PFC Minutes 1/14/2010

Minutes of the Police & Fire Commission meeting held on Thursday January 14th, 2010 pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 6:02 p.m. by President Olson.
2. Roll call: Dick Olson, Ron Hayes, Steve Gering, Gene Berth and Tim Longsine. Also present: Mayor Nerenhausen, Chief Don Phillips, Chief Dale Carper and Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.
3. Moved by Berth seconded by Gering to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes
4. Moved by Hayes seconded by Gering to approve and place on file as typed the minutes from the 12/14/09 PFC minutes.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes
5. No public input or correspondence
6. Discussion/action/updates on:
a. Request to change speed limit on Brazeau Ave; Chief Carper stated the last meeting a brief discussion was held relevant to Wis. Stats., we can lower speed limit to 35 mph; Hayes stated at the BPW meeting discussion was held on looking at the speed limits to all the entrances to the City of Oconto; Mayor stated he road the area and logged area…suggested waiting for direction from BPW;

b. Statewide smoking ban; Chief Carper stated at this time this is info only; asked commission to review article and communicate with members of the council…take the pro-active approach; Berth stated the police will need to enforce this; Carper stated he’s looking for something uniform and in place before the statewide smoking ban takes effect; Hayes stated the council will have to put something in place; Carper stated he has had some conversations with a couple of alderpersons….feels this should be passed onto the council; Gering questioned how will our park areas be handled? Carper stated he wasn’t sure; Chief Phillips stated from the fire depts. standpoint with the smoking ban feels more beer gardens may open up, and then candles for controlling bugs, presents safety issues, need appropriate entrances/exits, etc; Phillips stated some communities are looking at beer gardens; Belongia to check with League of Municipalities to see if permissible for a tavern to have the license for both inside and for outside in a beer garden; will bring to Com of the Whole;

c. Chief Phillips stated he had two bids for the 1994 Chevy Suburban: Chuck Wochenske for $1,250; and Glenn & Sue Johnson for $786.73.
Moved by Hayes seconded by Berth to recommend accepting the high bid for the suburban.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

d. Chief Phillips explained through November and December has gone
through the hiring process for additional paid on call (POC)
Firefighter/EMT’S; seven applications were received; conducted
interviews; 12/29 process was closed; each applicant interviewed was
asked the same ten questions which they were scored on; references and
back ground checks were conducted with neighbors, employers and
references provided by applicants; would like to move forward sending
top four out of the seven for a basic medical exam and drug screen;
then get these four into training ASAP; Phillips gave brief info on each
applicant…stated they didn’t find any criminal behavior that would
disqualify any of the seven applicants…these four he is recommending
that they be offered a conditional offer of employment contingent upon on
the drug screen and medical exam; Olson questioned Phillips on how does
this meet the Chief’s expectations; Phillips stated he was hoping to get
six…feels we can certainly use four more…referenced house fire in
December…could have used more hands; Berth questioned how long will
it take for the four to get up to speed? Phillips estimated three months;

e. Moved by Gering seconded by Longsine to accept recommendation from
Chief Phillips and offer to the four applicants Erek Belongia, Peter
O’Connor Jonathon Carlson and Scott Hansen an offer of employment
contingent on a drug screen and basic medical exam.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

Moved by Hayes seconded by Berth to approve and put into place the
hiring process as recommended by Chief Phillips.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

f. Olson stated he and Chief Phillips met and discussed the status of the interim agreement for Fire Chief; Olson stated that Phillips will stay on from 1/22/2010 through 2/22/2010 and hopefully the PFC will be able to get another month; at this point will take one month at a time;

Moved by Hayes seconded by Berth to accept verbal agreement between President Olson and Don Phillips that he will remain as the interim Fire Chief through 2/22/2010.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes


7. Review Police, Fire and Ambulance dept reports. Chief Phillips went over the fire dept reports; staff meeting notes; monthly and yearly reports; Hayes questioned what is the objective goal for annual inspections; Phillips stated we are required to inspect business buildings two times per year; we have 305 buildings in the City of Oconto, each ½ of the year we have to do all 305; need to then follow up with compliance; Phillips commended his staff for being out and seen, getting the inspections done; Phillips stated he has seven bids that met our specs for replacing fire hose; Phillips stated he has put together a correction order for Danz Video which has a deadline of 1/16/2010; Phillips also had the building inspector with him to Danz to inspect the structural issues; Olson stated looking at the staff notes, each firefighter has an area of responsibility; Phillips stated yes, each staff member has responded to his expectations; Olson questioned on the recent fire in Oconto Falls, did we do mutual aid and assist? Phillips stated no, the Lena dept and other area’s closer were called;

Chief Carper stated Tim Longsine help him develop the new reports for the police dept; over 4,400 calls in 2009; Mayor stated the pages with just numbers, should be deleted, they don’t tell us anything; Carper stated he understands what this means; Hayes stated continued concern on 22 lockouts, why are we still doing lockouts? Longsine stated as the PFC we should focus and decide what we should be spending time on; Mayor stated looking at the report, have to ask what is the report for?

8. Moved by Hayes seconded by Berth to accept and approve the listing of accounts payables for fire, ambulance and police for a total of $5,908.61.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

9. Moved by Hayes seconded by Berth to approve and place on file the expense and revenue department reports as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

10. Chief Carper stated he attended a training on internet use and next month he will be attending the Chief’s conference.

11. Moved by Hayes seconded by Gering to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 7:02 p.m.

Next meeting – mid February

Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia,
Administrator