PFC 6/14/2010

Minutes of the Police & Fire Commission meeting held on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at city hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order by President Hayes at 6:00 p.m.
2. Roll call: Ron Hayes, Gene Berth, Tim Longsine, Gene Berth and Jim Lacourciere. Also present: Mayor Fulton, Atty. Jim Kalny, Don Phillips, Fire Chief, Dale Carper Police Chief and Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.
3. Moved by Gering seconded by Lacourciere to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes
4. Moved by Berth seconded by Longsine to accept and place on file as typed the minutes from the 5/10 and 5/19/2010 minutes.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes
5. Public Input/Correspondence: Hayes read aloud thank you police dept received from Connie Parkovich and Laura Kelsey for the assistance given with the 5K run on June 5th.

a. Presentation to Dick Olson. Mayor Fulton read aloud plaque presented to Olson for his service as a member of the PFC.
6. Hayes stated the PFC may vote to convene into Closed Session pursuant to notice duly given and as allowed by Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c)(f)(g) for discussion on: Conferring with legal counsel for collective bargaining purposes; Policy and Procedures – Emergency Scenes; Salary for Fire Chief Position; Consulting fee for Don Phillips.
Moved by Longsine seconded by Gering to convene into Closed Session at 6:02 p.m.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

Also included in the Closed Session: Mayor Fulton, Atty. Jim Kalny and Chief Phillips.

Closed Session

7. Moved by Gering seconded by Lacourciere to reconvene into Open Session at 7:02 p.m.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

8. Discussion/action/updates on:
a. Moved by Longsine seconded by Berth to approve of the format for the Lieutenant Promotion Opportunity modifying the % changing the areas of 35% to 30%.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

b. Moved by Longsine seconded by Gering to authorize that a memo be issued to both the Police & Fire Departments that the PFC is directing that Wisconsin Statutes 941.12(1) and 941.37 will be enforced effective immediately.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

c. Moved by Berth seconded by Longsine to set the salary for the Fire Chief’s position at $50,000 with a reduction for the probationary period of one year to $48,000 and after a satisfactory first six months the salary can be increased by $1,000 and then at the end of the probationary period increased by another $1,000.00.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

d. Moved by Lacourciere seconded by Berth to table to the 7/1/2010 PFC meeting the agreement for consulting services with Don Phillips, dba Management Consulting Services.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

e. Chief Carper informed the PFC he set the second round of interviews for part-time Police Officers for Wednesday, June 23rd, at 6 p.m.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

f. Chief Phillips stated he has sent out a memo to the POC fire fighters which is due back June 25th notifying them that anyone interested in applying for a full time position must respond by due date. This will be on PFC meeting for 7/1. Phillips questioned residency for firefighters; verbally informed within 6 months employee must reside within city limits;
g. Hayes complimented the language for the waiver form when officers are assisting residents; Moved by Lacourciere seconded by Longsine to adopt the Liability Release form for the Police Dept for Citizen Assist.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

h. Discussion on auction items. Belongia instructed to advertise through the on-line auction for the fire truck and squad car that have been taken out of service; all other items should be gathered for an auction to be held here.
i. Annual testing of fire alarm systems. Steve Gering stated he is a library board member and is requesting that the fire dept do the monthly testing and then the annual one should be done by whomever the city has does the other city owned buildings; Gering would like the monthly to include a test on the pull station to make sure everything is functioning properly; would like the PFC to direct the Fire Dept personnel to do this at no charge from the fire dept; Discussion on having a Knox Box; Chief Phillips stated he is not comfortable with all the keys that have been floating around the dept; suggested that anyone wanting the dept to have a key, should have to have a Knox Box; Gering asked that the fire dept do the monthly testing and the vendor the city uses for the annual.
j. Atty. Kalny addressed the proposed policy changes from Chief Carper; Atty. Kalny questioned why the disciplinary policy should be so lengthy, the statute already provides for what actions can be taken; Carper stated he received this info attending a Chief’s conference; Atty. Kalny would like to see the side by side comparison as to what the current language is and what Carper is proposing; Atty. Kalny stated he had no comment on the probationary policy language; Carper stated the disciplinary information was brought to a previous meeting and he was asked to draft some language;

Disciplinary Action and Citizen Complaint proposed policy language changes was tabled for Chief Carper to provide side by side comparison changes for future discussion.

Moved by Berth seconded by Lacourciere to approve of the policy change as approved by Atty. Kalny regarding Probationary Employees.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

9. Discussion on Police, Fire & Ambulance dept reports. Chief Phillips stated that the fire dept bought a K-12 ventilation saw original cost was $1,160 and $500 was donated towards the purchase; Firemen’s day room was cleaned & painted; data provided for advertising the fire truck taken out of service; Oconto Hospital will help with training for EMT monthly training; Overtime hours and shift replacement for July will even compound, bringing in floater position will help; briefed commission on staff meeting; working on a Quality Assurance program in conjunction with Oconto Hospital; house fire on Park Avenue; accepted donation of a smoke house from the Village of Howard; 5/26/2010 the new engine was put into service; Copperfest events helped out with the trout pond and had an ambulance on stand by during the daytime hours; Purchased POC firefighters uniform shirts; interviews have been set up for the POC for 6/29; breathing mask fitting tests have been completed; 79 calls during month of May 2010 350 YTD;

Chief Carper stated the PD had 415 calls for service for the past month; trying to gather data on officer’s time showing where it is spent; Gering suggested the reports be dictated and then transcribed by clerical; Carper stated not enough hours for the clerical staff; stated he is looking at Badger Tracks software, more info to come on this…stated he has asked the city’s IT vendor to also look into this software for security measures; stated he has received a complaint about the traffic lights being turned back on at McDonald & Smith…complainant stated switching the lights as done was hazardous; Berth mentioned 26 lockouts…are we keeping track of who we are doing this for, after a couple of times maybe should have a fee; Carper stated he will create a spreadsheet for the record keeping on this; Carper stated Oconto Falls hospital no longer has a sexual assault nursing staff…may required our PD to accompany the victim to St. Vincent’s in Green Bay, will bring more into to the commission on this; Lacourciere questioned the kids standing out in the road, asked Chief to refresh the officers on better controlling this;

Moved by Gering seconded by Lacourciere to accept the reports and place on file.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

10. & 11. Discussion on listing of accts payables for $109,897.58 and expense and revenue reports.
Berth questioned amt paid to LifeQuest; Belongia will provide a monthly report for better understanding of the ambulance revenues and expenses.
Moved by Lacourciere seconded by Longsine to approve and place on file the listing of accts payables for $109,897.58 and the revenue and expenditure reports.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

12. Report on meetings/conference/seminars attended. Chief Phillips asked the commission to keep in mind for budgeting purposes replacing our narrow banding radios; he is getting a listing together and it looks like we maybe replacing a number of them, this needs to be done by the end of 2011 so this should be included for the 2011 budget, estimate of replacing five at $1,500 to $2,000 each.

13. Moved by Longsine seconded by Lacourciere to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m.


Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator