The meeting was called to order at 1800 hours with the following members present: Larry Tyler, Randy Cooper and David Bishop. Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silent prayer were followed by the administration of the oath to all present.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS: Promotions of Firefighters 3rd Class Wayne Faulkner and 2nd Class Jay Johnson. Auxiliary President Rhoda D’Ambra presented a check for $1500 to Captain Lathrop for care of Arson K-9 Lucky.
CHANGES TO AGENDA: Chairman Tyler added New Business #2 – Public Comment Card. He also read aloud the Rules of Decorum adopted by the Board.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: Al Robinson made cryptic comments regarding the merger talks with Cedar Hammock.
CONSENT AGENDA: Commissioner Cooper motioned to approve the consent agenda with the correction to the minutes; seconded by Commissioner Bishop. Motion carried.
COMMUNICATIONS: None.
OLD BUSINESS
1) Citizen’s Academy: Commissioner Cooper stated that he’s received lots of response from employees who want to help. A kickoff meeting will be set soon.
2) Manatee County Property Appraiser Refund: Chief Price stated that we are close to an agreement and hope to have it by next Board meeting. The refund will only be for the last year as previous year’s monies were already distributed.
3) Interlocal Agreement with Manatee County for Collection of Plan Review Fees: Chief Price noted that there was some confusion within the County and Chief’s Association on this but now the Chairman of the Chief’s has assigned it to a representative and an agreement is close.
4) Merger Discussion with Cedar Hammock: Chairman Tyler reported that the two Chiefs presented the information requested and the following week Cedar Hammock’s Board voted 4-1 to discontinue discussions. Commissioner Bishop is disappointed that Cedar Hammock approached us on this and decided so quickly to stop it. Commissioner Cooper agrees and added that there are a lot of complex issues involved but he would like to have seen it given more thought. Chairman Tyler stated that the Chief’s did a good job presenting the information and we’ve always known that the biggest hurdle would be trying to combine our different taxing structures. Chief Price added that the Governor recently did a review of all special districts in the State that involved a few committee meetings. In one, Senator Bennett specifically mentioned Manatee County’s fire districts. He’s also refiling his failed bill from last year that would make it easier for districts to merge. It’s important to know that the State Legislature creates special districts and can also dissolve them.
NEW BUSINESS:
1) Hiring Process: Chief Price explained that about ten years ago we started doing joint written and physical testing of firefighter candidates with other area districts. Then each agency could make its own choices for job offers. Our written test was validated but not the physical abilities test. Unvalidated tests have increasingly become the target of hiring lawsuits across the country. A national testing company based in St. Petersburg has approached the County Fire Chief’s to offer testing through them for an initial cost of $750 and annual fee of $175. This way both tests will be validated and issued by a licensed company which provides protection from lawsuits. The other advantage is the testing can be done any time so each candidate can schedule his own appointment. Also we don’t have to do the work of scheduling several employees to spend a day testing 50-70 applicants.
2) Public Comment Card: Commissioner Bishop stated that he has been to meetings in many different forums and usually sees a Comment Card that must be filled out if people want to speak. He believes this is a good idea which ensures appropriate, civil discussions. The other Commissioners agreed and so the staff was directed to bring a recommendation back to the Board for adoption.
OTHER REPORTS: Chief Price noted that Lt. Ryan Moore has done a lot of work to landscape the back yard of the administration building by laying out beds and filling them with mulch. Captain Kiernan also assisted with the project.
COMMISSIONER’S COMMENTS: Commissioner Cooper reminded everyone of the Firefighter’s Association Halloween Dance this weekend.
Commissioner Bishop thanked the Auxiliary for their donation for K-9 Lucky.
NEXT MEETING Regular meeting on 11/17/11 at 1800 hours at the Administration building.
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting was adjourned at 1840 hours.
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Chairman Secretary
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