FIRE DISTRICT 38
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
January 8, 2008
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners was called to order by Chairman Chris Dahline at 1023 hrs on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at the Wilderness Rim Fire Station. In attendance were:
Chairman Chris Dahline
Commissioner Ron Pedee
Commissioner Steve Parsons
EFR Fire Chief Jeff Griffin
EFR CFO Dave Gray
Chief Lee Soptich (arrived 1028)
North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing (arrived 1028)
EFR Fire Chief Wes Collins (arrived 1035)
Secretary Trina Parsons
Commissioner Parsons took the Oath of Office for Position #2 and was re-seated on the Board. Commissioner Parsons signed the Oath of Officer certificate.
Commissioner Parsons made a motion to accept the minutes from the Regular meeting on December 4, 2007 and the Special Meeting on December 10, 2007. Chairman Dahline seconded. Motion carried.
The Treasurer’s Report was read. Commissioner Pedee made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report and Blanket Voucher from January 2008 with vouchers 5461-5472 totaling $67,814.17. Commissioner Parsons seconded. Motion carried.
EASTSIDE FIRE & RESCUE
Commissioner Pedee reported the presence and availability of AMR in the community is leaving a positive influence. The Administrative Salary compensation was accepted but time ran short for a conclusion on the Chiefs Employment Agreement. It will be discussed next month. The idea to establish a benchmark for the cost effectiveness of EF&R was discussed and several interesting facts were shared. The “cost” of a Firefighter varied among similar sized agencies including Woodinville ($153,000), Bellevue ($150,000) and EF&R ($138,000). Within EF&R, each entity also had a variety of costs to each entity. The approximate breakdown per firefighter was Issaquah ($20,000), Sammamish ($38,000), District 10 ($57,000), North Bend ($5,000) and District 38 ($10,000). Without each other, no single agency could afford what we currently can.
CHIEF’S REPORT
Chief Griffin reported the Annual Report on Volunteer Service Activity shows 51 individuals have served for the entire year. Although the overall number of volunteers is smaller, the number of hours has increased which means fewer people are doing more hours. Currently the VSET criteria is causing an issue for the Station 88 volunteers as it is difficult and time-consuming for them to leave the areas they live in to attend training elsewhere. EF&R is trying to find ways to work with them so everyone can get their training but they are full-fledged EF&R volunteers, not just Station 88 volunteers and it may be necessary to go to Station 87 to get the special training. There are many volunteers who have recently completed the EMS requirements. The next step for some will be the firefighting academy. There are very few new volunteers at Station 88, in part due to the small community. The top volunteer for the year was Kevin Olette (sp??). Chief Griffin also pointed out the Chaplaincy Program has been doing a wonderful job and they are all purely volunteer.
Commissioner Parsons asked Chief Griffin what the policy was for EF&R regarding problem alarm systems and what EF&R does about them. He presented Chief Griffin with two particular addresses that have had several alarms. One is a residence and the other is owned by the City of Seattle. Chief Griffin will pass the information on to the appropriate people. Chief Soptich added that Tim Pilling will take care of it. Sometimes in situations like these he will tell the people they can either spend the money paying the Fire Department for responding to false alarms or take that same money and fix the alarm system.
CITIZENS INPUT
None
OLD BUSINESS
Commissioner Pedee asked if we could skip ahead to the issue regarding unused sick leave for exempt EFR employees. Commissioner Parsons has an appointment and may have to leave early and this issue will need his attention also.
NEW BUSINESS
Unused sick leave for exempt EF&R employees- Commissioner Pedee stated this is a question regarding the buying-back of sick leave when an employee leaves employment. He stated he spoke against the firefighters getting compensation but did end up voting for it. The question now remains how to vote regarding the exempt employees. He also stated he is against it but will vote as the quorum sees fit. He sees the sick leave as an insurance policy rather than a benefit. Chairman Dahline stated he agreed with Commissioner Pedee but felt there was an industry standard that needed to be considered. Also of concern to Chairman Dahline is the LEOFF II system and all it lacks in term of health care and perhaps this would be a start to a health plan for someone who has retired. Chief Soptich stated most agencies do a buy-back program but the variable vary greatly. Dave Gray added the cost to EF&R was manageable. Commissioner Parsons asked if this was to encourage the no-using of sick leave? Commissioner Pedee stated he did not think that was the cause, it was more of a fairness issue. Commissioner Parsons than stated that he didn’t know that it should have ever been given to the rank and file, but since it has been, there is precedence to also award it to the exempt employees. He felt once you gave it to some, you can’t “not” give it to the others. Commissioner Pedee will represent the thoughts of all the Commissioners at the next meeting.
OLD BUSINESS (continued)
RFA/Annexation/Single Entity- Nothing has happened yet although there have been some talks between EF&R and District 10 regarding a Non-Profit Entity. Those discussions are the first step towards any kind of movement. Woodinville and Fall City have expressed interest in some type of partnership as has Fire District 34 and the Snoqualmie Tribe. Regionalization appears to be the future. Chairman Dahline asked North Bend Mayor Hearing where the City of North Bend’s interests were. Mayor Hearing stated he has not been a fan of RFA’s but thought perhaps he should learn more about them. Chairman Dahline invited him to attend a future workshop regarding RFA’s.
New Fire Station- Commissioner Pedee stated he had met last week with Mayor Hearing and with City Manager Duncan Wilson to review the ILA. Unfortunately there were too many obstacles to overcome to make it through the whole ILA. He stated he suggested the Fire District Board meet with the City Council to discuss the elected officials thoughts on the desires of the public, along with the needs of the two entities. He also suggested the Board might look into some schematic drawings of a fire station as it is his belief you cannot pass a bond without a building design. Mayor Hearing stated he thought perhaps the issue was not so much one of resistance as much as it is timing. He suggested the Commissioners invite Council members to attend their meeting a couple at a time so the Council can get the Commissioners perspective. He further stated the schools were running a bond in March so the City was thinking of May for the Fire Station. He said he was disappointed in the meeting with Commissioner Pedee as he had hoped for some sort of resolution and there was none. There was additional discussion with Commissioner Pedee adding he was hopeful a station could be built and that we could do it in a partnership. However before an ILA could be agreed upon there were issues that he felt needed to be discussed first. He advised the Fire District was committed to working with EF&R for an indefinite period of time whereas there are indications the City may not choose that route. If we are to build a station we need to know it will be available to serve the citizens of the District. It would not be wise to fund the majority of a station and then not be able to use it. Chairman Dahline stated there are factors that he felt needed to be considered before we did anything else. He would like the approach to be more of a Regional Approach. What are the needs for the area down the line in the next 10 years, the next 20? How can we best meet those needs? Mayor Hearing stated the City of North Bend is currently looking at the cost of further annexations. There is the possibility that the study will show some of the proposed annexations would not be fiscally responsible. Commissioner Pedee than added that lots of agencies are looking at regionalization and that needs to be considered when looking at the complete picture. He further stated he would be excited to meet with the Council and discuss mutual needs and the possibility of working together. The Mayor stated he would like to sign an ILA and then work on a separate policy issue. Commissioner Pedee stated the opposite was his vision because there are issues that need to be compromised and discussed to see if there is even a likelihood of a partnership. Chairman Dahline stated perhaps the District should put together their own ILA and then the two can be combined. Mayor Hearing invited the Commissioners to do just that or take the original ILA and red line all the issues. He also stated the City is not tied to the current piece of property if studies showed another site was better. He also stated he felt we need not count on Snoqualmie or the Tribe in our planning. Chairman Dahline advised it was in our best interest to consider the Snoqualmie Station as it is where it is and we will be working with Snoqualmie regardless of the Regional situation. Dave Gray asked when the Annexation Study was suppose to be completed. Mayor Hearing advised in about 60 days. Commissioner Pedee asked if there were particular Council members that would be good to invite to a meeting. The Mayor advised he would start with Loudenback and Williamson. Chief Soptich advised Pete Butkes, a consultant with experience in this area, has expressed an interest in facilitating a meeting between the Fire Commissioners and the City of North Bend as they attempt to come to an understanding. He would perform this service free of charge. Commissioner Pedee asked the Secretary to find a time that would work for everyone that we could put a meeting together with Mr. Butkes. If that can be arranged then the next step would be inviting individual Council Members to meetings for discussions. There was additional discussion regarding the timing and the statistics show, as did the Bond Agent, an agency should plan on at least six months if they want the bond to pass. At this time Mayor Hearing, Chief Soptich, Deputy Chief Wes Collins and CFO Dave Gray left to attend to other business.
Spring Newsletter-
The Secretary reviewed the assignments for the Spring Newsletter and advised the articles were due on Friday.
NEW BUSINESS (continued)
Reserve Fund- The Secretary advised there was a withdrawal made on the Reserve Account last February that was never documented on the Reserve Fund Spread Sheet. Dave Gray will make the adjustments on a later payment the District made so the Reserve amount we thought we had in November will still be correct. However the decision has been made that EF&R will write a check to District 38 to cover the current Reserve Fund and the Reserve Fund will then be monitored by Fire District 38 instead of EF&R.
Other- Schematic Drawings of a Station- Commissioner Pedee suggested the District look at purchasing some drawings of a future station. Deputy Chief Griffin contacted Deputy Chief Collins about the price of the drawings. Unfortunately the drawings would probably run about $50,000. The issue can be discussed later at a Special Meeting.
GOOD OF THE ORDER
The Secretary advised PDC forms are due once again.
There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 1220 hrs.
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Chairman Chris Dahline Secretary Trina Parsons
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Commissioner Ron Pedee
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Commissioner Steve Parsons