HomeMy WebLinkAbout[02] August 4 minutes August 4, 2010
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Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the Fire Board for the City of St. Joseph and Townships of St.
Joseph and St. Wendel met in regular session on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 6:00 PM in the St.
Joseph City Hall.
Members Present: Fire Chief Jeff Taufen, City of St. Joseph Representative Bob Loso, St. Joseph
Township Representative Jeff Janssen, St. Wendel Township Representative Greg Salk. City
Administrator Judy Weyrens.
Others Present: Justin Honer, Assistant Fire Chief
Minutes: Loso made a motion to approve the minutes of May 12, 2010 correcting the new member
as Brian Arms and adding Michael Schmotzer to the waiting list. The motion was seconded by
Janssen and passed unanimously.
Financial Report: Weyrens presented the following 2 Quarter Fire Fund Financial Summary:
Revenues $ $ 40,155.00
Expenditures ($ 48,908.10)
Fund Balance $ 583,108.53
Weyrens stated that the City received the contribution in the amount of $ 3,900.00 from the St. Joseph
Relief Association for equipment. As a designated donation, the amount will be moved to the designated
fund balance portion on the finance report.
Loso made a motion to approve the 2 Quarter Financial Report as presented; seconded by
Janssen and passed unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS
Fire Chief's Conference: Taufen requested authorization to send the Fire Chief and Assistant Chief to the
Annual Chief's conference. The cost is approximately $ 850 to $ 1,000 per person to include registration,
per diem and lodging. Janssen made a motion to approve the expenditure to send two members to
the State Fire Chief Conference October 21 — 23 in Rochester. The motion was seconded by Salk
and passed unanimously.
New Members: Taufen reported that the three new members started on July 13, 2010. They are Brian
Arms (FF1 trained and EMT certified); Mike Schmotzer (EMT certified); Brent Johnson. The budget for
required training for the new members was $ 3,250; however, the Fire Department received a grant in the
amount of $ 3,950 which covered the training and provided for additional opportunities within the
department.
Computer Update: Taufen requested authorization to purchase two new computers for the Fire
Department. The Fire Department was recently added to the City network and the existing computers are
extremely slow and in need of replacement. Loso made a motion to authorize the purchase of two
computers for the fire department at a cost not to exceed $ 3,000. The motion was seconded by
Salk and passed unanimously.
Safety Cones: Taufen stated that the department continues to stress the importance of safety especially
when working at scenes in the evening. The department currently only has eight safety cones with four
located in Engine 1 and four in Ladder Truck 2. For safety purposes each truck should have safety
cones. Assistant Chief Honer demonstrated the new cones the department is requesting to purchase.
The cones are collapsible and sold in sets of four, including the carrying bag. Taufen requested
authorization to purchase three sets, with the department purchased the remaining 3 sets. The cost of
each set is $ 106.25. Salk made a motion authorizing the purchase of three sets of safety cones at
a cost of $ 106.25 each. The motion was seconded by Janssen and passed unanimously.
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Optional Training: Taufen reported that in 2009 the Fire Board authorized payment for the registration of
the EMT refresher tuition for one of the members. EMT licensure is not a requirement of the department;
however it is a benefit. The department currently has four members that are EMT's including two of the
new members. Taufen stated that the Department would not incur the First Responder for certified
EMT's; therefore, it would be a cost savings to pay for the EMT and not pay the First Responder.
Fire Board members discussed the prior decision to reimburse the tuition cost as additional training only if
the firefighter requesting the training has completed all the mandatory training. One of the new fire
fighters EMT license expires in February 2011 and he will not have completed all the required training.
After considerable discussion the Board tabled discussion until the next meeting so that staff could see
how this is handled in other departments.
2011 Fire Budget: City Administration calculated the revenue needs for each community to cover the
proposed operational budget, capital request and the fire hall debt. Each community received credit for
interest earnings and other revenues for the department and the rental of the community room were
removed from the figures. In addition, each community received credit for interest earnings in the fire hall
debt fund plus an additional $8,045 credit to spend down the bond fund balance. The allocated portions
for each community were determined by the taxable market values for each community. The allocation
includes the costs of the refunding bonds issued to pay for the construction of the current fire hall.
Administration did not change the taxable market value allocation between the City and two Townships
since market values are not expected to change much and there was no annexation requests made for
taxable property.
With the current allocation and the credits given in the operational and debt fund, the proposed budget
represents an increase of 1.53% for each entity. The increase represents a $4,600 increase in capital
and an $11,085 decrease in the Municipal Contribution to the St. Joseph Fire Relief pension fund. The
Municipal Contribution is calculated each year by the Fire Relief based on the State Auditor's actuarial
formula. Each firefighter is listed with their current years of service. The calculation computes the
number of years of service times the annual retirement contribution of $1,800. In addition, the budget
proposal provided each community with a credit for interest earnings and other revenues in the fire fund
plus an additional $15,000 credit to spend down the operating fund balance.
The proposed budget is broken down by community in the summary below. A separate sheet is provided
with possible alternatives to the proposed budget to discuss.
2011 Budget by community:
City of St. Joseph $125,930.03
St. Joseph Township $ 85,917.12
St. Wendel Township $ 54,727.85
The Fire Board discussed the operating and capital improvement budget. In reviewing the capital
improvement budget the Board discussed the cost of emergency vehicles and the difficulty in paying cash
for the equipment. The Board agreed that large vehicle expenditures will have to be financed either
through equipment certificates or by bonding and the money in the capital improvement plan will be used
as down payment on the equipment.
Loso made a motion to adopt the preliminary fire budget in the amount of $ 281,195 as presented;
the motion was seconded by Janssen and passed unanimously.
Pumper Truck Replacement: Taufen discussed the need to begin the process to replace the Pumper
Truck, also known as Engine #1. The truck is a 1995 freightliner and the department anticipates
maintenance issues in the near future. Taufen discussed the time requirement to design a truck and
stated that if the Fire Board agreed to purchase a truck today, it would still take two years before the truck
would arrive. The first step in purchasing a vehicle is designing the truck and then bidding. Taufen
requested authorization to establish an investigating committee to start designing the truck so that it can
be bid. While not agreeing to the purchase at this time, Salk made a motion to establish an
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investigating committee to explore the design of the replacement of Engine #1. The motion was
seconded by Janssen and passed unanimously.
Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 8:24 PM.
Judy Weyrens
Administrator