September 14, 2017 Minutes
Fire District Commissioner Meeting
Roger called the meeting to order at 8:04. Those present were: Commissioners Jim Deuel, Roger Anderson, Mike Miller, Gordon Ball, and Dallin Gambles; Fire Chief Bryan Grover and Assistant Fire Chief Carl Anderson; Battalion Chiefs Blaine Ker, Jim Kelly, Nic White, and Mitch Bingham. CFD Attorney Dennis Wilkinson was also present. Melanie Sullivan was keeping the minutes.
Agenda Approval: Under new business, contract pay as shown on the memorandum of understanding needed to be discussed. This was brought to Bryans attention just today and needs to be discussed before the next meeting. Jim moved to amend the agenda to include the discussion of the memorandum of understanding . Dallin seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
Minutes: The minutes were reviewed previously by the commissioners. Dallin moved to accept the minutes as reviewed. Gordon seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
Budget Review: Melanie reviewed the budget. This has been a busy year and the expenses have been proportionately large, but Nile has included a cushion into the budget to cover the unexpected, leaving a comfortable margin of about $100,000 of budgeted funds to finish out the fiscal year . Jim moved to accept the budget as reviewed. Dallin seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
Approval of Expenditures: Dallin questioned the amount of the water bill. Carl said it is used to fill up the trucks after a fire. Dallin moved to approve the expenditures in the amount of $273,628.34, which includes half the purchase price of the Ririe Tender. Jim seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
Patron Input (3 minute time limit):
Jason Averill discussed how Ririe fire has not been called out on Menan fires. Madison has been called out before Ririe is called. Bryan explained that on the big fires, one fire station is held back to cover the rest of the district. He also said that BLM, not CFD, will sometimes call out to other stations such as Ammon or Ucon because the BLM has contracts with other stations. Carl also explained that sometimes calling out Idaho Falls is done when speed is of the essence because they are closer and in station. Jason and Roger suggested that if Ririe is going to cover the rest of the district when the rest are on a big fire, that a Ririe truck should be temporarily moved to Rigby so that they are more central to cover the rest of the district. Jason would like for Ririe to get called out more when there are fires that they can take part in. He would also like to make sure that if a fire is in Ririe area, they get dispatched before Idaho Falls since Ririe is closer.
Jason is also concerned that on calls that is in the Ririe area, that Idaho Falls is getting dispatched quicker and that not enough has been done to change that. Roger will check the times and double check with dispatch to make sure that Ririe is getting called on in a timely manner. Mike called dispatch immediately and cleared things up with the dispatcher to clear up some confusion. Jason would like to see more done to fix the dispatch problem because it slows down Ririe being able to respond quickly and creates a liability to Central Fire if constituents are put in danger because of the delay in dispatch. Jim suggested that a paper trail needs to be made to show that Central Fire is trying to change the dispatch problem. Roger will call and e-mail Scott Grimmit, the head of Idaho Falls dispatch.
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Bid opening for Menan station there were two bids. Both were over what the commissioners projected that they would like to spend. Because of this, both bids have been rejected.
Daren Wheeler from Dome Technology said that the bid they submitted was for the plans they were given, but if they could be allowed to suggest some value engineering, they could help get this project built.
In light of this, the commissioners are asking the bidders to discuss with Graham Whipple, the architect, some value engineering options and come back in two weeks with these changes. Mike moved to rescind the motion to reject all bids to give them opportunity to meet with both bidders to look at value engineering and then make a more permanent decision after they have better information. Dallin seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
- Discuss and vote on executive session. Executive session requested pursuant to Idaho code 74-206 (1) (a) (b). Personnel issue. Mike moved to have an executive session. Dallin seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
- Contract pay for the fire fighters: Bryan showed an example memorandum of understanding that is used by Madison when fighting fires with the BLM that shows the rates firefighters will be paid. Bryan is working on a Standard Operating Guideline (SOG) that will detail the hourly rates when working with BLM.
FIRE CHIEF REPORT: Bryan reported that the eclipse was covered very well.
BLM is working with Bryan to get CFD on a ROSS list so that they will get called out on BLM fires. They need the firefighters to have red cards, which are given from classes that train a firefighter so that they can work with and get paid by BLM when working on a BLM fire.
ASST. CHIEF REPORT: Carl reported on the Deer Park Fire. They put 451 man hours on that fire. BLM was impressed by the firefighters of Central Fire. Dick and Vonnie brought out sandwiches that was greatly appreciated.
B.C. REPORTS:
Station 1. Jim : 59 EMS 15 Fire calls. 27 spot fires that the community helped put out with garden hoses. They responded to a bad car accident in town. They were prepared for the eclipse and then some, using the time when not on calls to clean and maintain the station.
Station 2. 12 EMS, 7 Fire calls. One traffic accident where a car hit a moose. The eclipse provided good training for large scale events.
Station 3. 5 EMS and 3 fire calls. New EMTS are getting good learning experiences on calls. They have a new fire fighter. Morale is good.
Station 4. 9 EMS calls and 7 fire calls. They responded to a lot of fire calls in the desert. The buttes were completely surrounded with people during the eclipse. The BLM has been impressed with working with the Menan station. Morale is good.
COMMISSIONER REPORT:
Mike moved to close the meeting and move to an executive session. Jim seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
Roger-EMS & Training/Gordon-Equipment /Dallin-Facilities/Jim-Budget/Mike-PR