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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.14.22 Fire Advisory Board Meeting St. Joseph Fire Station Monday, November 14th, 2022 at 5:00pm 1. Call Meeting to order 2. Approve August meeting minutes 3. Financial Report 4. New Business A. Recommendation of Officers B. OTHER 5. Old Business A. Pumper/Tanker Update B. Unit # 3 Replacement C. Fire Study D. Unit # 5 Update E. OTHER 6. Membership 7. Adjourn Thank you, Jeff Taufen, St. Joseph Fire Chief August 16, 2022 Page 1 of 2 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 Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 5:00 PM in the St. Joseph Fire Hall. Members Present: Fire Chief Jeff Taufen, City of St. Joseph Representative Jon Hazen, St. Joseph Township Representative Doug Fredrickson, St. Wendel Township Representative Scott Volkers Members Absent: None City Representatives Present: City Administrator Therese Haffner, City Finance Director Lori Bartlett Others Present: Assistant Fire Chief David Salzer Minutes: Hazen made a motion to approve the minutes of May 9, 2022; seconded by Fredrickson and passed unanimously by those present. Financial Report & Budget Discussion: Bartlett presented the financial report. Fredrickson moved to approve the financial reports as presented; seconded by Volkers and passed unanimously. 2023 Budget: Bartlett presented the draft 2023 Preliminary Budget which shows an increase in operations. Cost of supplies and fuel have increased due to inflation. The wages and benefits are proposed to increase due to firefighter pay that reflect the Board’s recommendation from last year. Bartlett highlighted the capital equipment (CEP) summary sheets. Debt service was added in 2023. Bartlett asked for input. There was discussion on reducing the CEP since the City has to bond for equipment. Haffner recommended Taufen and Salzer make recommendations on the equipment. Haffner shared that all departments were making reductions. Hazen recommended reducing by $15,000. Hazen moved to approve the 2023 Preliminary Budget reducing the CEP by $15,000; seconded by Volkers and passed unanimously. Fire Study: Haffner reported St. Cloud Fire Chief was coordinating a kick-off meeting with Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI) to start the fire study. Fire Contract: Haffner reported that the City Attorney forwarded a draft contract for services agreement to St. Joseph and St. Wendel Townships using the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) template. PERA Cost Analysis: Haffner reported that in July the city council approved the completing a cost analysis to PERA as requested by the St. Joseph fire relief association for their retirement plan. The request was submitted to PERA in August. Compeer Financial Grant: Taufen requested approval to submit a grant to Compeer Financial for up to $4,000 to fire hose for the new pumper/tanker. Hazen moved to approve submitting a grant to Compeer for fire hose; seconded by Fredrickson and passed unanimously. Unit #3 Replacement: Taufen will obtain specifications and estimates for a new rig. FEMA Grant Update: A grant was submitted for extrication equipment. FEMA staff reached out requesting additional information. Unit #5 Replacement: Taufen reported that the City received a bid from St. John’s Fire Department for Unit #5 for $70,000. Once the city’s new unit arrives, St. John’s Fire Department will take ownership of the old Unit #5. August 16, 2022 Page 2 of 2 Fire Chief’s Report and Membership: Taufen shared the call reports for the year and membership at 26. background checks were completed for the new firefighters and physicals were scheduled. Adjourn: Fredrickson made a motion to adjourn at 6:38 PM; seconded by Volkers and passed unanimously. Therese Haffner City Administrator Fire Board Agenda Item 4 - A MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Recommendation of Officers BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The position of Fire Chief for a 2-year term is open this year. The current Fire Chief, Jeff Taufen was the only one who applied. We had 7 members apply for the 2, 2-year and 2, 1-year positions of Captain. They are Keith Louwagie, (current), Mike Folkerts (current), Joe Orcutt (current), Andrew Kremer (current), Shirlie Brill, Dominic Bonacci, and Dan Voigt. The Fire departments investigating committee met and discussed and are making a recommendation to the Fire Board for Jeff Taufen for Fire Chief for a 2 year term. They are also recommending Keith Louwagie and Mike Folkerts for the 2-year Captains positions, and Joe Orcutt and Andrew Kremer for the 2 1-year Captain positions. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: No ATTACHMENTS: No REQUESTED ACTION: Have the Fire Board approve the recommendations of Officers made by the Fire Chief and the Department’s Investigating committee. Fire Board Agenda Item 5 - A MEETING DATE: November 21st, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Pumper-Tanker / Update BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Talked with the vendor and the truck is now scheduled for completion by maybe April or May of 2023. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: $800,000 ATTACHMENTS: REQUESTED ACTION: Update only as truck was approved by Fire Board August 9th, 2021 Fire Board Agenda Item 5 - B MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Unit # 3 FEMA Grant BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The City was notified that we were not choose to receive the FEMA grant we wrote to replace our Grass Rig. This was the third time that we wrote to replace the truck and the fire board was notified at the August 9th, 2021 meeting that if we did not get the grant, we will need to use our budget to replace this truck. We currently have about $100,000.00 put aside in this fund for replacement. Early estimates to replace this with a new one is around the $130,000 - $150,000. The committee was able to get a few bids together. 1 from Heiman Fire for $175,000. Another is from North Central Bus Equipment and comes is at $140,000. As stated before the big issue with this truck is the chassis. We were told we could see the chassis by August of 2023 and than a few months to have the body and equipment installed. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: $140,000 ATTACHMENTS: None REQUESTED ACTION: Have the Fire Board approval the purchase of the New Grass Rig. Fire Board Agenda Item 5 - C MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Fire Study BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Therese and myself attended a meeting on September 22nd with members from Sartell, Waite Park, Sauk Rapids, and St. Augusta to discuss what each town is looking to get out of the study and what towns are interested in moving forward with it. We are still waiting on what each city is thinking. SCFD has now shown so, interest in maybe joining in. Also, the cost which we thought would come down if only 2 or 3 cities did this will not, so they may be looking for other bids on getting this down. Still no start date or Company has been decided. We have met 2 times in the last month and are now waiting for each city to commit to the cost of the Study. The study will take about 6 months and we give each city a report along with a report of the 4 cities together to try and come up with future plans for staffing, retention, equipment needs, training, working with other departments, and ect. Working on getting the material into the company. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: ?? ATTACHMENTS: REQUESTED ACTION: Update only as everything has been approved by Fire Board and City Council. Fire Board Agenda Item 5 - D MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: FEMA Grant BACKGROUND INFORMATION: At our meeting in November, the Fire Board approved the hiring of a grant writer to try and get funding for new extrication equipment. If received, this equipment would go into the new pumper/tanker. The grant is a 95/5 grant and is $44, 779.00 Still waiting to hear back from FEMA on if we received the grant or not. We were notified that we DID receive the FEAM grant this year for new battery operated extrication tools. We have had 2 different vendors bring in their tools and will be making a decision soon. These tools will be added to our new pumper/tanker. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: 5% ($2,238.95) ATTACHMENTS: REQUESTED ACTION: Nothing at this time. Fire Board Agenda Item 5 - E MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Unit # 5 Replacement BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Our current Unit #5 Rescue Van was purchased in 2012, it was a brand new chassis and cab with a reconditioned box. Our replacement plan for this truck is every 10 years. The City and SJTS each received ARPA money and agreed to use some of this to purchase a new Rescue Van with some of the money. Attached is a bid from Arrow MFG for the cost of a New Rescue Van. This Van is a new brand-new chassis/cab with a reconditioned box which, is what we did with the past truck. The new truck could be ready by late April – early May of this year. They would also take our old Rescue Van back as a trade; however, St. Johns Fire Department has expressed that they would like a chance to buy it. Per the city, we would need to claim our old Rescue Van as surplus and then list it on a seal bid process. If sold through the sealed bid process, the winning bid would have to be a certain price and they would not be able to take delivery until our new Rescue Van is in service. Some department members thought we should get a Red Rescue Van to match our other trucks. If we ordered one, the cost of the truck would go up about $12,000 and would not be ready for 12-18 months. We did get a bid to have a local body shop paint the new one, which was about $6,500. After more discussion with the department, we decided to leave it white and use the $6,500 toward the Replacement of # 3 or the new pumper/Tanker. Our new rescue van is in service. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: ATTACHMENTS: no REQUESTED ACTION: Fire Board Agenda Item 6 MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Membership BACKGROUND INFORMATION: We have 26 active members and we can have up to 30. We will continue to try and find new members. We have 5 applications and are setting up a time to do interviews and the agility testing. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: $6,000 per member – which includes First Responder Class, FF1, FF2, HazMat, and New Gear after the complete all classes and license requirements. ATTACHMENTS: no REQUESTED ACTION: Fire Board had previously ok’ed to hiring of new members. Fire Board FYI MEETING DATE: November 14, 2022 AGENDA ITEM: Fire Chief’s Report - Chart shows emergency Calls from 1-1-2022 – 11-8-2022 413 Medical Emergency 36 Car / Truck Accident 17 Fire Alarm 12 CO Alarm 12 Structure Fire 11 Gas / Fuel Leak 10 Car / Truck Fire 9 Grass Fire 5 Other (Assist PD) Total = 535 • All new hires have completed their Emergency Response class and are able to do hands on care on medical calls. 4 of them that need to do their Fire class will be starting the class around the first of the year. • We will continue to look for more new members as we are still down 4 and have a few that could retire. St. Joseph Community Fire Department 2023  Operational Budget Summary ‐ FINAL DRAFT % of Total 2023 Operating Expenditure Budget 189,845$         39.40% 2023 Salary Expenditure Budget 189,900           39.42% 2023 Capital Expenditure Budget 102,050           21.18% 100.00% Expenditures to Cover 481,795$          2023 St. Joseph Twp Revenue Budget 72,933$           15.14% 2023 St. Wendel Twp Revenue Budget 79,428             16.49% 2023 St. Joseph City Revenue Budget 241,684           50.16% 2023 Other Revenues 87,750             18.21% 100.00% Revenues Budgeted to Cover Exp.481,795            Expenditures under Revenues ‐$                   Covered by Operating Reserve ‐$                   Covered by Debt Service Reserve ‐$                   Summary of Estimated Market Values (EMV): 2023 2022 2021 St. Joseph Twp EMV 159,703,400   17.81% 159,703,400   17.81% 157,131,200  18.08% St. Joseph Twp WP Annexation EMV ‐                    0.00%‐                    0.00% 6,767,800       0.78% St. Joseph Twp SJ Annexation EMV 11,092,360     1.24% 22,184,720      2.47% 33,277,080    3.83% St. Wendel Twp EMV 186,007,100   20.75% 186,007,100   20.75% 176,254,000  20.28% St. Joseph City SJ Annexation EMV 44,369,440     4.95% 33,277,080      3.71% 22,364,720    2.57% St. Joseph City EMV 495,381,100   55.25% 495,381,100   55.25% 473,120,900  54.45% 896,553,400   100.00% 896,553,400   100.00% 868,915,700  100.00% remember to deduct SJT annex by CSJ from the CSJ EMV allocation Note: St. Joseph Township was partially annexed by the City of Waite Park and no longer in the  St. Joseph fire district.  The EMV for the portion annexed by Waite Park is $5,785,700. ADM was constructed in the St. Joseph Township adding $401,000 in EMV for the St. Joseph fire district. Waite Park intends to annex the remaining annexation area of St. Joseph Township in 2016.  This will reduce market value by approximately $33.839M for 2017 taxes.  Fire Board agreed to tiering the EMV reduction over a 5 year period.  2017 ‐ 100%; 2018‐80%; 2019‐60%; 2020‐40%; 2021‐20% of the $33.839M included. The City of St. Joseph annexed a portion of the St. Joseph Township in January 2019.  Per the fire contract, the proportional EMV will be included in the property tax sharing beginning in 2020 since the  annexation occurred prior to the 2020 budget adoption.  2019‐100%, 2020‐80%, 2021‐60%, 2022‐40%, 2023‐20% of $55,461,800. Budget (6 months) Cost for Calls:2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 Emergency Calls 76,500$      44,752$      60,205$      61,032$      56,958$       58,236$       57,096$      46,442$       40,680$        Drill Hours/Mtgs 28,172        14,186        25,824        14,767        20,324         20,452          27,826        16,649         22,433          Chief's Salary 8,000          3,000          6,000          6,000          3,500           3,500            3,500          3,500           3,500             Asst Chief's Salary 5,000          1,750          3,500          3,500          2,500           2,500            2,083          2,500           2,500             Captains' Salary 5,000          2,500          3,500          5,000          5,000           5,000            5,000          5,000           5,000             Secretary's Salary 500             150             300             750             525              300               300              300               300                   Total Cost 123,172$   66,338$     99,329$     91,049$     88,807$      89,988$       95,805$      74,391$       74,413$        Calls by Area: City of St. Joseph 224             400             405             366              358               289              248               232                St. Joseph Twp 52                82                59                71                 79                  84                77                 63                  St. Wendel Twp 21                63                38                25                 37                  35                20                 42                  Mutual Aid 6                  8                  6                  7                   1                    6                  6                   6                       Total Calls 303             553             508             469              475               414              351               343                Types of Calls: Medical Calls 255             471             438             399              393               342              280               273                Fire Calls 48                82                70                70                 82                  72                71                 70                     Total Calls 303             553             508             469              475               414              351               343                St. Joseph Community Fire Department History of Fire Calls As of June 30, 2022 St. Joseph Community Fire Department Percent Budget Debt Total  Adopted 2020 Budget Contribution Contribution Contribution City of St. Joseph 51.67% 145,646.51          21,694.67           167,341.18           St. Joseph Township 26.74% 75,377.77            11,227.84           86,605.61             St. Wendel Township 21.59% 60,840.72            9,062.49             69,903.21             281,865.00          41,985.00           323,850.00           Percent Budget Debt Total Dollar Percent Adopted 2021 Budget Contribution Contribution Contribution Change Change City of St. Joseph 57.03% 164,535.43           ‐                       164,535.43          (2,805.75)         ‐1.68% St. Joseph Township 22.69% 65,476.07             ‐                       65,476.07            (21,129.54)       ‐24.40% St. Wendel Township 20.28% 58,528.50             ‐                       58,528.50            (11,374.71)       ‐16.27% 288,540.00           ‐                       288,540.00          (35,310.00)       ‐10.90% Percent Budget Debt Total Dollar Percent Adopted 2022 Budget Contribution Contribution Contribution Change Change City of St. Joseph 58.97% 182,306.92           ‐                       182,306.92          17,771.49       10.80% St. Joseph Township 20.29% 62,723.83             ‐                       62,723.83            (2,752.24)         ‐4.20% St. Wendel Township 20.75% 64,144.25             ‐                       64,144.25            5,615.75          9.59% 309,175.00           ‐                       309,175.00          20,635.00       7.15% Fire Board Percent Budget Debt Total Dollar Percent Final Draft 2023 Budget Contribution Contribution Contribution Change Change City of St. Joseph 60.20% 230,483.53          43,538.69           285,222.22          102,915.30     56.45% plus Community Room ‐CSJ 11,200.00            St. Joseph Township 19.05% 72,932.97            13,777.15           86,710.12            23,986.29       38.24% St. Wendel Township 20.75% 79,428.50            15,004.16           94,432.66            30,288.41       47.22% 100.00% 382,845.00          72,320.00           466,365.00          157,190.00     50.84% 73,670                  ↑72,320                 ↑ Fire Board Percent Budget Debt Total Dollar Percent Budget Preliminary 2023 Budget Contribution Contribution Contribution Change Change City of St. Joseph 60.20% 230,483.53          43,538.69           285,222.22          102,915.30     56.45% plus Community Room ‐CSJ 11,200.00            St. Joseph Township 19.05% 72,932.97            13,777.15           86,710.12            23,986.29       38.24% St. Wendel Township 20.75% 79,428.50            15,004.16           94,432.66            30,288.41       47.22% 382,845.00          72,320.00           466,365.00          157,190.00     50.84% 73,670                   ↑72,320                  ↑ Summary of Fire Contributions 2023 Fire Board Budget Summary Preliminary as of November 14, 2022