JOHNSON COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT #1 – Johnson County, Kansas

Board of Directors Meeting

Date:  June 14, 2011       Time: 7:00 p.m.

Fire Station #1, 490 New Century Pkwy, New Century, KS

BOARD MEMBERS           STAFF

Keith Johnson                         Max Sielert          Pat Ballard

Kent Harlow                           Rob Kirk             Mark Wendal

Mark Burdolski                       Jerry Holly

Also attending:   Ed Eilert  Chairman of the Board, Board of County Commissioners

111 S Cherry St, Ste 3300  - Olathe, KS; Email:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Phone:  913-715-0500

CALL TO ORDER

Mark Burdolski called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Kent Harlow moved to approve the agenda as submitted.  Keith Johnson seconded and the motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

a. May 2011 Board meeting minutes

Keith Johnson suggested correction on page 2, 3^rd paragraph, first line, after “Metcalfe Bank to cover expenses until July 1^st”…add the year of “2011” to the date.  Keith Johnson moved to approve the minutes from the May 2011 Board meeting minutes as corrected.  Kent Harlow seconded and the motion carried.

FINANCIAL REPORT

a. May 2011 Financial report

Chief Sielert mentioned looking at net assets which indicates we have money left over.  July 1^st we received the 3^rd tax distribution from the County but that money will not show until next month’s report.  Looking at the budget itself in the operation expense, we have 53.7 remaining when we should have 58.3% remaining.  This is due to unanticipated larger expenses for the Air packs in Misc Fire equipment which was $110,000.  Also in Communications we purchased the new radios for a onetime cost of $13,800.  In Vehicle Repair we had some major expense for engine repair on E1223 which was $10,000 for a rebuilt engine.  Also during April we had the purchase of the new Battalion Chief vehicle which we paid for last month.  These large items put us over budget.  We now should be able to fall back in within the budget for the rest of the year.

In Employee expense we are in good shape, we have 60.5% remaining and are 2% under budget.  Revenues are coming in pretty good, we just received another tax distribution for over $420,000.00  Which included the Kimberly Clark. Keith Johnson questioned if this was specifically noted in the distribution. Chief Sielert indicated in order to point that out and say where it is in the $420,000 we got, he would have to look at what they paid in tax this year and compare with the last 3 years. He will look it up and verify the tax was actually included in this distribution.

Kent Harlow questioned if the radio cost was necessary this month.  Chief Sielert indicated the majority of the actual cost was paid by a grant, the balance was financed out of the temp note we got 2 years ago.  The total cost, however, was not completely covered so we did have some expense in the budget.

Previously we had talked about getting the loan and how this worked out great, along with how to be able to pay it back.  Our Assets right now are $151,719 with revenue through the balance of the year  of an additional $1,348,399.00, so that gives us $1,500,118 to get through to the end of the year.  We are projecting expenses of $1,155,000 to get through the year, so that would leave us with $345,118 to carry into next year and retire the loan that we took out this year, making next year look real good. Kent Harlow moved to approve the May 2011 Financial Report as submitted. Keith Johnson seconded and the motion carried.

BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR

Chief Sielert introduced Ed Eilert, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for Johnson County.  He announced that he was here to meet the board and to acknowledge their hard work and commitment and thank them for their volunteer work on the board.  He is traveling this next month to all the fire departments in the County to meet their board members.

OLD BUSINESS

a. Chiefs Reports

Fire Chief Max Sielert presented: We had hoped to wait a year to do this, but have been contact by ISO and will be going through the re-evaluation process this year as a result of the consolidation. Deputy Chief Kirk is working to the get the information together that will allow us to process this during the summer.  Captain Pat Hultman has researched this previously and has also been through this before, so we hope to improve the rating for everyone with his assistance.  Chief Sielert has talked to the ISO people and they said we are currently a 5 rating.  They want one year of statistics in order to properly assess the re-evaluation due to the consolidation, we only have 6 months.  With the new assessment we will improve the City of Gardner’s ISO rating, but we are not sure about the effect to the district.  Captain Hultman believes we should be able to become a 3 rating.  Currently, Gardner is 6 and the District is a 5, so this will be great for all residents if we can move to a 3.  Having more staff and equipment will help to improve our rating.  The last time the District was assessed was in 1995, and it was before that when Gardner received their rating.  Lots of improvements have been made since this has been done.  Kent Harlow questioned about the areas North and areas that are further than 5 miles away from the stations, if they will also be able to qualify. Chief Sielert was uncertain as to that outcome.

He presented the time line from the county as to when we must present our budget to them.  He read the email from them indicating that Public Notice for publishing deadline was Tuesday, July 12^th.   In order get it published in Gardner newspaper, the deadline for submitting is Wednesday, July 22^nd with the final budget presented to the County on August 4^th.  We will need a couple of work sessions before July 1^st in order to fulfill these deadlines.

In reference to the Olathe lawsuit, Deputy Chief Kirk and Chief Sielert met with Marilyn on May 31^st and went over the answers and they reviewed the documents before submitting to court.  Yesterday he received a copy of what she is sending to the court.  He presented a copy to the board and asked they read through this and be comfortable with what is included.

He has met with Mayor Drovetta and showed what we had for the Gardner City Council work session June 22^nd.  He distributed a copy of that to the board members to review.

Relative to the budget, the 2012 payments of $268,851 includes two interest payments for the 2010 Series Bond Issue. March 2012 will be the 1^st interest payment and the second payment will be in September 2012. The next year, in 2013 the payments will only be one-half that amount.  The Bond Issue Mill Levy will be 2.925.

Kent Harlow asked about the Mill Levy for 2013.  Chief advised it will be only one-half of the Levy for 2012, because 2012s payment is for 2010 and 2011 interest.  The proposed operating budget did not change much this year, other than the bond payment.

b. Staff Reports

Deputy Chief Rob Kirk presented:  The Balloon Festival was cancelled and the vendors lost a lot of money.  The Festival of The Trails was very busy.  We had a fire engine at Trails West for their grand opening this past month.  We have had 10 to 12 calls per day since the temperatures have been so high.  Edgerton is having their event this weekend.

The Intermodal facility doesn’t look like much is going on when driving past the facility, however, they are building roads within.  He had taken a tour of the facility and reviewed their safety program which was great.  Kent Harlow asked about a map of the facility roads.  He responded that we do now have a map, however, in an emergency situations there people will meet us at one of 2 entry points and escort us to the emergency. Kent Harlow asked if they will have access to the highway.  He advised the interchange at Homestead and 191^st Street is scheduled to be completed in 2013 with a state of the art design.  This is the same time as the Intermodal will be completed.

The fair is coming up and he is making plans for the District to participate.  Kent Harlow asked about how much support the City of Gardner is planning to give for the fair.   He responded the Sheriff's Department and Fire District will be providing the only support for the Fair this year.

NEW BUSINESS

FUTURE MEETINGS

Dates for Budget work sessions was discussed and then set for: Thursday, June 30^th at 6:30pm and again on Tuesday, July 5^th 6:30pm.  The Budget Hearing is scheduled for Monday July 18^th at 6:30pm. The next Board meeting will be held on the same date at 7:00pm, or immediately after the Budget Hearing.

ADJOURNMENT

Mark Bardolski moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 p.m and continue with executive session.  Kent Harlow seconded and the motion carried.  There was a 15 minute Executive Session convened to discuss: Personnel Issues