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03-20-2018 Joint Finance and Fire and Rescue Committee Meeting - Draft 1 MINUTES JOINT MEETING PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FINANCE COMMITTEE AND THE PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY FIRE & RESCUE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2018 3:00 PM The meeting was opened at 3:00 by Mr. Blackstock, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors. Present Mr. Blackstock, Chairman, Finance Committee and member of Fire & Rescue Committee, Board of Supervisors Mr. Ronald Scearce, Finance Committee & Fire & Rescue Committee, Board of Supervisors Absent Mr. Davis, Finance Committee, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Mr. Warren, Finance Committee, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Mr. Barber, Fire & Rescue Committee, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Guests Mr. Farmer, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Mr. Smitherman, County Administrator Mr. Hicks, Assistant County Administrator Kaylyn McCluster, Deputy Clerk J. Vaden Hunt, County Attorney The meeting was suspended at 3:03 because lack of attendance for quorum. Mr. Warren, Finance Committee, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, arrived at 3:13 and the meeting was resumed. A motion was made by Mr. Warren, seconded by Mr. Blackstock to approve the agenda. 2 Mr. Smitherman started by saying that Fire & Rescue adds about $1 million and one employee to the budget and also states that in the new proposed budget there are certain basic minimum requirements such as using our purchasing policy, using the incident command system, maintaining an active duty roster, and maintaining a 70% response rate. He then directed discussion to Mr. Slemp regarding the proposed budget for Fire & Rescue Agencies and the feedback that he has gotten from that matter. Mr. Slemp spoke about how him and some of the fire and rescue agencies had been going around and doing needs assessments in the County to try and determine things that the different agencies needed, and also things that they didn’t need. There were certain places where they were able to save money by lending out supplies from one agency to the other. He spoke highly of how they were all coming together and working together more every day. He said that he was able to tweak the budget some and save some money in certain line items. He did point out that not all fire stations are able to provide their firefighters with their own masks, which is a major health and safety issue. Mr. Slemp states that there are some concerns with the new budget, but that they are all in agreement that they are all in the same place and they all want to get better. He turns discussion over to Scottie Adams. Mr. Adams spoke and requested for support of their budget if they could stay within the budget and work with Mr. Slemp on areas that needed improvement. He also thanked the County Administrator for putting that into the budget. He stated that he felt that the needs assessment needed to be done across the board so they had visited every fire and rescue squad in the County. He stated that there were currently 156 vehicles on the insurance, not counting the SOT trailers. After visiting all agencies, they were able to find savings and recommendations for the insurance and will be presenting them to the Fire/Rescue Association and then get it back to the Board. An example was given of one fire station having 14 trucks, but the County only insuring 10 of them. The other 4 would be left up to the agency to either get rid of or pay for the insurance themselves. There are 21 fire stations and 12 rescue squads within the County, and the argument was made that depending on the location and call volumes, not every station would need the same amount of trucks to be insured. Mr. Blackstock asked for clarification on the trucks that would be paid for by the agency, and Mr. Adams stated that they would like to keep the trucks on the County insurance but would like for it to come off the block funding. Mr. Hunt said that he thought that could be worked out legally. Mr. Warren said that he’s understanding it that each department is falling below the 7 trucks per locality on average, and Mr. Adams confirmed that. Mr. Adams requested that they present their proposal to Fire and Rescue and then present it back to the Board. Mr. Slemp said that very little would change since they are already on the insurance policy and Mr. Adams said that they were planning to meet on Tuesday to adjust the value on some of the trucks to reflect what they are really worth, and hopefully that will reduce some of that cost as well. Mr. Adams stated that there were 11 agencies present at their workshop and no one wanted to sign the service agreement. He said that their goal is a 12-minute response time. They do not have members who stay at their rescue buildings and they also don’t want their members running 100mph down the road to try and make that response time. 3 He stated that they do want accountability, but that they don’t agree with the service contract. They want to work with Mr. Slemp and also report back to the Board monthly. Mr. Blackstock made a suggestion that the Fire and Rescue agencies sit down with Mr. Slemp and have a working document for the Board to go through so that they can look at it and work through their differences. Mr. Adams agreed and said that they were for that. Mr. Slemp said that he felt that the agencies are worried about the “contract” part, and that is their fear. Mr. Smitherman suggested that a memorandum of agreement be made instead of a contract. Mr. Warren questioned the mechanism of being able to count the first 10-minute responses and Mr. Adams stated that they don’t have a system that will record that. Mr. Scearce asks if there was any way to put a note in the system to record who was actually the first to respond, even in personal vehicles, but Mr. Adams said that they can’t input that into the system that they currently have. Mr. Warren states that it seems that the responders are actually doing a better job than the numbers are really reflecting and he is more concerned about actual on the scene time versus response time. The downfall is that there is no where in the CAD system to input this information. Mr. Slemp said that right now they do not have a centralized system that can do this type of thing but does want that type of system in the future. Mr. Adams then spoke on the titling of vehicles. There is a vehicle going to Renan any day and there is a concern titling the vehicle to the County and to Renan and would rather have an agreement versus a joint title. He gave a handout from Campbell County Board of Supervisors as an example. Mr. Blackstock voiced his concern that the taxpayer previously has no claim that the equipment that has been bought as a board. He thinks it’s not fair and just not smart and that there could be some hang ups with the County’s name on every vehicle title. He stated that he wouldn’t have a problem if a document were developed where it was signed by the appropriate officials from the agency as well as the County Attorney and County Administrator saying that the County would be able to get the money back legally if something were to happen. Mr. Warren agreed with Mr. Blackstock’s statement and he commended Fire and Rescue for their cooperation and collaboration. Mr. Adams stated that he wants to come up with a set of specs to report back and Mr. Warren stated that he wants to be kept in the loop on purchases, because Economic Development could affect the need for services in certain areas. Mr. Smitherman said that they could work with Mr. Hunt and Mr. Slemp on the document for titling. Mr. Scearce asked if grant money would be available for the mask issue and Mr. Slemp said that the money that was put into the budget was for new air bottles, but some of those people were able to find grant money for that so they are hoping they will be able to use that money for the masks. Mr. Farmer commended Fire & Rescue for all their hard work. 4 A motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Blackstock, seconded by Mr. Warren. The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 p. m.