Hiring, meetings, administration, cross-training, Deer Harbor station discussed at length
The one definite thing that resulted from a two-hour Fire Commissioners’ meeting on April 22 came at its conclusion, when Fire Chief Mike Harris announced that he would be asking the Fire Commissioners for a one-year extension of his contract. Harris’ current contract expires on Dec. 31, 2009.
Prior to Harris’ announcement, various policies and protocols were discussed at length.
District hiring policy
The Board of Commissioners reviewed the most recent draft of the District’s new hiring policy. Coffin stated that he was 90 to 95 percent happy with the draft. “It may need a tweak or two relating to the morphing of jobs and lateral shifts.” Commissioners announced at the meeting that they expected to approve the policy at their next regular meeting, May 13, scheduled for Deer Harbor, although on April 25, Fire Chief Mike Harris said that he expected it would be revised and approval would probably come at the first meeting in June.
Report to the Community
Finalizing the “Report to the Community” will take additional time, Commissioner Jim Coffin said. The report was described by Fire Chief Mike Harris as “like an annual report, but including the last three years.” Coffin said that the work involved will be in “collecting as much data regarding responses, budgets and staffing.” The report is expected to be available to the public in May.
Deer Harbor station
Commissioner Clyde Duke stated that the biggest public concern for the proposed Deer Harbor station was the size of the building, “although the design calls for a height below what is allowable.”
Duke suggested that it may be feasible to build a one-story building with the existing footprint but allow for future build-out. However, “the challenge for the community is that we still need the high bay height for equipment” Duke said.
Commissioners debated whether the current location is the best option.
The only alternate property for the Deer Harbor station is a lot offered for sale by Bob Connor. Duke expressed misgivings about the layout of the Connor property. A rock knoll rising from the property would have to be excavated, and road access also is an issue. Duke said, “We’re pressing the safety factor there – we’d have to address it.”
The next regular Commission meetings will be at the Deer Harbor Community Center on Deer Harbor Road, on May 13 and 27.
Administrative
Needs Assessment
Harris reported that front desk and phone response at the Eastsound station have been addressed, with volunteers Jim Scheib and Carl Coburn filling in. They are being paid minimum wage, Harris said, and later added, “We don’t have a long-term solution to the front desk and phones; at some point I’m going to have to come up with a plan to deal with this.
“We still have the deficit of jobs Buddy [Wright] did that fall back on me. When we started, I thought I’d get an assistant chief.”
The draft Hiring Policy to be considered by the Board states: “Consider the possibility and practicality of meeting the new needs with Administrative Volunteers or stipended volunteer responders.”
Harris requested that the Board direct him to use the new hiring policy to develop the job description and qualifications to hire an assistant chief. “We need to budget for it to hire such a person in 2009,” Harris said.
Coffin replied that he didn’t think it required any action from the board.
Cross-training
Harris said that revising the cross-training requirement that has been department policy for several years, is “a process thing for us that has to be done somewhat delicately, to reformat before talking to the Strategic Plan committee … We believe the Cross training model is still very viable and what we want to emphasize is [that it is] not to the exclusion of those who come to us with one skill or the other.
“The preferred recruit would be the person that wanted to do both. If all you want is to be an EMT, we still need you to be familiar with fire scene operations. They still need to know where the piercing nozzle is carried on Engine 21, for example.”
(The cross-training policy currently requires that new Orcas Island Fire Department Volunteers be trained both as firefighters and Emergency Medical Service providers.)
Duke commented, “We’re an EMS department that does fire, not a fire department that does EMS.”
Later in the meeting, Errol Speed said that in regards to cross-training, “It sounds to me like … after the meeting on March 11 and letter [from the Emergency Medical Services Long Range Planning Committee of 2007 advising the Fire Department drop the cross-training requirement], you’re still trying to do a hybird, and not separating firefighting and EMS, and considering double-duty training.”
Speed asked if the current thinking on revision of cross-training policy had been communicated to the volunteers, and Harris replied, “They got it first and they agreed to it.” Harris added that following a March 31 meeting with the volunteers association, a questionnaire was being developed.
Duke said, “It has been addressed and being worked on internally. [Volunteers] won’t have to do both, [but] unfortunately the silent majority isn’t here tonight.”
Speed said that he wanted assurances that “the department was in communication with their own people so that a year from now we won’t be here saying, ‘where have all our volunteers gone?’”
Coffin said, “A small number made a lot of waves about it and got their friends to come to the meeting. We’re not going to exclude people [who only want to serve in one branch] … but you better be comfortable enough with other disciplines to do the job safely.”
Rick Anda, Finance officer, said, “It’s a better direction that [cross-training] is not an absolute now.”
Strategic Plan Review April 29
Coffin asked for the other commissioners’ sense of “the extent to which the update committee should venture into new ground; some things are an issue, and I would like a sense of how far and how deeply the committee should go.”
While Olsan said that this would be the first time there’s been such a review, Duke reminded him that it had been done before [in 2007].
Harris will prepare a document to explain the issue and to declare what is needed to be done in reviewing the Strategic Plan.
The commissioners then discussed whether the meeting would be a public meeting or not.
“Distraction will detract from the work of the committee,” said Coffin. “The input will be members of committee reviewing accomplishments and shortcomings.”
The commissioners then discussed whether their meetings should be called regular meetings or working sessions, and suggested that the second monthly meeting, on the fourth Tuesday of each month be devoted to considering items that would not require the board taking an action.
“We need to do it one way or another,” Coffin said.
On April 24, Chief Harris sent out a notice explaining that the second Tuesday meeting is always a regular Board meeting and the fourth is a working session. “The difference is that all financial /budget/personnel and most other miscellaneous decisions are made at the “Regular” [meeting] and public comment is encouraged.
“The ‘Working Sessions’ are used to discuss and clarify some of the major issues that take time and the Board tries not to make any decisions at all unless it is critical. Public comment may be asked for but is not what the session is intended for,” Harris said.
Public records requests
Coffin said that in light of recent requests for public records, “we need to look at the public record policy … some records require redaction [blacking out]. It’s time to revisit the policy to make certain we don’t release private information.”
Public comment
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Errol Speed brought up that water at the Deer Harbor fire station, particularly in regards to landscaping, needs to be considered.
John Erly, former Fire Commissioner, began his comments saying, “I don’t know where to begin,” and then enumerated his concerns that Harris was supposed to be hired as a fulltime chief, that cross training is not being addressed even after the public comments of “60 or 70 people” at the March 11 meeting, that the hiring policy allows for “a part-time chief to decide who’s going to be hired,” that the commissioners “didn’t seem to know that anytime they all meet it’s a public meeting,” that fire permits are issued only on Wednesday afternoon, that board meeting minutes are not available, and that there are state laws regulating the release of public records.
Kathleen Speed said to the Commissioners, “You’re not clear in your communications with the public, and so we’re concerned. The public is worried about you guys, not about the volunteers, but about what you guys are doing with our money and running the department.”
She added, “Trust is earned … I’m just here to get real information. You need to be a little more open. We can be an aid to you.”
The next regular Fire District meetings will be on May 13 and 27 beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Deer Harbor Community Center on Deer Harbor Road.
