PFC Minutes

“Unapproved”

Minutes of the Police & Fire Commission meeting held on Monday, October 12, 2009 at City Hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m. by President Olson.

2. Roll Call: Dick Olson, Tim Longsine, Gene Berth and Ron Hayes
Also present: Chief Carper, Chief Phillips and Mayor Nerenhausen
Absent: Steve Gering

3. Moved by Hayes second by Berth to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

4. Moved by Berth second by Hayes to approve of the minutes from 9/21/09 meeting.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

5. No Public Input or Correspondence;

6. Discussion/action/update on:
a. Repairs to 1996 Squad;
Chief Carper stated the repairs were not done on the car because of the memo earlier this year about watching the budget; Carper reported there is a recall for the catalytic converter and there is a hole in the floor under the driver seat…cost for repairs is estimated over $1,100.00 through Peterson’s; Money is budgeted for repairs but needs to be used for snow tires; Carper stated Blue Book value of car is $1,300.00; Berth stated that maybe our shop guys can fix it cheaper; Olson questioned as to how much we want to put into an old car…we are out of sequence with replacing the squads…2 new vehicles in 2007, 1 in 2008 and nothing in 2009; Berth stated we were told not to increase budget, but it was in the budget for 1 new squad…Finance took it out; Hayes stated these are the kind of problems we will run in to…will come back to haunt us; Mayor informed the commissioners to request to have vehicle put back in budget when called back in for review with Finance Committee;
Moved by Hayes second by Longsine to approve repairs to 1996 squad with work being done by street department employees.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes
b. Report from Interim Chief Phillips;
Chief Phillips distributed reports, one of which regarded training; Phillips stated that Entry Level training Part I and II, which is required, that we are okay there, however in 1999 or 2000 the Stated of Wisconsin changed requirements and fire fighters, they could have taken a 12 hour transition course and would have been grandfathered in…for whatever reason, this was not done; Phillips stated the guys said they were not aware of this, but every Fire Chief had been made aware of the upcoming changes; Phillips stated this training should be a target even on the volunteer side…Part II is very minimum…required to put on breathing apparatus to enter fires; Hayes questioned this…not even able to enter buildings…thinking of liability; Phillips stated it’s not that they are untrained…they have the experience and knowledge but to comply with the law, the training is required…missed opportunity in 2000… need to get them in class…2 sessions are offered, one in fall and one in spring, 30 hours each; Phillips also stated that there has been very minimal training drills, which is unacceptable…suggest bare minimum of 3 hours per month; Phillips held a training session last Wednesday and plans to hold a session the first Wednesday of every month; Mayor questioned if this was in house training? Phillips stated it would be in house…there has been a lack of leadership…good people to do it, juts didn’t know where to go with it…need someone to guide them…other people are responsible; Hayes stated this information is very disappointing; Olson stated that there have always been questions out there … told everything was always good; Phillips stated this months training covered drills for connecting to a hydrant, safe operation of breathing air compressor/filling air cylinders and deployment of cross lays on the ladder truck…15 member were in attendance; Phillips stated that next months training will include 3 different stations; Hayes questioned if training was done voluntarily or were they being paid; Phillips reported that he talked to the city administrator and didn’t think we had any choice but to pay the fire fighters for training…Fair Labor Standard Acts…significant liability…have to pay union fire fighters and be cautious about part-time workers; Longsine questioned if we could pay to have someone come here and teach the required training courses…have volunteers from surrounding townships participate also; Hayes agreed we should pursue putting together classes here;
Phillips also submitted information on equipment that is of no use and should be sold or disposed of; Olson stated if we don’t need it, get rid of it…impressed with cleaning; Phillips reported that Andrew Hoppe is working on Fire Prevention Grant for Smoke Detector Program; Fire fighters would go out into community, knock on doors, if home does not have smoke detectors, the fireman would install them; Hayes stated this would be good public relations;
Phillips stated that the department needs to take advantage of 911 dispatch…they should be dispatching by radio; Phillip will present a recommendation that will save money in long run;
Phillips suggested a mailbox system for internal communications…very unorganized right now with piles of paper everywhere;
Phillips reported on repairs that are needed on equipment…talked to Bob Mommaerts about having street department doing repairs…replaced batteries on Engine 2 and repaired injector system; White suburban had battery and windshield replaced; Significant problem with overhead doors…will set up maintenance program;
Phillips reported the emergency medical supplies should be kept in a secure clean place…cleaned out storage room, scrubbed and painted and relocated supplies in there;
Phillips stated all the guys have been very cooperative with getting things cleaned up and organized;
Phillips stated we need to think about doing more recruitment for part-time fire fighters…6 would be a good number of new recruits;
Phillips reported on the number of fire and ambulance calls for the month;
Hayes told Phillips he was very pleased with information we were given tonight
7. Review/recommend Police/Fire/Ambulance Dept. reports including Fire/Ambulance overtime reports;
Questioned if reports could include year-to-date information; Carper stated he will look into seeing what types of reports Spillman can generate…will try to extended with year to date figures; Hayes questioned all the lock-outs the officers are responding to…should start charging a fee;
Moved by Hayes second by Berth to accept reports as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

8 Approve accounts payable/check register dept. reports in the amount of $6,229.96;
Moved by Hayes second by Longsine to accept reports as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes


9. Moved by Berth second by Hayes to approve of the expense and revenue reports
as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

10. Report on meetings/conferences/seminars attended.
Chief Carper reported that the City of Oconto hosted a training session on legal updates; Carper also stated that one of the crossing guards resigned effective the end of the week;

11. Moved by Berth second by Longsine to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 7:23 p.m.

Minutes submitted by:
Carol Stewart
Deputy Clerk Treasurer