Botetourt County Fire and EMS CHIEF S & CAPTAIN S MEETING AGENDA Monday, March 18, 2013 Fincastle Library 1900 2030 Purpose: Discuss BCES fire and EMS issues to improve communication between administration and volunteers in an effort to solve problems and better prepare for the future. Desired Outcome: Identify solutions to challenges that affect how we meet the department s mission through productive communication and follow through. TIME TOPIC Participant 1900 Welcome Recap of February meeting Responsible KDG 1910 Communication Items: Website update status o Specific things that would be helpful or increase communications that should be included? Radio System Current status and going forward (Project 25) 1930 Recruitment and Retention o Virginia Fire Chiefs Association (MOU) o Rescue recruitment ideas VSCS update for 2013 Policy items: Reminder: 4-for-life and DFP funds ALL 1950 County Budget update KDG 2000 Open forum for questions/discussion. HOT TOPICS!! Schedule next meeting: April 15, 2013 @ 19:00 at the Fincastle Library
Volunteer Fire Chief s & Captains Meeting Notes March 18, 2012 19:00 Opened meeting at the Fincastle Library conference room Attendance: Kathleen Guzi, Carr Boyd, Jason Ferguson, Jack Leffel, Mike Durham, Scott Paderick, John Manspile, Henry Booze, Alan Wright, Charles Provost, David Bush, and Daryl Johns Absent: Timmy Keyser, Travis Meadow Kathleen welcomed everyone. Kathleen gave quick recap- One item on there, Junior Firefighter issue, haven t heard back from County Attorney. David Bush asked if that impacts rescue. Answer was, No. Kathleen- Will continue to work with her closely until there is an answer. Kathleen asked if there was anything from the last meeting that anyone wanted to comment on. Seeing none, Kathleen asked if there were any items that anyone wanted to add to the agenda. Communication Items- Website: Carr- New website should be up on Wednesday for BCES review. Trying to change to a more functional website, recruitment pages will be much bigger and will be much more like a typical fire/rescue website. o Virginia Fire Chief s Association (VFCA)- One of the top three things recommended by the study was a functional website. Will hopefully roll it out in the next week or so. May be hard to know what you want on there until we get stuff loaded. You ll need to be patient with it, we will have a much higher ability to add things and keep it up to date. Carr asked if there was anything that came to mind to place on the website? Scott- Training notices, what s going on throughout the county, just updates on what s happening, maybe some pictures. Scott said Troutville got a lot of hits on calls and pictures. Kathleen- Once it is released, we need you to get on there and evaluate it. We need some constructive feedback. This is you all s website, we will need some guidance to get things on there. We need everyone s input. Radio System- Carr- We ran into some interesting and disturbing information on the radio system. We have been talking about a ½ million dollar radio upgrade to get us out of legacy parts. Big Hill F/R 3 is down and will remain down until the radio system is upgraded or replaced. We researched grant cycles and processes to assist with funding to upgrade the radio system, and learned that what we were being told we need to do versus what is eligible for grants is not the same. Carr explained P25 compliance. The parts for the recommended upgrade are not P25 compliant. Departments are not grant eligible unless upgrades or replacement components are P25 compatible or upgradable. The grants will not allow for radio systems to be under older technologies. Before we invest that money, especially since there are a lot of grants out there, we want to explore our options such as an engineering study. It is far more complex than any of us envisioned. Hopefully we won t lose any more channels as we go forward. Kathleen- This is a top priority, the board is aware of this priority and it s not just a one person project. I have also been in touch with the Sheriff. Alan asked what if another channel went down on Big Hill? Carr- stated we have talked about other options. Alan asked about the consideration of added an additional tower. Carr spoke to
the effect that we need some professional consultation. Kathleen asked if Jason could shed any light on the coverage issue. Volunteer Workforce Solutions Program, Phase II- Carr- VFCA- Recruitment and Retention. Talked about the history of the VFCA grant. As a county we faired rather well. VFCA is getting ready to enter phase II, we have expressed interest in participating. We have not been selected yet, we need buy-in from the chiefs, and then we need to submit application/mou. (Mike Durham arrived) We already have a GIS tapestry, so VFCA will come in and help develop a detailed recruitment plan and then track our results. This is to find out if there is a true way to predict volunteer participation. They strongly recommend having a dedicated recruitment coordinator; we do not currently have one. We would like to dedicate a staff member to submit information and have volunteer point persons in each station. VFCA will provide leadership workshops, our requirement is to show up and participate. Carr circulated the letter and stated that if you don t want to commit to participating fully in this program, don t sign the MOU. The information that has resulted thus far is very helpful, seems to validate what most expect. Carr the passed around statistics on 2012 recruitment numbers. Kathleen- If we want to go down that path, we are going to need a program lead in each one of your departments. We are willing to commit to the administrative support. This is a combination of what works and what doesn t. With the previous effort, it did provide a decent amount of numbers and $10k in materials. Darryl asked if this was across the board? Kathleen- This is specific to Chiefs right now. Carr- We ve got to figure out the rescue side. Simple things like teaching EMT helps, but what do we want to do in a proactive effort to recruit and retain rescue volunteers? Scott- Asked if he could get a copy of the MOU before he signs and get a commitment from his department before he signs it. Kathleen- Part of this is getting information out in the community that we need volunteers. Spoke about running an add letting them know that we have excellent volunteers, but they could always use help. Is that something that would work? What do you guys think? Scott- Today s society I don t see us pulling 30, 40, 50 year old people. Them wanting something to do. I think we should go back to the school program. How are you getting them? We have an explorer program at Troutville, 14 year olds. We re trying to build that program. I ll tell you a story, a friend of mine was in high school, his buddy had a pager on and it went off, he went to the front of the room and left to go on a call. Jason brought up the potential for a firefighter I in the summer time, potentially daylight, etc. Discussion ensued about vocational tech. programs. o Jack spoke to the changes that occurred with the funding associated with votec. o Scott asked if the funding was there for a fire and EMS program? Jack spoke of a welding program. o Jack said it could be on the table next year. You guys right here can make it happen. Carr- It was brought up in the Team Botetourt meeting.
Kathleen- BTEC wants there folks to walk out of school and into a job. The focus is to produce professionals with jobs. o Henry- I don t disagree, but I think we should focus on putting something in the paper and getting some word out, career days, whatever we need to do, we should start something. 2 applications to vote on and 6 associate members, some that are older than him (59) that just want to help out. Something on the other side, we need to get ideas on what Troutville does or Buchanan or Eagle Rock on what keeps these guys. o Scott- We run calls to retain them. We run a lot more calls. No one wants to stand around and do nothing at the fire house. The biggest thing is the call volume. Kathleen- asked John for input, John- I think that the way people are treated, treating everyone will respect. Being nice to people, treat them the same and fair. Everyone wants some perks, it s not like the old day. You need to reward them. Nothing big and elaborate, coffee mugs, ball caps, etc. Scott- We have money for those things. Do you have banquets? Do you give out awards? Jason- spoke to the proposal of countywide awards. Scott- Brotherhood. o Kathleen- Things that she has heard- 1) Speak with the schools about the potential of getting the program started again. Kathleen- asked who was a 1 st generation volunteer- John- Worked with a former volunteer, Mike- Getting into trouble in high school and his mother had ladies who she went to church with, his mother pushed him to join. Talked with his friends and buddies. Dave- Scott s dad Dean called him to get some rope. Henry- Was playing softball with someone on the FD and joined with him. Charles- Got married. Kathleen- Common theme is a volunteer talking to someone. The individual efforts will help. 2) The add- Dave- add needs to be ran multiple times. Mike- Blue Ridge talking about running a citizens academy- 2 (3-4 evenings) and an 8-hour academy. Scott- We talked about it too. Henry- What about what Wytheville did? Jason- Showed the VFCA video and reminded folks its out there. Kathleen- What I would like each of you to do by the next meeting, come back with something that you have done in your department or anything that you plan to do in your department that will award or acknowledge members. David- Asked about football games. Jason- spoke briefly to that. Carr- Briefly touched on VSCS, there will be more in the newsletter, quarterly report. Carr pointed out that Fincastle FD and Buchanan FD, neither department has logged anything. We d be glad to come by and give an explanation. Carr encouraged participation. Henry- Question, What is the real purpose behind this? Purpose the BOS implemented this process to provide an incentive if you meet the operational status or associate status. David- Is there any changes on how hard it is to get the points? I have one member that just wants to come back and get his 80 points. Put this on the agenda for the next meeting. Reminder- 4 for life is due April 1 st and DFP July 1 st deadlines. Budget update- County has started the process. Bottom line is that Public Safety continues to be a high priority. Making losses up, level for the year. In terms of new initiatives were flat this year.
Open Forum/Discussion- FARST: Scott- Asked what purpose of this group is? Scott asked if that means that this group takes the place of FARST? Scott brought up code and the reference of FARST. I don t understand what we re doing anymore. o Kathleen- let me hear from you guys. Do you want FARST, is that something we need to continue? o Scott said if you do away with FARST, you have no representation. Kathleen- There was discussion about change in the representation. o Kathleen- Is the Captains board and Chiefs board active? Dave- Captains board meets every month. Scott- It could be, it was said in the Board meeting that Chiefs weren t recognized. Jason- clarified that the Chiefs were the Chiefs board. Scott- I m not saying its bad or good we have either got to go by it or change it again. o Kathleen- Why don t we get a date and I will get with board members and set a date. o Jack- What I would like to have in your mind, what would be the most effective way for you to have a direct line to the BOS. How can you best represent yourself to the County? Is this group here tonight one that can get more done than FARST or is FARST the best? Scott- We have to have some kind of voice. If you do move in a different direction from FARST, the code will be changed. Kathleen- I do like the idea of everyone meeting together. A lot of localities have separate but I do think it is important to meet together. o Henry- I think we could replace FARST with this group plus a supervisor. If we want to add general public, that s fine. We re the ones that are going to know what our problems are. Dave- Can this be a board? Scott- If you replace FARST with Chiefs and Captains Board, I d be ok with that. I think this is better, because you could get the wrong representative. Kathleen- Is there anyone here that would prefer FARST? No one was in favor of FARST. Charles, Darryl, Alan spoke up as saying this group (Chiefs and Captains) was better. Kathleen- I think we re beginning to gel, its about how we bring folks to together. o Scott- It s going to come up at the Board meeting, it s going to come up from the public HARD at the meeting on FARST. Scott- Said that he didn t get notified of his firefighter not getting LODA. Carr- No one was notified about LODA beyond the family, as it is a privacy issue. Kathleen brought up HIPPA. Scott- Thanked everyone for their support to TVFD. Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Kathleen- Will be moving and then be out of town for a week. David- Can a Rescue 4 member ask for Wagon 7. o Spoke with Jason and Carr after meeting about question. Meeting adjourned at 21:00