Summit Fire Board Minutes

June 16, 2015

  1. CALL TO ORDER 3:00pm
  1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
  1. ROLL CALL OF BOARD MEMBERS Chairperson Nott, Clerk Doskocil, Member Newkirk, Member Stoddard, and Member Parker were in attendance. Also in attendance were Chief Howard, Administrative Officer Gioia, and Administrative Assistant Schieffer
  1. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
  2. Approval of the RegularMeeting minutes ofMay 19, 2015

Member Parker motioned to accept the Regular Meeting minutes of May 19, 2015.Clerk Dosckocil seconded. Unanimous approval.

  1. FINANCIAL REPORTS
  2. Approval of Reconciliations and Financial Reports for May 2015.

Administrative Officer Gioia presented the Reconciliations and Financial Reports for May 2015.

Member Parker motioned to approve the Reconciliations and Financial Reports for May 2015.Member Newkirk seconded. Unanimous approval

  1. Re-Approve Reconciliation for County Warrant account from April 2015. Corrections noted.

Administrative Officer Gioia reported there was a discrepancy with Transwestern in last month’s report, $485. I pulled it out for May to balance.Transwestern is being pulled out of our delinquent taxes. It should not be showing up in the County Warrants.

Member Newkirkmotioned to re-approve the Reconciliation for County Warrant account from April 2015. Chairperson Nott seconded. Unanimous approval

  1. OTHER REPORTS
  2. Administration Report

Administrative Officer Gioia reported we finished the Ft Valley mailing list, which also includes the property values. Property subscriptions for outlying areas were mailed out today.

  1. Local 1505 Report

Firefighter Matt Gibbsreported I will be the new vice president, taking over for Captain Slayton.

  1. CALL TO THE PUBLIC – Any person may address the Board on any matter of Board concern that is not on the agenda. The Board may not take action on matters presented, but can refer it to the Board Chairperson for consideration and possible discussion on a later agenda.

Captain Palm addressed the board. He started with a quote, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.The second best time is today.” I am going to relate it to Summit Fire. “The best time to make a decision is when there is a decision to be made, the second best time a decision is to be made is today. Five years ago we were told about these budgets. We were told 5 years ago we will be out of this slump. Again maybe 5 yrs from today we will be out of this slump. Hopefully 5 years from now...... That decision is to close a station or keep a station open. A decision has to be made. With that decision, all the decisions following that are pretty much made for you regarding, staffing, promotion, new hire, etc. These are my personal feelings. General health and moral- the moral is extremely fragile.Staffing levels on line is 10 total people for 5 stations puts 2 people per station. Showing up to a fire, we had 1 more person on scene to number or apparatus. We had one person arriving with one apparatus. Automatic aid will not work with 2 people staffing, we will not work together well.With this staffing it will only hurt someone.Are our external customers being provided the best customer service? The second one is the internal customer services. You have to provide for the public, but also for us. Back in 2010, I raced the Baja 1000. I started the race. I had never ridden a race like that before. I had some good advice from a good friend of mine. “You role up to that line, don’t think about how nervous you are, don’t think about if you are prepared or not, enjoy the opportunity to perform, enjoy the opportunity to make those hard decisions to do what is right.”

Chairperson Nottsaid thank you for your presentation

  1. PURCHASE REQUEST-

none

  1. Chief’s Report– In accordance with A.R.S. 38-431.02(K), the Board shall not propose, discuss, deliberate, or take legal action on any matter in the following summaries:
  1. Run Reports/Training Update.

Battalion Chief Klassen presented the runs and training reports. We hadfour fires in May. Wildland is slow also. We worked on wildland training, drafting operations, structure, night drill, and Cromer School with longer hose stretches. We have started working with Scott Walton and regional training. We will be running engines in for hose pull training with the city.

  1. Legislative Update.
    Chief Howard presented since they are closed, tomorrow I will be on conference call with 2 representatives and one senator regarding rural fire districts bill. They need to provide back to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senateinformation by December 31.
  2. AFDA Conference June 25-27, 2015, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson

Chief Howard this is important regarding the voting.

  1. Our EVT Mike Apodaca has resigned his position to take a job in the Valley. His last day is 6/30/15.

Chief Howard presented Mike Apodaca presented his letter of resignation to be final June 30. He will be working at Hughes Fire Apparatus in Phoenix.On July 1, Norm Erickson will be taking Apodaca’s position.It will be 35 hr per week.

  1. Other Items

Chief Howard reported there are three letters (see attachments) regarding the great work the Bear Jaw crew has been doing working in areas around our area.

Barbara Romero is in charge of Firefighters Care program. They are offering meals at Mike and Rhonda’s West side. They are also holding raffle and 50/50 split the pot.
This is going to be Member Stoddard’s last meeting.

  1. UNFINISHED BUSINESS-

none

  1. NEW BUSINESS

none

  1. ACTION ITEMS.
  1. Review, discuss and possible action on giving the Administration direction on investigating what the structure, feasibility and viability of a Joint Management Agreement (JMA) with the City of Flagstaff Fire Department and report back to the Fire Board at the next Board Meeting.

Chief Howard each option for the budget includes a full time fire chief.Talking with labor today, they would like to see a full time fire chief. If you have interest, we would like to have some dialogue and discussion with the City of Flagstaff on June 23, with labor, battalions, and administration to take a look at this option. I know the labor wants a full time chief. Chairperson Nott stated I thought we were already doing this. We need to look at a fire chief. We will budget for this. This Joint Management Agreement will not be happening. Member Parkerstated, just because we look at this does not mean this is the way it is going to be happening. Firefighter Matt Gibbsstated we need a fire chief now. We do not want to go this way at all. This is coming from the union. Chairperson Nottanswered; it will be well considered.

Clerk Doskocilmotioned to investigate the possibility of a Joint Management Agreement with the City of Flagstaff Fire Department, Member Parker seconded. Unanimous approval.

Chief Howard stated the staff needs to understand whatthe options are out there.Firefighter Gibbs stated I will take it back to the guys and present it is educational
Clerk Doskocilstated you got to pick up communication. The board then gets blind-sided if not.

Unanimous approval

  1. Review, discuss and possible action on closing and selling Station 36 and the process of how to move forward/or Rolling Brown-outs.

Chairperson Nott presented the people of the west side needs to be informed about the closing of one of the station. Which one who knows. Chief Howard stated there is a lot to closing a station. It is my thinking when we look at some changes, take this as an opportunity to meet with the public. Closing puts us in awkward position regarding the possibilities of override possibility. Not getting into credit line and staffing. It is not wise for us at this time to close station.
Captain Palm questioned how much an override would raise $260000 each year for 7 years. Pay is frozen and staffing level will be kept at same. This would move the problems down the road again.
If we keep station 36, labor wants to see 36 browned out. We would brown out to reduce our overtime costs. Station 36 has a reduced call load, so it will probably be browned out the most.
Member Stoddardstated a shift is running a firefighter short. What would it be if we hired another firefighter? Chief Howard stated I would like to hire another firefighter and promote another captain. This budget will project these numbers. There was further discussion regarding the closing and selling of Station 36. Chairperson Nottstated the override will only cover part of our expenses and the station still needs to be closed. Member Parker stated we need to as Chief Gaillard if they will allow us at Station 5 in the city. Firefighter Matt Gibbs talked with city and they say it will not happen.

We should close 37 and run out of 36 with automatic aid.

Chairperson Nott we need to vote on what we know what may happen. Let’s have the meetings once a month on each side. Chief Howard stated we will take care of holding the meetings.

Captain Palm, line would like to spend more time with the board regarding our SOG and how we run.

There was further discussion. Clerk Doskocilstate how are we going to provide good service with closing a station and running a 3 man engine? Still have to wait for an engine to come over for support.
Chairperson Nott stated we will table this. No action.

  1. Review, discuss and possible action on adopting the 2015/2016 Budget for posting.

Chairperson Nottstated in my opinion, option 14 seems to be the best overall.It would allow us to hire a firefighter, promote a captain, and include a new chief. Chief Howard state I would make one adjustment to that in going we should go to 2 days vacation day in that last quarter. MOU had qualifiers that were not met. We would agree to go to the 2 days off during the chosen months. There was further discussion.
Clerk Doskocil questioned dispatch. Chief Howardanswered we are going back to alarm. Since we are looking to automatic aid and regionalize, we think running out of the same dispatch center makes sense.

Member Parkermotioned to adopt the Budget #14. Member Newkirk second. Unanimous approval.

  1. CALL TO THE PUBLIC - Any person may address the Board on any matter of Board concern that is not on the agenda. The Board may not take action on matters presented, but can refer it to the Board Chairperson for consideration and possible discussion on a later agenda.

None

  1. Review discuss and possible action on Legal Matters. The Board may choose to go into Executive Session per ARS 38-431.3(A)(3).

member parker motioned to adjourn the Regular Meeting and go into executive session. Member Stoddard seconds the motion. All in favor. Time: 5:04 pm

Call to order of regular board meeting 5:49 pm

  1. FIRE BOARD COMMENTS- Board Member comments are meant to inform and clarify. No actions will be taken. Only Board Members can speak.

Member Stoddard- I was planning on moving later next year, but it is going to be July. This will be my last meeting. It has been 33 years with everybody.

Chairperson NottI would like to thank everyone on participation. It has been quite the experience this year. We will have things in much better order.

Firefighter Matt Gibbs stated looking at our legal costs on our budget. We have $16,000 projected. From the union stand point, that is killing us. Please cut our legal costs. Discussion will save us lot of money.

  1. ADJOURNMENT

Member Stoddard made a motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting. Member Newkirk second the motion. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 5:50 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Tammy Schieffer

Administrative Assistant