will provide the Board with the name of the individual at next month s meeting. Comment from Office Manager (Agenda X): Page 5 of 6

6 Comments from Board Members (Agenda XI): Comments from Association Members (Agenda XII): Chief Siegel advised Leslie Fire Department s Assistant Chief passed away yesterday. Both of the fire departments will be participating in the funeral, and will be sending vehicles and personnel to Leslie to provide coverage for Leslie Fire during the proceedings. Public Comment (Agenda XIII): Adjournment (Agenda XIV): Motion by Mr. Pollok to adjourn the meeting at 8:16pm, seconded by Mr. Lillywhite. Motion carried. Paula M Curtis, Secretary Date Page 6 of 6