SHASTA LAKE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT 4126 Ashby Ct ~ Shasta Lake, CA 96019-9215 ~ (530) 275-7474 ~ Fax (530) 275-6502 ~ www.shastalakefpd.org March 12, 2012 Minutes Continued Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes March 12, 2012 Members Present: Staff Present: Daniel Emry, Chairman Lori Chapman-Sifers, Vice Chairwoman Stephen Morgan, Director Jack Ferguson, Director Ted Chase, Director Adrian Rogers, Fire Chief Sharyn Toso, Administrative Assistant 1.0 CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chairman Emry at 7:00 pm. Flag salute lead by Administrative Assistant Toso. 2.0 PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: None 3.0 APPROVAL OF AGENDA: No changes. 4.0 CONSENT CALENDAR: 4.1 The minutes of the 2/14/12 board meeting were presented for approval, accepted as presented. 4.2 The minutes of the 3/5/12 Organization & Personnel committee meeting were presented for approval, accepted as presented. 4.3 The February warrants for $22,367.73 were presented for approval, accepted as presented. 4.4 The following journal entries were presented for approval; A. $52.68 - Shasta County Treasurer/Tax Collector, Asmt#006-890-033-000 B. $52.68 - Shasta County Treasurer/Tax Collector, Asmt#075-360-028-000 C. $52.68 - Shasta County Treasurer/Tax Collector, Asmt#005-090-055-000 D. $52.68 - Shasta County Treasurer/Tax Collector, Asmt#005-090-054-000 5.0 COMMUNICATIONS: A motion was made by Director Ferguson to approve 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 & 4.4 as presented, seconded by Director Morgan, passed unanimously. 5.1 Chairman Emry commented on the weather conditions. Wind gusts have been reported to be 50 miles per hour and he asked staff to be careful. - 1 -
5.2 The board reviewed the call for nominations & notice of election for four expiring positions on the FASIS Board of Directors. The board had no interest at this time in participating on the FASIS board. 5.3 The board reviewed the letter from the Grand Jury regarding Brown Act and Ethics training. The Grand Jury was requesting training dates for the Brown Act and Ethics, AB1234 for the Board of Directors. The requested information has been mailed back to the Grand Jury. 5.4 The board reviewed the Merrill Lynch Report February Portfolio Summary. These are the funds that we will be moving into the CERBT fund and will be further discussed under 8.6, the approval of the Calpers OPEB funding. 5.5 The board reviewed the SLFPD Interim GASB 45 Disclosures Alternate Measurement Method prepared by Nyhart. This report needed to be completed before the post retirement funds could be moved over the CalPERs certification trust fund from Merrill Lynch. Moving the funds into a proper trust fund will make it visible according to government accounting standards. 5.6 The board reviewed the Article in the Sacramento Bee Newcastle Fire District Prepares to Build Station after Election. The Newcastle Fire Protection District received an annual parcel tax of $146.46 to help build a new firehouse to replace the condemned one. The project will cost from 1.5 to 2 million dollars. It will also boost the salaries for department firefighters. 6.0 DISTRICT REPORTS: 6.1 The Fire Chief s report for February 2012 was given to the board for review. Chief Rogers announced that he realizes the board has been faced with difficult decisions with budget issues and in order to lead by example he will be taking a voluntary 5% pay cut. It will take effect in the next pay period. This will bring down his annual pay from $55,000 to $52,000. He is also keeping his utility at the station because the public accuses him of using it for personal things, so there will be a delay in responding to incidents. Directors Chase and Morgan said they didn t agree with that and that the Chief needs to have his utility so he can respond to emergencies without a delay. Vice Chair Chapman-Sifers said that his personal actions are noteworthy and honorable, but it still will not please all to the public. She is against any cut back and the district has already made sever cut backs. She also encouraged people to Google the fire chiefs annual salary and one will see we are getting a great deal. Shasta Lake Citizen Richard Adams said he feels we have been doing a good job but if you raise rates it will put a hardship on the people. People don t want to come to the meeting and say anything because nothing happens. He was unhappy with the fact that the district did not extend burn season last year. The government keeps snow balling and it needs to stop. We need to look at the pension and health and welfare plans that we are paying and not the firefighters. 6.2 The Fire Marshal s report for February 2012 was given to the board for review. The board discussed the progress of the Toyon property by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. BC Dahlen said he has walked the site and it appears that they have done some work but - 2 -
they have stopped. He is attempting to contact the position that he made contact with earlier to follow up. The law enforcement center is now open as of last Tuesday. They are still working on little issues with the building. The single family residence project on Virginia Ave is being worked on. There are multiple issues with the project which are being worked out. BC Dahlen attended the FIRESCOPE meeting via phone. The audio was not that good but should improve if they go to an internet connection. He doesn t mind attending the meeting this way and it keeps the cost down. BC Dahlen circulated photos of Mr. Mieske s fuel break project. Mr. Mieske has made a significant effort on the clearance which came out pretty good. 6.3 The Training Officer s report for February 2012 was given to the board for review. The board further discussed the SAFER Grant which we should hear something back in June at the earliest. 6.4 The Shasta Lake Firefighter s Association March 2012 report was given to the board for review. Director Morgan wanted to congratulate Captain Roger Moses for being named Firefighter of the Year and for the association putting on an outstanding crab feed. The board also discussed fundraising basket raffles. 6.5 The board reviewed the payroll report for the month of February 2012 for a grand total of $38,313.44, accepted as presented. 7.0 OLD BUSINESS: 7.1 The board discussed at length budget issues and the public information campaign. An anonymous letter that was sent to the district in response to the ad in the SLB Direct Plus was debated whether it should be read into public record. Chief Rogers requested the letter to be read because the letter is what the public thinks and he wants to see if the public agrees with it. The board said they did not want it read because there was no name, address or date and it was demoralizing to the district and staff. A copy of the letter was included in the agenda therefore its public record. Vice Chair Chapman-Sifers was disappointed to see no other positive letters were included. Citizen Richard Adams said that people in the past have spoken their peace at board meetings but then they faced repercussions for doing so from people and the fire department. Now people don t want to say anything because they don t want the hassle, so he can see someone writing a letter like that. The board decided not to read the letter since a copy of it was included in the agenda. Citizen Gary Nicholls requested to address the board. The board reminded Mr. Nicholls of the five minute time frame for comments and asked for a copy of his prepared speech prior to reading it. Mr. Nicholls did not have extra copies to distribute to each board member. The board discussed whether to allow Mr. Nicholls to read the speech without distributing copies to the board members. Chief Rogers recommend allowing him to read what he had since we had asked for public input and allowing him longer time to read it. Mr. Nicholls was able to provided a copy of his speech to the secretary. Director Chase reminded Chairman Emry again of the board s request to provide copies - 3 -
to the board of any prepared speech. Mr. Nicholls voiced his aggravation towards Director Chase regarding the interruptions and not allowing the meeting to continue. The board continued discussing allowing Mr. Nicholls more than five minutes to speak and providing copies of the speech. Director Emry asked for Mr. Nicholls to proceed with his speech. Mr. Nicholls recommend developing a written board policy for the use of the department vehicles, which the district does have one in place. He then read his speech. He addressed the boards published request for public input regarding the District s financial situation. He feels there is enough funding in the budget to complete this fiscal year without staff reductions. He did not understand the rush to eliminate an engineer. He feels the rush was due to a federal grant deadline and the need for the District to comply with the grant. He offered several suggestions that the Distract can do to help with their financial state. Chairman Emry stopped Mr. Nicholls at five minutes. The board agreed to have Chairman Emry finish reading his speech. Mr. Nicholls speech concluded with suggesting that the District be honest, conducts business openly, provides leadership and thanked us for our service. Director Chase read Government Code 54590 pursuant to the Brown Act, which sites time frame for public comment. There was further discussion on the allotted time frame for public comment and the Brown Act. Chairman Emry announced that the board will take a ten minute break at 8:23 pm. The board reconvened at 8:33 pm. The board continued discussing the District s budget issues. Chief Rogers said that County Fire is seriously looking at charging for dispatching services which could cost us $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Also, Calfire wants to start charging for use of their engines once fires are under control. Eventually the State is going to start charging us for services. The board further discussed the firefighter layoff, future revenue, RDA and dispatching services. Director Ferguson recommended forming an Ad-Hoc committee to discuss the financial issues. Chairman Emry closed 7.1 from further discussion at 9:04 pm. 8.0 ACTION ITEMS: 8.1 The board reviewed and discussed approving the 2010/2011 draft audit. Teri Simmons from Simmons and Associates was present. The post-employment health benefit funds need to be moved into a secured trust fund, which the board will be addressing tonight under Action Item 8.6. Mrs. Simmons said that a change to the wording can be made to reflect the move of the funds. She can put in a subsequent footnote stating that the District has taken action to handle it if the board approves it. A motion was made by Director Ferguson to accept the draft 2010/2011 audit as presented with the change to include the adoption of Action Item 8.6 changing the funding policy, seconded by Vice Chair Chapman-Sifers, passed unanimously. 8.2 The board reviewed and discussed Policy and Procedure #508, Volunteer Firefighter Hiring. The main change to the policy is the minimum participation requirement, - 4 -
changing it from a percentage to actual time worked for incidents and working at the station. A motion was made by Vice Chair Chapman-Sifers to approve Policy and Procedure #508 as presented, seconded by Director Chase, passed unanimously. 8.3 The board reviewed and discussed Resolution No. 12-01 a Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Shasta Lake Fire Protection District to Enter into an Option and Land Lease Agreement with Redding MSA Limited Partnership. Chief Rogers said that the resolution has been reviewed by legal counsel; with changes worked out between Verizon and legal counsel, as well as the board reviewing redline copies in past meetings. A motion was made by Director Ferguson to accept Resolution No. 12-01 as presented, seconded by Vice Chair Chapman-Sifers, passed unanimously. 8.4 Te board reviewed and discussed the Option and Land Lease Agreement between Shasta Lake Fire Protection District and Redding MSA Limited Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless. The agreement now includes exhibits A & B, the plot plan and the map. Legal counsel, Mike Fitzpatrick, spent a considerable amount of time on this agreement. The tower will be placed in the very south east corner of the new parking lot. A motion was made by Director Ferguson to accept the Option and Land Lease agreement as presented, seconded by Director Morgan, passed unanimously. 8.5 The board reviewed the Memorandum of Option and Land Lease Agreement between Shasta Lake Fire Protection District and Redding MSA Limited Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless. The board was satisfied with the Memorandum as presented. A motion was made by Director Ferguson to approve the Memorandum of Option and Land Lease Agreement as presented, seconded by Director Chase, passed unanimously. 8.6 The board reviewed the CalPERS Certification of OPEB Funding Policy and GASB 43/45 Reporting Compliance & the Delegation of Authority to Request Disbursements. The discount rate will be 7.06%, which we can change at any time if the District chooses to. We will do 100% of the annual required contribution. We are required by law to move the funds into a secured trust. 9.0 NEW BUSINES: A motion was made by Director Ferguson to accept the Certification OPEB Funding Policy and GASB 43/45 Reporting Compliance as presented, seconded by Vice Chair Chapman-Sifers, passed unanimously. 9.1 The board reviewed the benefit assessment fee 2012-2013 levy timeline. Director Ferguson asked if the price can be raised, which it can be based on the CPI base index. 10.0 DIRECTORS COMMENTS: None - 5 -
11.0 ADJOURNMENT: A motion for adjournment was made by Director Ferguson, seconded by Vice Chair Chapman- Sifers, passed unanimously. Chairman Emry brought the meeting to a close at 9:24 pm. Submitted by: Sharyn Toso, District Secretary Date Approved by: Daniel Emry, Chairman Date - 6 -