Bonita Springs Fire Control & Rescue District

Bonita Spri= ngs Fire Control & Rescue District

Board Minut= es

September 8, 2008<= /span>

Present: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Administrat= ive:

Ch= airman, Frank Liles &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Chief, Phil Kinsey, Jr.

Co= mmissioner, Evans Conforti = ; = Assistant Chief Ken Craft

Co= mmissioner, Ed FitzGerald = &nb= sp; Deputy Chief, Joe Daigle

Co= mmissioner, Bob Paterson &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Deputy Chief, Dan Ryan

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Deputy Chief, Shane Sibert

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Finance Director, Tony Gambino

= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Administrative Director, Iris Roman

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Union President, Greg DeWitt

Ch= airman Liles called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. and began the meeting with t= he Pledge of Allegiance.

TENTATIVE BUDGET HEAR= ING – (Separate Agenda)

Fi= nance Director, Tony Gambino read a summary of the 2008-2009 budget:

The budget was prepared = based on a drop in property values of 6.2%.= Since there was a decrease in value, this caused the rollback r= ate to actually be higher than last year’s millage rate.<= /span>

Our tentative millage ra= te that is being proposed tonight is 1.8569. The rate has been lowered from 1.9471 that was set at the last budget workshop. This is a 4.6% reduction from= what has appeared on the publics TRIM notices.

The rollback rate for our District is 1.9563. The = rate proposed is 5.1% below the rollback rate. Under the new tax reform rules, the Department is allowed to se= t the millage as high as 2.0277.

By reducing the millage = since the previous workshop, the Department has reduced our ad valorem by $940,646. In comparison = to last year, the Department will be receiving $295,098 less than 07/08.<= o:p>

Due to accounting princi= ples, the Department must show an additional $1,021,857.43 in our budget for two fire trucks that were paid for in the current budget. The Department will not recei= ve the trucks until the 08/09 budget year, which requires the Department to re-budget them in 08/09. This has no financial impact on the proposed budget as the expense is offse= t by the cash brought forward, which makes the entry a wash.

The actual general fund = budget is $31,093,762.53 without the trucks.= This is an increase of 3.2% from the 07/08 budget.

The total budget (withou= t the trucks), including both the general fund and the impact fee fund is $31,834,161, which is a 2.4% increase in our overall budget from fiscal year 07/08.

· Commissioner Paterson read the 2008-2009 budget:

o This hearing is to adopt the tentative millage and budget for 2008/2009.

o The tentative millage of 1.8569 per thousand dollars will be 5.08% less than the rolled back rate of 1.9563 mills.

o The total ad valorem taxes generated from the millage of 1.8569 will be $20,066= ,924.34. (Net taxes-$19,371,582.35)

o The tentative budget for 2008/2009 will be $32,115,619.96. The tentative impact fee budget for 2008/2009 will be $740,398.68.

Ch= airman Liles asked if there was any public input on the proposed 2008/2009 budget. Citizen Alex Grantt t= hanked the board for going below the millage rate and wished another government en= tity would have done the same and stated that it was a “step in the right direction.”

Commissioner Paterson= asked for and received a motion to adopt the tentative millage rate of 1.8569 from Commissioner Conforti; second by Commissioner FitzGerald. Motion carried.

Co= mmissioner Paterson accepted the adopted tentative budget of $32,115,619.96 for fiscal year 2008/2009 and also adopts the tentative impact fee budget of $740,398.= 68 for fiscal year 2008/2009. Motion to accept the impact fee bu= dget made by Commissioner Conforti; second by Commissioner FitzGerald. Motion carried.<= /p>

Th= e final budget hearing will be September 19^th, 2008 at 5:01 p.m.

· Public Input (Agenda Items)

I.= Administrative

a.= &n= bsp; Asking for public input on agenda items and receiving none, Chairman Liles asked for a motion to a= pprove the August 11, 2008 regular board minutes. Commissioner Paterson made the motion; second by

Commissioner Conforti. Motion carried.

b.= = Financial

&= nbsp; A motion was made by Commissioner Paterson to ac= cept the August expenditures, August 2008 financial report and wire transfers and transfer between accounts; second by Commissioner FitzGerald. &n= bsp; Motion carried.

II. Chiefs’ Reports

Chief Kinsey

Ch= ief Kinsey had nothing significant to report to the board this month.

Assistant Chief Craft

386 responses, approximately a 7% decrease from July 2008.

&= nbsp; 1. Fire: 9, approximately 20% decrease from= July

&= nbsp; 2. EMS: 239, approximately 10% decrease from July

&= nbsp; 3. Hazardous Condition: 21/11, approximately 50% increase = from July

&= nbsp; 4. Service Calls: 20 or 250% increase from July=

&= nbsp; 5. Good Intent: 40, approximately 5% decrease from= July

&= nbsp; 6. False alarm/call: 57, approximately 2.5% decrease fr= om July

Ti= mes: 92.2% of medical incidents were re= ached within 8 minutes.

&= nbsp; 85.5% of suppression incidents were reached in eight minutes or less with &= nbsp; the first due engine.

&= nbsp; 55.8% of the suppression incidents were reached with the balance of the &= nbsp; assignment in less than six minutes.

Tr= aining Classes: 226 different traini= ng classes were offered during the month of August, logging over 597 hours of training.

Deputy Chief Joe Daigle

Th= e EMS Division has no new equipment to report.

Du= ring the month of August, personnel reviewed the EMS OB/GYN protocol which includes normal delivery, pediatric resuscitation, and child birth complications. The pediatric care re-certificatio= n for all paramedics was completed.

We= have 32 on-line paramedics and 49 EMT’s.

De= puty Chief Daigle congratulated FF/Paramedic Bill Richardson for being chosen as= the new Field Training Officer (FTO) for “A Shift.”

Th= e EMS Division is in the process of conducting the final stage of Department physicals. =

The Medical Director has approved the new County Medical Guidelines. The new document has been distribu= ted electronically and formal training will be given next month. =

Deputy Chief Dan Ryan

On= August 1^st, training did a live burn on Tower Road. The entire shift got a turn to participate. There were some = CERT members present as well.

Tr= aining on brush fire shelters as well as a refresher on brush truck equipment was conducted.

Fo= ur members went to rapid intervention training August 4-8

Th= e Department had a guest speaker this month; Division Chief John Sullivan from the Worce= ster Fire Department.

Tw= o of our lieutenants were sent to elevator class in St. Petersburg.

Du= ring the month of August, the Explorers met on every Saturday and Monday. The second recruit resulted in the addition of five new members for a total of 11 Explorers. They trained in CPR, search and re= scue, and assisted with filling sand bags for the floods.

The meeting with Pierce is complete and the expected delivery of E-21 will be a= fter the holidays.

The pre-build meeting with Sutphen will be on October 9^th.

Pr= e-plans are still being loaded into the apparatus.= The Department now has 73 pre-plans in entered into the system. Bonita<= /st1:PlaceName> Charter School, Bonita Elementary School, = Bonita Middle School and S= pring Creek Elementary have been added for a total of 13 buildings.

Deputy Chief Shane Sibert<= /p>

Ch= ief Sibert noted that there was nothing pertinent to report as the Special Ops Division was tied up with hurricane tasks.

Th= e MERT drill has been cancelled and will be rescheduled sometime after hurricane season.

Fire Marshal Tim Fernandez=

Fo= r the month of August, Fire Prevention did the following:

&= nbsp; 259 Existing Occupancy Inspections

&= nbsp; 100 Existing Occupancy Re-inspections

&= nbsp; 622 New Construction Inspections

&= nbsp; 21 Use Permit Inspections

&= nbsp; 4 Hydrant Fire Flow

&= nbsp; 68 Plan Reviews

&= nbsp; 1 New Building

&= nbsp; 32 Fire Permits Received (month of = July)

= 107 Fire Permits YTD (06/30/2008)

&= nbsp; 97 Fire Permits issued YTD

Union President Greg DeWitt

No= thing new to report.

lll. Old Business

No= ne

lV. New Business

Ap= proval of Addendum to Financial Policies

Fi= nance Director Tony Gambino stated the purpose of the addendum to financial polic= ies is to try and attain a budget award. In order to receive the award, the Department needs to set certain policies on how the Department is going to prepare for such things as capit= al improvements, and a five year policy stating what the Department will need financially in five years for capital improvements. The Department has policies in pla= ce and it is a matter of updating them to put the Department in line for the award= .

Un= der Debt Management Policies, Chief Kinsey explained that this policy sets a dollar figure that shall not exceed 5% of the total annual budget.

A motion to accept de= bt management policy was made by Commissioner Paterson; second by Commissioner FitzGerald. Motion carried.

Commissioner Paterson requested the= board’s permission to attend the Florida= Public Pension Trustee Association School on October 5-8 in Orlando. Chairman Liles made the motion to approve Commissioner Paterson’s attendance; second by Commissioner FitzGerald. Motion carried.

V.= Public Input

Ro= n Pure of the Taxpayer Action Group stated that the Department needs approximately= a $3.5 million nest egg to sustain the retirement benefits of employees who h= ave retired and those who will retire in a few years. He would like the board to take a = look at the salaries, pensions, and benefits and try to address this issue prior= to a merger.

Vl= . Commissioner Business

Co= mmissioner FitzGerald gave accolades to Chief Kinsey and staff for attending the servi= ce on 9/11 at the Presbyterian Church in honor of the cities first responders.=

Co= mmissioner Conforti asked Chief Kinsey the status of Station 5. Fire Marshal Fernandez stated the = plans were still in review with the architect.

Th= e board discussed the location of the sand used for hurricanes and the possibility = of repairing the area in front of Station 4 with blacktop or sod. No final decision was made.

Co= mmissioner FitzGerald requested a status report on the merger contract. Chief Kinsey explained there were = some issues the attorney was reviewing at this time, but no time line has been established.

Me= eting adjourned at 5:40 p.m.

Re= spectfully submitted,

Ma= ry Huss

Se= cretary

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