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Home My WebLink About2011 Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes - All City Of 1 Y Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners - + � �, �, � 4 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 Fax(517)483-4488 Virg Bernero,Mayor www,lansingfire com Tom Cochran, Fire chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING December 14, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on December 14, 2011 at Fire Station #1 Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present: Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Bob Jody Brown, Yvonne Young McConnell, Louis Vinson, J Washington y Others Present: LFD Chief Tom Cochran, ELFD Chief Randy Talifarro, EM Chief Trent Atkins, DFO Ellen Vogt, Patti Starnes Commissioners Excused: Robert Hudson Frank Ferro Additions to the Agenda: none Review/Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Commissioner Vinson and suported � y Commer to accept the November minutes as written. Motion carried wiitth a un ni s us imo Brown vote- ; r\10` r--.�� Review of Communications: ~j 2012 Draft Schedule presented. The Board accepted the schedule with change: February 8ih meeting location to the EOC and the September 12ine meeting location to Station #2 g Presentations: Introductions: Chief Cochran introduced Interim Fire Chief Randy Talifarro. Chief Talifarro is the current Fire Chief of East Lansing and will hold a dual Fire Chief role between East Lansing and Lansing Fire for a 1 year period as the departments move forward towards City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes December 14, 2011 shared services. Chief Cochran commented that Randy has been a mentor, good friend and "key" in the shared services discussion with six of the local fire departments. Chief Cochran introduced Lansing Emergency Management Chief Trent Atkins who is anticipated to be the Interim Assistant Fire Chief at Lansing Fire. Chief Cochran commented that Chief Atkins will do a great job working for the department and working with Chief Talifarro. Chief Talifarro thanked Chief Cochran and said that he looks forward to working with this Board and the City of Lansing. Discussion of shared services began at the Metro Chiefs Luncheons under former Lansing Fire Chief Greg Martin. This concept of shared services has been explored for many years. Chief Talifarro looks forward to the opportunity. It will bring the departments closer together. We will focus on what we have in common and where we are apart. Then we will create a plan to bring us closer together, which, may lead to a more formal agreement at a later date. Chief Cochran commented that Chief Talifarro along with himself have been an advocates of regionalization. Chief Cochran introduced LFD Department Financial Officer Ellen Vogt. She has 14 years on the department and has been the Finance Officer for over a year now. She is doing a phenomenal job. Not only Ellen but Patti Starnes and others have taken on other responsibilities as well. Ellen is working on the payroll, budget, and other extra responsibilities. It has been an honor working with Ellen and Patti. Administrative Comments: Department Update — Chief Cochran • Thanked Ellen, Patti and Michelle Greko for the community room decorations. Michelle has done a wonderful job on the office decorations. • End of year tasks: o Shared Services Study— Mike Hamel is the point of contact person. o ISO rating review coming up in Feb- Mike Hamel is working on that as well. • 3900 Burneway fire — There were a number of residents displaced. Crews were aggressive and made a phenomenal stop on the fire. • Will be moving 5th ambulance from station #46 to station #48 for a six-month trial period. • Long term sick leave and injury leave is down to eight people. That is a good number. It has helped our staffing numbers. • Chief Cochran thanked the entire Board for the opportunity to be here as the Lansing Fire Chief. Has enjoyed the relationship with them and thanked them for all they have done. Committee Reports none Old Business none City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes December 14, 2011 New Business • Commissioner Jody Washington announced that this was her last meeting. Being on the Board has been a lot of fun for her. She was sworn into today to city council. She hopes success for Chief Talifarro and his regional efforts. Jody will submit a letter of resignation to the Board. • Chairperson Keeney asked to be excused for the January meeting. General Order • Commissioner Young-McConnell asked Chief Atkins about the Interim Assistant Chief position. He is waiting on the final documents. • Chairperson Keeney asked about the East Lansing Fire Board? Chief Talifarro replied that that City of East Lansing does not have a Board of Fire Commissioners. • Commissioner Rhode asked about Chief Talifarro's command staff. Chief Talifarro explained the rank system and roles within the East Lansing Fire Department. • Chief Talifarro commented that the Union's involvement in the regionalization process is critical. Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Vice-Chairperson Vinson . A unanimous vote was taken to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. q9k- 56xo� Minutes Submitted by: on January 11, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: January 11 t" 2012 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes December 14, 2011 City of Lansing , Board of Fire CommissionersITL 120 E. Shiawassee Street L i 1 ansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 ,€uxx f Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING November 9, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on November 9, 2011 at Fire Station #8 (EOC) Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present: Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Bob Brown, Frank Ferro, Yvonne Young McConnell, Robert Hudson, Louis Vinson Others Present: Chief Cochran, Dave Keeney, Trent Atkins, Patti Starnes Commissioners Excused: - _ = t:; Jody Washington Additions to the Agenda: none ny Review/Approval of Minutes: `= A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Brown to accept the September minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Review of Communications: Thank you letter from the 100 Club regarding the recent donation from the Bank of America Stair Climb. Presentations: none City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 Administrative Comments: • Chief Cochran announced his retirement effective January 15th, 2012. His last work day will be Friday, January 13th, 2012. Chief Cochran personally thanked the Board. He is very grateful for the support he has received from them and for their support of the Lansing Fire Fighters. It was a tough decision to retire. He was set to go in June but decided to hold off until January due the department's difficult financial situation. He has had a great career with the City of Lansing Fire Department. By working closely with the department, union and mayor we have weathered the financial storm. He is proud to have had the opportunity. Again, thanks to the Board for their support. • Chief Cochran spoke regarding the passing of the millage. Patty Farhat and Ellen Vogt along with many others put a lot of time in to the Keep Lansing Safe campaign and it paid off. The Mayor announced that the Lansing Fire Department will maintain the status quo. Commissioner Ferro asked what that means to LFD. Chief Cochran commented that it is not enough money to bring back the 11 laid off Firefighters. To survive the 12/13 budget "as is" would be great. We are certainly stretched as a department. Chief Cochran gave an example that we recently had 2 fires and a cardiac arrest at the same time throughout the city. We had to call in mutual aid. When the crews are out on multiple calls and then a large fire comes in it is difficult. Our response times have increased by 1 minute. We continue to study and monitor the response times. Chief Cochran proposed that the February meeting change to station 8 so they can see the new technology that is being installed. Several Smart Boards were purchased with Homeland Security money and the EMS donation account. Chief Cochran felt strongly that we needed this technology for roll call, updates, training etc. These Smart Boards will be an awesome tool for LFD to use. A lot of training will be done online, but we will still have plenty of hands on training. Trent Atkins spoke regarding a request from Hillsdale County for a Demo of the USAR (Tech Rescue) truck. An LFD Captain and Engineer attended the Hillsdale County Chiefs Meeting and gave a Demo of the metro truck. Homeland Security grant funds covered the callback on our end. The truck was purchased 100 % by grant money. • Chief Cochran commented that Jim Moreno is doing really well and plans to back to work soon. • Chief Cochran commented that Michelle Greko continues to heal. She is working. She has had a few post surgery issues but is doing well. • Chief Cochran commended the Mayor and the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protestors are currently camping at Ruetters park in Lansing. The Mayor has embraced the protestors and they have been working closely with them from City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 a public safety standpoint. Chief Yankowski from LPD and Fire Marshal Brad Drury have been working with the group to address safety issues. The group has a 7 pm community meeting nightly. • Trent Atkins spoke about the new EOC Video and Smart Board Technology. A large piece of the EOC is situational awareness. The new technology will soon be functional and very valuable to us. He invited the Board back in February to see the systems up and running. • Trent Atkins informed the group of the Do One Thing program and the promotion items given to the Board. The program was started by his predecessor and Ronda Oberlin and has grown into very large and successful program. • Chief Cochran spoke about the upcoming Silver Bells and the Disney show afterwards with Cody Simpson. This is mid-Michigan's premier event. We are in the thick of the planning and the command post will be at station #1. • Commissioner Brown asked for any info on the Nationwide Emergency Alert System exercise that took place this afternoon. Trent reported that we were not too involved in it, but so far there were a few glitches reported. We will know more once the "after action" report is released. • Commissioner Rhode asked if the sirens generally go off to start Trick or Treating in Lansing. Chief Cochran reported: "Yes, a lot of communities do that." • Commissioner Ferro asked about the fire on Pennsylvania/Saginaw. Chief Cochran will check into it. Committee Reports none Old Business none New Business none General Order • It was noted the Local 421 Union President Bryan Epling sent a nice letter out and thanked the Board regarding Keep Lansing Safe campaign. • Chief Cochran reported that Jody Washington's position on the Board will become available since she was voted in as a Council Member. Chief Cochran suggested forwarding names of those recommended to fill her seat to the Mayor. City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Brown. A unanimous vote was taken to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Minutes Submitted by: on December 14th, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: December 14t', 2011 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 City of Lansing ' Board of Fire Commissioners �r 120 E. Shiawassee Street / Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 p Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Torn Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING October 12th, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on October 12th, 2011 at 3015 Alpha Access, Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Robert Brown Jr. Robert Hudson, Frank Ferro, Louis Vih-son,`y Yvonne Young McConnell, Jody Washington Others Present Tom Cochran, Fire Chief F Patti Starnes, Secretary '_. e;•a �' Additions to the Agenda "y Commissioner Hudson requested Millage Discussion to be added to the Agenda under New Business. Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner Hudson to approve the October minutes as written. Communications none Presentations Chief Cochran presented the members with LFD blue/pink t-shirts to support breast cancer awareness for the month of October. Chief Cochran gave a demonstration of the "pulse oxometer" which measures CO levels in people. The device was purchased with Region One grant funding and will be used for an informal survey our crews. 1 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th, 2011 Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran 1. BC Moreno, an LFD Battalion Chief has been battling cancer and is currently in remission. Green bracelets are available for donation to the foundation. Jim Moreno's mom is running marathon to support the foundation. So for over $3500 has been raised. Bracelets are available for a donation. Ellen Vogt in LFD Administration has the bracelets if anyone is interested. 2. Michelle Greko who works in LFD Administration is doing quite well. She recently donated her kidney to her cousin. The surgery was a success and she and her cousin are doing well. 3. The LFD Open House took place on Saturday October 8th. This year's open house was very successful. Just under 500 people attended. Chief Cochran thanked the Fire Marshal division and everyone who attended and volunteered. It was a great event with lots of young kids. Sunrise donated the burn cell materials. Delta Twp donated the smoke house. Ultimate Bounce Inflatable's donated the bounce house. Susan G Komen t-shirts were sold at the event for the foundation. Commissioner Hudson reported that the pink fire helmets were a hit. 4. Chief Cochran attended Councilmember A'lynne Robinson's 2"d Saturday meeting held at the Fire Station #46 community room. About 18 people attended. Also, Chief Yankowski from LPD, Bob Trezise from Lansing Economic Development Corporation and Chief Cochran attended. Chief Yankowski and Chief Cochran spoke about the millage for Police and Fire. 5. City Hall on the Road is coming up at the end of October. Check the City's website for more information. 6. Chief Cochran attended the Box 23 dinner last night at fire station #46. The club supports police and fire at large events with water/coffee/hoods etc. Julie Chrysler is the President and does a fantastic job. 7. Community Connect recently took place. It was a great turnout. 8. Smart Board project is ongoing. 9. Moving forward on Cascade Air System to fill the air tanks that will purchased through a grant. 10.SAFER grant — LFD is anticipating a fall rollout but, not positive. Mike Hamel and Chief Cochran are continually watching for grants. 11.Chief Cochran attended a meeting regarding the "Occupy Wall Street" group that is in Lansing. Currently it is a small group but the protest will be on Saturday 2 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th 2011 from 10 am — 930 pm. The group is currently camping out at Rutters park. They are being allowed to camp there with restrictions. So far they have been very cooperative and very much believe in a peaceful protest. 12.Mobile Food Pantry is this Saturday at Friendship Baptist church. 13.There have been 11 fires in the last week and half. 14.There was a recent fire in Lansing where a dog was saved by a member of the Lansing Fire Department. Captain Ward Meldrum is currently on light duty and is researching the program Project Breathe — oxygen mask donation program, which provides oxygen masks for pets. 15.Chief Cochran thanked everyone who attended his father's visitation and funeral. It was a nice celebration of his life. Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business Millage Discussion: Commissioner Hudson spoke regarding the millage. He will be writing a letter to the Lansing State Journal. It seems like people are misinformed. Chief Cochran reported that there is a calculator on the City's website to calculate the proposed millage increase. Chief Cochran reported that Keep Lansing Safe has targeted the absentee ballots in the City of Lansing. The organization sent out a mailing 2 weeks prior to the absentee ballots going out. Chief Cochran reported that $10 million has been cut from the Lansing Fire Department in the last 5 years. Staffing has gone from 52 in 2006 to 38 currently. There has been a 25% percent reduction of LFD staff. The department has reduced 2 engine/2 truck companies and closed 3 stations. Chief Cochran will send Commissioner Hudson a summary. Commissioner Keeney reported that the City of Jackson's response times have gone from 4 minutes to 11 minutes. Commissioner Keeney spoke to the current economic situation at the Lansing Fire department. General Order None 3 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th, 2011 Adiournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Vinson. A animous vote was taken. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm. Minutes Submitted by: on November 9th, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: November 9th, 2011 4 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th, 2011 BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2011 MEMBERS PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: Commissioner Linda Sims, Chair Chief Teresa Szymanski Commissioner Sandra Kowalk-Thompson Mark Alley, Senior Director, Emergent Commissioner Maria Mejorado BioSolutions Commissioner Bob Noordhoek Joan Jackson Johnson, Director of Human Commissioner Patty Farhat Relations and Community Services Commissioner Bill Renfrew Bernard Brantley, Commission Investigator Commissioner Clyde Carnegie Jim DeLine, Secretary Commissioner Jan Kolp MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC/ GUESTS: News reporter—WLNS-TV CALL TO ORDER—Commissioner Sims After having established a quorum, Commissioner Sims called the meeting to order at- 5:3?,p.m. Commissioner Kolp led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance. A moment of silence was observed out of respect for the passing of former Board member, Roger Newcomb. PUBLIC COMMENT-Agenda Items None. - ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Commissioner Sims The minutes of the regular meeting of October 18 were approved as presented and placed on file. EDUCATION PRESENTATION Former LPD Chief and now Senior Director at Emergent BioSolutions, Mark Alley, gave a PowerPoint presentation on bioterrorism in general and anthrax dangers specifically. Emergent BioSolutions is the only manufacturer of an FDA approved anthrax vaccine. The firm has 800 employees worldwide and the anthrax vaccine is manufactured at the Lansing plant. Mark explained that 6.5 kilograms of anthrax could cause the same amount of damage as a one megaton nuclear device. He explained how the body can be damaged by anthrax and how the vaccine (biothrax) works. He also.noted that 2.5 million service people have received the series of vaccinations at a cost to the government of$27.00 per dose. The current U.S. stockpile of vaccine dosages is set at 75 million. The company is hoping to increase manufacturing in order to make the vaccine available privately at $150.00 per dose and for export at a price to be determined. Persons exposed to anthrax whom have not been vaccinated need to be treated with antibiotics as soon as possible. Board of Police Commissioners Meeting Minutes of November 15, 2011 Page 2 ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT Chief Szymanski expressed her appreciation to Commissioner Farhat for her good work on the millage proposal. She said it was a "big boost" to the Department and the emails to officers were very good. The Chief also briefed the Board on a recent training day held for sworn supervisors. She said it was eight hours well spent and former LPD captain, Kim Lawrence, gave a good presentation. He will also speak to officers at the annual "30-hour"training. The Chief discussed recent interviews held for the new part time LPD position of crime analyst. They went very well with several good candidates, mostly interns from Michigan Intelligence Op Center (MIOC). She anticipates that a conditional job offer will soon be made. She also noted that six vacant positions in the 911 Communications Center are expected to be filled soon. The incoming employees should include two officers who are currently laid off from LPD. Chief Szymanski expressed her appreciation to Capt. Yankowski for hosting a luncheon for the many City employees instrumental in helping to consolidate the LPD Investigations Division into the facility on May Street. Commissioner Farhat noted that the office configuration appears to be very efficient. The Chief thanked Detectives Elizabeth Reust and Mark Lewandowski for their input in establishing a workable arrangement. She noted that Silver Bells in the City will happen this Friday. Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson will be hosting children from the Boys and Girls Club and they will be watching the parade from the LPD administrative offices. Board members are also invited to watch from there. The Chief updated the Board on the introduction of crime mapping on the Internet saying it is going well and she has received positive feedback from those using it. She updated the Board on crime reporting via the Internet saying it is not going as well as she had hoped. She has heard from Eric Tumbarella who manages the City's information technology unit that it should be up and running soon. The Department continues to explore other tools as alternatives to officer call response. She announced that the County Sheriff is receiving money for increased traffic enforcement and they are looking to do so at designated intersections within the City. There are concerns being discussed with the LPD FOP leadership, but the Sheriff's Department has a right to patrol anywhere within the County. This would be traffic enforcement only and they would not answer calls for service. Chief Szymanski also announced a March 3 Blue Light Players event which will honor the memory of Ofc. Julie Englehardt. The Chief is working with the Parks and Recreation Department for a permanent memorial, perhaps a statue, to the officer. In personnel matters, the Chief announced the resignation of Det. Scott Ellis who will be joining a private firm, and the December 26 retirement of Administrative Assistant Michelle Reddish. Board members suggested that they may wish to do something to recognize the many things that Michelle has done for them. In response to questions from the Board, the Chief discussed the value, cost and preferences of officers and command staff concerning twelve-hour shifts. A cost / benefit analysis would need to be conducted before the administration would recommend a change to the present shifts. HUMAN RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES LIAISON Dr, Joan Jackson Johnson announced this month's mobile food pantry to be held at the Church of the Nazarene on Holmes Road. A couple issues concern her including the growing tendency for people to arrive as early is midnight on the night prior and the shortage of turkeys available for distribution this year. She reported that the number of families attending Advent House for free Sunday dinners has been Board of Police Commissioners Meeting Minutes of November 15, 2011 Page 3 growing. She told of an incident of two couples in East Lansing in need of assistance and of the increasing number of people for whom cremation and burial expenses are out-of-reach. The "Occupy Lansing" movement which has been allowed to let people stay in tents in Reutter Park, is giving some homeless people a place to stay, but she is concerned about what may happen when / if that situation comes to an end. She discussed the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund and its support for rehabbing four or five homes. A family recently moved into a home on Climax Street through the program. She also discussed various backpack program / drops including the Boys and Girls Club and public housing complexes. Dr. Jackson Johnson explained the announced merger between the Greater Lansing Food Bank and the Mid- Michigan Food Bank, its expected leadership and its rationale. Finally, she alerted the Board to the possibility that they may be contacted by Regina Wilson regarding a revised job description for Bernard Brantley which has been discussed previously. In answer to questions from the Board, Dr. Jackson Johnson discussed financial assistance from the County and State as well as sources of food available for the mobile food pantry. FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE No representative present. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. CORRESPONDENCE SENT AND RECEIVED Correspondence for the month of October was accepted and placed on file. DEPARTMENT REPORTS Department reports for the month of October were accepted and placed on file. BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS Gov't/ Community Liaison Committee — Commissioner Kowalk-Thompson reported that this committee is hoping to come up with an event which would include members of City Council within approximately sixty days. Awards & Incentives Committee — Commissioner Noordhoek reported that this committee will begin its work with a meeting in December. Budget Committee — Commissioner Renfrew reported that this committee is ready to begin meeting with LPD staff to prepare for fiscal year 2013. Complaint Committee— Commissioner Farhat reported that this committee continues to meet on a regular basis. The Commission Investigator reported that he has a synopsis going out to committee members soon. OTHER REPORTS Precinct Consolidation Steering Committee — Chief Szymanski reported that the consultant (c2ae) has prepared a draft report and it may be available in the near future. Board of Police Commissioners Meeting Minutes of November 15, 2011 Page 4 Ad Hoc Committee on Board Policies and Rules —Commissioner Noordhoek reported that this committee met earlier in the day and continues to make progress. COMMISSIONER'S COMMENTS Commissioner Renfrew—had no further comments. Commissioner Kolp— inquired as to the status of Ofc. Billy Windom who is on administrative leave. Chief Szymanski reported that the prosecutor's office is awaiting a toxicology report before issuing its final recommendations. Commissioner Kolp also inquired as to the drop in bookings and the Chief reported that it is correlated to the reduction in patrol officers and resulting reduction in officer initiated activity. Finally, the commissioner commended officers who responded to a reckless driving incident noting that they were very professional. Commissioner Noordhoek — congratulated Commissioner Farhat on conducting a successful millage campaign. It was very well organized and greatly benefits the City of Lansing. He also extended his appreciation to Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson for sharing her updates and views. Commissioner Mejorado— echoed the sentiments of others on Commissioner Farhat's successful millage campaign. She brought a billboard featuring the Chief's photo to the attention of the Board. She also announced that she would be traveling to Texas on November 30 for the winter months and wished all a Happy Thanksgiving. Commissioner Farhat— expressed joy that the Neighborhood Watch float is in line to be number fourteen in the long Silver Bells parade. She expressed her appreciation to all who assisted in the Keep Lansing Safe campaign and noted what a great help the LPD command staff was. Commissioner Kowalk-Thompson — extended congratulations to all who assisted on the Keep Lansing Safe campaign and extended her appreciation to Chief Szymanski and the Department for extending an invitation to children to visit the administrative offices during Silver Bells in the City. Commissioner Sims — requested information on a recent shooting outside The Loft. Chief Szymanski reported that a warrant has been issued for a suspect. The commissioner extended an invitation to those present to visit the office of the Greater Lansing Visitors and Convention Bureau for an open house during the evening of Silver Bells in the City. She thanked Commissioner Farhat for her hard work on the millage campaign. The City of Lansing actually does better than many other urban areas. She extended her appreciation to Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson for her work and she requested an update on the lawsuit against the City reference the lady shot in the PNC bank. The Chief reported that the suit has been filed and depositions should begin soon. Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson reported that several of those intent on having the Board answer questions regarding the incident now seem to be focusing their energies on assisting dropouts to steer toward less risky behaviors. Finally, Commissioner Sims announced the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by the Tabernacle of David and reported on the pick-up sites that will be utilized for the event. She wished all a Happy Thanksgiving. OTHER BUSINESS/ DISCUSSION ITEMS None. PUBLIC COMMENT None. Board of Police Commissioners Meeting Minutes of November 15, 2011 Page 5 ADJOURNMENT- Commissioner Sims There being no further business to discuss, Commissioner Sims adjourned the meeting at 7:22 p.m. CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda,_ .; Wednesday.December 14,2011 at 6:00 om Fire Station#1 .; 120 E.Shiawassee St. " \�C Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Robert Hudson Frank Ferro Vice-Chairperson At- Large Additions to the Agenda: Louis Vinson III First Ward Robert Hudson Review/Approval of Minutes: Third Ward November Yvonne Young- McConnell Review of Communications: Fourth Ward 2012 Meeting Schedule Robert Brown Jr. Presentations: At-Large Intro: Fire Chief Randy Talifarro Frank Ferro Intro: Financial Officer Ellen Vogt At-Large Jill Rhode Administrative Comments: Chief Cochran — Department Update At- Large Josephine Committee Reports: Washington Secretary Patti Starnes Old Business: Fire Chief Tom Cochran New Business: General Order: Adjournment: Please contact Board Secretary,Patti Starnes if you cannot attend the meeting or,need special accommodations 517-483.4564 or email pstarnes o(Dlansinami.gov Lansing Fire Department 120 E.Shiawassee,Lansing MI 48911 r r,. CITY OF LANSING s BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday,November 9.2011 at 6:00 prn � Lansing Emergency Operations Center(EOC) h' 815 Marshall St.,Lansing MI 48912 _ A Mayor Virg Bernero \`J/ Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2—d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Jody Washington Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward October Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- Thank You from: The Hundred Club McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Larne Chief Cochran — Department Update Frank Ferro At Large Committee Reports: Jill Rhode p At-Large Josephine Old Business: Washington Secretary Patti Starnes New Business: Fire Chief 2012 Schedule (DRAFT) Tom Cochran General Order: Adjournment: Please contact Board Secretary,Patti Starnes if you cannot attend the meeting or,need special accommodations 517-483.4564 or email pstarnes a()lansingmi.gov Lansing Fire Department 120 E.Shiawassee,Lansing MI 48911 /BSI CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS o Meeting Agenda srr 1 Wednesday November 9 2011 at 6:00 pm Lansing Emergency Operations Center(EOC) w 815 Marshall St.,Lansing MI 48912 IRE DS4•S. Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Jody Washington Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward October Robert Hudson Review of Communications: Third Ward Yvonne Young- Thank You from: The Hundred Club McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran — Department Update Frank Ferro At-Large Committee Reports: Jill Rhode At- Large Josephine Old Business: Washington Secretary Patti Starnes New Business: Fire Chief 2012 Schedule (DRAFT) Tom Cochran General Order: Adjournment: Please contact Board Secretary, Patti Starnes if you cannot attend the meeting or, need special accommodations 517.483-4564 or email pstarnes cDlansingmi.gov Lansing Fire Department 120 E. Shiawassee, Lansing MI 48911 City of Lansing i sg syia,r'� Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 ` (517)483-4200 t .v' _C Fax(517)483-4488 w Virg Bernero,Mayor ww,lansingfire.com Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING September 141h, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on September 14th, 2011 at 3708 Pleasant Grove Rd., Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Robert Brown Jr. Robert Hudson, Frank Ferro, Commissioners Excused Louis Vinson, Yvonne Young McConnell, Jody Washington Others Present Tom Cochran, Fire Chief Patti Starnes, Secretary Additions to the Agenda None z" Approval of Minutes -> A motion was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner Ferro to'; approve the August minutes as written. Communications Thank you letter from Refugee Development Center for LFD participation at their _ =� summer camp Thank you letter from Ingham County TRIAD for LFD participation at the "Senior Prom" Presentations None 1 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes September 14th, 2011 Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • City Council is projecting a $12-15 million dollar deficit in the FY12 budget year. Council has voted to put a millage proposal on the ballot. • Sept 11th ceremony was well attended this year in Lansing. Thank you to those who attended on behalf of the Fire Board. Chief Cochran attended 5 events that day. Thank you to Steve Babcock from LFD who was instrumental in organizing the event. Several agencies participated including the Operating Engineers out of Howell, ROTC, the crane company and operators. Chairperson Keeney said some citizens asked where the fire trucks were this year that held the flag. Chief Cochran commented that this year the union and operating engineers really wanted to participate. They were instrumental at ground zero and we were grateful for their participation this year. There is a group that may adopt Wentworth Park to maintain it. o Other September 11th Events: • Chief Cochran also attended the BOA stair climb. Were walking over 7000 stairs up and down. Money raised will go to a non profit. BOA will be matching funds. Chief Cochran suggested the 100 club and a few other organizations. At some point they will do a presentation. Chief Cochran will invite the Board. • Delhi had a nice ceremony.— received a piece of steel from the towers • Mason had a nice ceremony. — received a piece of steel from the towers. • MSP held a candle light vigil on the Capitol lawn. Commissioner Keeney asked if we knew how many attended the Lansing ceremony. Chief Cochran estimated 150 people attended. Commissioner Keeney suggested a program that explains why our ceremony is held in the morning to go out to the public well in advance of the ceremony. • Mobile Food Pantry this Sat from 9-12 • Community Connect headed up by Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson will be held at the South Washington Armory on the September 23rd from 9:00 am — Noon. • Working on the FF Assistance grant. This is an equipment grant in the amount $1 million dollars. The grant has been cut considerably through the years. • There is another grant that will come out in the fall that will pay for firefighters wages for 3 years. LFD will be applying for the grant as well. • LFD donation account— funds will be used for a Smart Board project. Smart boards will be purchased for Station 1 and for the Training Academy. In addition, with grant funding each station will be set up as a mobile training center. Chief Cochran discussed the capabilities of the system. 2 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes September 14th, 2011 • There was a glitch with the Sunpro/Cad system. Info is being manually inputted and should be done today. • LFD employee Michelle Greko recently donated a kidney to her cousin. She is doing extremely well. Also her cousin who she donated a kidney too is doing very well too. Chief Cochran noted that she is a truly heroic person. • Chief Cochran offered his sympathies on the passing of Commissioner Frank • Ferro's mom. • Chief Cochran is part of the Elder Abuse committee and will be attending a summit at Cooley in the fall. It's a really great committee. Chief Cochran explained the program and goals of the committee. Chairperson Keeney shared a case of abuse when she was an ombudsman for a nursing home. Commissioner Rhode asked about the millage language. Chief Cochran will send info out on it. The City will be sending a fact sheet with the absentee voter ballots and the phone bank will contact them. Commissioner Brown asked how our ISO rating could be affected. Chief Cochran reported that Lansing currently has an ISO rating of 3. An impact study will be done at the 1st of the year. It could really impact business owners. Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business None General Order: LFD Open House is scheduled for Saturday Oct 8th from 10-2 pm. Commissioners are invited to participate. Commissioner Keeney has signed up with Inspector Fockler. Helen discussed the banners she saw in a downtown while on her trip to Maine.- "When you hear a siren pray for the responders". It would be nice to do something like that in Lansing. Discussion. Commissioner Brown recognized the Lansing Fire Department on their fantastic community involvement as a Department. Chief Cochran thanked him for his comments. Chief Cochran noted that in light of economics the rigs will have to stay in- service during community events. 3 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes September 14th, 2011 Chief Cochran commented that this has been a dark and difficult time for the department. Now, the message he wants to get out is to continue to be professional and try to remember why they became a firefighter. Officers are helping to get the message out. Chief Cochran commented on the meet and greet with the Lansing Police Commissioners. The Board appreciated the gesture. Adiournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner Ferro. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm. Minutes Submitted by: on October 12, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: October 12, 2011 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes 4 September 14th, 2011 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 ' (517)483-4200 Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING June 8, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on June 8, 2011 at 629 N. Jenison Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Robert Brown Jr., Helen Keeney, Alicia Perez-Banuet, Frank Ferro, Robert Hudson, Yvonne Young McConnell, Jody Washington Commissioners Excused Louis Vinson Others Present Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Michelle Greko, Trent Atkins, Station 7 crew Additions to the Agenda none Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Browri to approve the May minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Communications • Thank You letter from Lauren Leeds, Community Director of the Lansing Jaycees. Thanking us for participating in this years Easter Egg Hunt that took place on the Capitol Lawn. • There is a letter that is not in the packet that a copy will be sent to you. The bike rodeo was held 2 weeks ago with our co-host Sinas, Dramis Law Firm. Nearly 600 helmets were given out this year. It grows each and every year. 1 Presentations Chief Cochran presented Commissioner Perez- Banuet with a plaque for her outstanding recognition to the Lansing Fire Department and the City of Lansing. It is just a small token of our appreciation. Commissioner Perez-Banuet thanked the Chief. She stated that it has been a privilege and an honor and it has been a wonderful three years. I will miss everyone. Thank you so very much. She stated that she received a really nice letter from the Mayor as well. Chief Cochran said thank you for your time and service. Chairperson Keeney said we are going to miss you. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • Chief Cochran said that Jill Rhode, who was the former City Treasurer, for the City has been selected as Commissioner Perez-Banuet replacement • Chief Cochran stated that June 25th at 11:00 a.m. is the Battle of the Badges annual Basketball game at the Westside YMCA. • Chief Cochran stated that the City of Lansing will be hosting an event in Council Chambers in recognition for International Elder Abuse Day. • Chief Cochran said that we are going to be applying for a grant to rebuild or refurbish an EOC building. • Chief Cochran said that in the packet is an SOG for your review and input for the South Washington Office Complex. Maintenance and Alarm has put a lot of work over for the secured/controlled ability for our Evidence Storage Room. • Chief Cochran spoke about the budget. He said that he wanted to applaud the firefighters union specifically President Epling, Vice President Lake, Ellen Vogt who is Secretary/Treasurer and their mediation board for tireless working to look at the possibility of making concessions and reduce the layoffs that we are facing. At this time we are still meeting with the Administration and the City and hoping it is going to be really close to having their informational meetings and hold their vote process. This is worse case scenario. Discussion o 4 Day Shift Demotions, 9 Lt. demoted back to Engineers, 21 Engineers back to firefighter ranks, and the possibility of 32 Firefighters positions being laid off o Close 2 stations Committee Reports None Old Business • None New Business • Chairperson Keeney said that for a reminder for the July meeting, if anyone has a request for a committee to let her know. • Commissioner McConnell stated that at the July meeting a new Chair and Vice Chair will be elected and then the committee's are chosen. 2 General Order: • Commissioner Brown asked the Chief what his thoughts were on morale in the Department? Chief Cochran said that he has been trying to get out to the stations, he doesn't get to as much as he would like to and morale is at an all time low right now and it makes it difficult for people to come into work and do their job and be positive. They are professional at what they do. They don't like the unknown. They want to put this behind them, they want to move forward, they want it to be over with. It's going to be a heck of a hit to the department. Adiournment A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Perez- Banuet to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 6.50 p.m. Minutes Submitted by: on July 13, 2011. Michelle Greko APPROVED July 13th, 2011 3 1 City of Lansing �Tn ,r u: Board of Fire Commissioners r 120 E. Shiawassee Street a Lansing MI 48933 v (517)483-4200 Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING July 131h, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on July 13, 2011 at 815 Marshall St., Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Helen Keeney, Louis Vinson, Jill Rhode, Robert Hudson, Robert Brown Jr., Yvonne Young McConnell, Frank Ferro Commissioners Excused Jody Washington r� Others Presentw Tom Cochran, Fire Chief Patti Starnes, Board Secretary `—i ►f t Station 8Crew— Introductions Introductions took place between the Station Crew and the Commissioners. t� Additions to the Agenda A motion was made by Commissioner Brown and carried with a unanimous vote approve the Agenda as written. Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner McConnell to approve the June minutes with the following changes- Page 3, 1st sentence - change to his thoughts. Communications None 1 Presentations Chief Cochran welcomed Jill Rhode to the Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners. She will be serving in an at-large position for a 4 year term. The Board also welcomed Commissioner Rhode and introduced themselves. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran Admin comments • Budget— • included in packet for the boards perusal: o Staffing --48-38(minimum)- guideline in packet o Rig placement due to closing 5 and 7. May be tweaked and changed. o Response guidelines- one thing with staffing we have been able to accomplish is staffing the rigs with 4 personnel. That is a real positive for us in light of all the changes. NFPA 1710 requires 4 on a rig. And we will meet the standard. • SOG draft— Safety Officer- from 6 BC's to 3 and will staff Safety Officer as daily staffing level allows. 0 11 firefighters were laid off(21 less than we had anticipated) o Chief Cochran met with 9 of the 10 employees affected and offered our support. The union put together a good packet addressing cobra benefits, etc. Increased OT callback list to 5 years (was 3). Chief Cochran offered letters of recommendation and reference assistance to the laid off employees. o This has had a big impact. We have never endured layoffs before. Tough concessions were voted in all as a result of the millage defeat. Discussed millage request being on the November ballot. Helen asked if the millage is passed will the money go to bring the Firefighters back? Chief Cochran does not know. He can not say. He noted we are working on the Safer grant that would provide funding to hire back firefighters for 3 years. It is the Chief's desire to apply for it. But he has not heard yet if we can apply. It a FEMA grant. Louis asked if there were any union issues regarding the positions and seniority. Discussion. Rock asked about LPD comparisons. What were their concessions? Chief said there were some concessions and they had considerable layoffs. LFD made larger concessions. Also LPD has more staff than LFD. Commissioner Rhode asked if we were down 11 or were they unfunded. Chief Cochran explained the ratio of funded/unfunded and retirements. Concessions are effective from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013 contract. o Chief Cochran discussed in detail the LFD concessions with the members. o Closing ceremonies took place at station 5 and 7. It was not politicized and it went well. o Helen commented regarding the absentee vote portion of the millage election. o Overall departmental staff was decreased by 15% 2 Chief Cochran reported that an employee from LPD Dispatch had a fire and Chief Cochran received an email from Officer Traci Ruiz on behalf of the employee thanking LFD crews for their professionalism and saving many personal items. Chief Cochran commented on a BC who has been diagnosed with cancer and an Engineer who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Both are off work at this time. Chief Cochran commented on department morale. The department is going through huge changes. Things are calming down and changes are being implemented. We are getting through it and it has brought the department closer together. We are still looking at tweaking the operations end of the department as needed. Our operation is very fluid as we move through this within our contract making the best of a bad situation. Chief Cochran is working hard with the union on it and is proud of that relationship. Commissioner Keeney discussed ways to let the department know how proud the Board is of them. The Board decided to send a letter to LFD employees. Commission Rhode asked the labor contract was negotiated. Chief Cochran reported that the contract was opened and concessions made. Common Ground — command post is open at station #1 for week long concert. The Commissioners are invited to visit the command post during Common Ground. The first night there were 9 incidents mostly heat and intoxications. So far it has been great event and it is being managed very well. Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business Chairperson asked to move the July 2012 meeting to the week prior to or after Common Ground. The Commissioners agreed to the change. Nominations were opened for Chairperson. Commissioner Ferro moved to nominate Helen Keeney and Commissioner Young McConnell seconded the motion. Commissioner Brown closed the nominations. Vice-Chair Vinson asked for vote. A unanimous vote was taken for Helen Keeney to remain the Chairperson. Nominations were opened for Vice — Chairperson. Commissioner Brown made a motion for Louis Vinson to continue in the Vice-Chair position. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Hudson. Chairperson Keeney asked for a vote. A unanimous vote was taken. Commissioner Vinson continues as Vice Chair. Committee assignment changes — Commissioner Rhode was appointed to the Planning and Finance committee by Chairperson Keeney. 3 General Order: Commissioner Ferro asked to be excused from the August meeting Commissioner Brown asked to be excused from the August meeting Chief Cochran asked the Board to review the SOG in the packet. Adiournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner Vinson. Meeting adjourned at 7,00 pm. Minutes Submitted by: on August 10th, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: August 10th, 2011 4 City of Lansing = Board of Fire Commissioners ° 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 i �r f (517)483-4200 a k6s t�s' FI 1 S, Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansin fire.com Virg Bernero,Mayor Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING Au ust 10th, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on August 10, 2011 at 520 Glendale St., Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Helen Keeney, Louis Vinson, Jill Rhode, Robert Hudson, Yvonne Young McConnell, Frank Ferro, Jody Washington Commissioners Excused Robert Brown Jr. -- Others Present Tom Cochran, Fire Chief r" C ' Michelle Greko, Secretary Station 9 Crew— Introductions Introductions took place between the Station Crew and the Commissioners. P co Additions to the Agenda None Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner McConnell to approve the July minutes with the following changes- Page 1, under addition to the agenda - change to Commissioner Brown. Communications None Presentations None 1 Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran Chief Cochran reported on the 26 Neighborhood Watch parties for National Night Out. A/BC Hecksel did a great job scheduling crews being out and about. He stated that he was able to make 9 of them and had received a lot of positive comments about the crews. It was a great success. Chief Cochran reported on September 11th Ceremony. It is a Sunday, it will commence at 8:45 a.m. A couple will be performing and singing since it is the 10th Anniversary. He stated he has received a lot of requests for LFD to attend other events at the same time. But we are not able to do so because of our own event. Bank of American is doing a fundraiser on September 11th, registration begins at 9:45 a.m. and the event will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Lugnuts Stadium and they are going to have teams and run the same number of steps that were in both of the Twin Towers. I think it is 5000 steps total. The gentleman that contacted me hopes to raise up to $5000 which Bank of America is going to match it 100%. 1 talked to him about donating the funds to the 100 Club. Chief Cochran reported on the Board of Water & Light incident that occurred on July 26th over on Wise Road. It was a rather large Hazmat incident and the Hazmat crews did a fantastic job. Chief Cochran reported on the Flooding incident over on Burchfield Rd off Holmes. He spoke about a letter from a Dimondale resident that was published in the State Journal's Letter to the Editor. Chief stated that he has prepared a response to this and will be sending it out within the next couple of days. Discussion Chief Cochran reported on an incident that we did a mutual aid on over on Grand River in Looking Glass Township area. We sent in the Tech Truck and within a matter of minutes retrieved the 2 gentleman involved and they are doing well. Chief Cochran spoke about the changes to Station 9 with regards to the closure of the 2 stations. He reported on July's stats with the closures compared to June's stats. Discussion took place. Chief Cochran stated that he has received several great comments about the letter that the Board sent to personnel. A number of personnel have asked me to say thank you to you for sending the letter. Lt Epling commented on Eastside meeting about response and handling calls while doing other things. Chief Cochran thanked the Board for attending it. Chief Cochran commented on a BC who has been diagnosed with cancer and an Engineer who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Both are doing well. One is talking about coming back to work within the month. He stated that Michelle is also going to be off from work, she is preparing to have surgery on September 8th to donate a kidney to her cousin. 2 Commissioner McConnell asked how often the run time report is completed. Is it daily, weekly, monthly? Chief Cochran stated that it is not done daily, at least once a week sometimes once a month. Chairperson Keeney asked that those of us that attend the September 11th ceremony to please remember to wear your badges. Commissioner Washington asked when we have a Metro Response do we just do it or do we charge anyone for the service. Chief Cochran explained the cost recovery that we do and who we are able to charge and who we are not able to charge. Discussion Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business None General Order: None Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner McConnell and supported by Commissioner Ferro. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm. Minutes Submitted by: on September 14th, 2011. Michelle Greko APPROVED: September 14th, 2011 3 -'� CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS z ;u Meeting Agenda Wednesday,July 13,2011 at 6:00 pm / - Fire Station 8 815 Marshall St.,Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 22-"Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Jody Washington Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward June Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Welcome Fire Commissioner Jill Rhode Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran — Department Update Frank Ferro . Budget At-Large • Rig Staffing Jill Rhode Committee Reports: At- Large Josephine Washington Old Business: Secretary New Business: Patti Starnes Vote Chair and Vice Chair Fire Chief Committee Assignment Changes Tom Cochran General Order: Adjournment, Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING �•- ��a% BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS 1 Meeting Agenda I z Wednesday,August 10,2011 at 6:00 pm Fire Station 9 520 Glendale, Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2--d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Frank Ferro Robert Brown Vice-Chairperson At- Large Additions to the Agenda: Louis Vinson III First Ward Review/Approval of Minutes: Robert Hudson ,July Third Ward Yvonne Young- Review of Communications: McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran — Department Update Frank Ferro At-Large Committee Reports: Jill Rhode Old Business: At- Large Josephine New Business: Washington Secretary General Order: Patti Starnes Fire Chief Adjournment: Tom Cochran Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING ��N3zNQ BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday,September 141h, 2011 at 6:00 pm R; LFD Maintenance ' g.,3708 Pleasant Grove Rd Lansing MI " ,( frCw PtizZ l l Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Louis Vinson Yvonne Young-McConnell Vice-Chairperson At- Jody Washington Large Louis Vinson III Additions to the Agenda: First Ward Robert Hudson Review/Approval of Minutes: Third Ward August Yvonne Young- McConnell Review of Communications: Thank you for Refugee Development Center Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Thank you from TRIAD At-Large Presentations: Frank Ferro Administrative Comments: At Large Jill Rhode Chief Cochran — Departmentp Update At- Large Committee Reports: Josephine Washington Old Business: Secretary Patti Starnes New Business: Fire Chief General Order: Tom Cochran LFD Open House on Saturday October 8 - from 10am-2pm. Contact Inspector Fockler at 483-6046 to volunteer. Adjournment: Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations,or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday.October 12,2011 at 6:00 pm LFD Training Center 3015 Alpha St„Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"6 Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Additions to the Agenda: Vice-Chairperson At- Millage Discussion added under New Business Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward September Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Administrative Comments: Robert Brown Jr. Chief Cochran — Department Update At-Large Frank Ferro Committee Reports: At-Large Jill Rhode Old Business: At- Large New Business: Josephine Millage Discussion Washington Secretary General Order: Patti Starnes Mobile Food Pantry — Flyer in packet Fire Chief Tom Cochran Adjournment: Please contact Board Secretary, Patti Starnes if you cannot attend the meeting or,need special accommodations 517-483.4564 or email pstarnes cDlansingmi.gov Lansing Fire Department 120 E.Shiawassee, Lansing MI 48911 CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS kl r t kip# Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Please Post NOTICE OF MEETING LOCATION CHANGE The location of the regularly scheduled meeting of the Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners -, scheduled for Wednesday, March 91" ccx at 6:00 pm. at Fire Station has been changed to: � Fire Station #8 located at 815 Marshall St., Lansing, MI 48912 Wednesday, March 9, 2011 6:00 p.m. Please contact Patti Starnes at the Lansing Fire Department at 517-483-4564 if you have any questions. ��l_S'I�,� •�qr sxttrsa CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday,June 8,2011 at 6:00 pm r , l - Fire Station 7 C" 1�� 629 N.Jenison,Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2°d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Additions to the Agenda: Vice-Chairperson At- Large Review/Approval of Minutes: Louis Vinson III May First Ward Robert Hudson Review of Communications: Third Ward Thank You from Lansing Jaycees Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Alicia Perez-Banuet Farewell Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At Large Chief Cochran — Department Update Frank Ferro t At Large Committee Reports: Alicia Perez-Banuet Old Business: At- Large Josephine New Business: Washington SWOC SOG -� Secretary Patti Starnes Reminder for July meeting: Vote: Chair and Vice-Chair and make Fire Chief committee assignment changes Tom Cochran General Order: Assistant Fire Chief Adjournment: Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday,May 11±, 2011 at 6:00 pm Fire Station 6 5135 Pleasant Grove Rd.,Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2^d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Additions to the Agenda: Vice-Chairperson At- Large Review/Approval of Minutes: Louis Vinson III April First Ward Robert Hudson Review of Communications: Third Ward Thank You Card Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Administrative Comments: Robert Brown Jr. Chief Cochran At-Large . Budget Frank Ferro . Patriot Flag Ceremony At-Large • Battle for the Blood Alicia Perez-Banuet • LFD Memorial Service — May 28th at 11:30 a.m. At- Large Josephine Washington Committee Reports: Secretary _ A? Patti Starnes Old Business: Fire Chief �• t_. n Tom Cochran New Business c Assistant Fire Chief General Order: s� Adjournment: cr Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday,April 13th,2011 at 6:00 pm r f Fire Station 5 t-'� 1821 Todd Ave,Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Robert Brown Jr. Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward March Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- Thank You Card McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran Frank Ferro . Budget At-Large • Dept Update Alicia Perez-Banuet At- Large Committee Reports: Josephine Washington Secretary Old Business: ' Patti Starnes New Business: c Fire Chief Tom Cochran General Order: Assistant Fire Chief k Adjournment: c` IJ-q cr7 Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E.SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 City of Lansing V NIQ Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 �"n �. 0 f I Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Virg Bernero,Mayor Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING May 11, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on May 11, 2011 at 5135 Pleasant Grove Rd. Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Robert Brown Jr., Louis Vinson, Helen Keeney, Alicia Perez-Banuet, Frank Ferro, Robert Hudson, Yvonne Young McConnell, Jody Washington Commissioners Excused N/A a Others Present Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Patti Starnes, Station 6 crew Additions to the Agenda none Approval of Minutes r A motion was made by Commissioner Perez-Banuet and supported by Commissioner Brown to approve the April minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Communications • Thank You letter from an occupant at the Maplewood Manor fire on April 7cn Several of residents were very pleased with the property protection. The crews try very hard to salvage items and especially save photos and personal items. Chief Cochran discussed the salvage and overhaul portion of firefighting. Presentations Introductions took place between Captain Hamilton, Station Crew and the Board members. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran 1 Budget • $20 million deficit city wide LFD - 20% reduction 25% staff reductions • Close 2 stations 48-36 minimum staffing decrease Eliminate 3 B.C.'s and will re-implement the Safety officer at a Captain level • Up to 34 FF layoffs • Demotions Will affect department as a whole • 3 Teamster secretary's Admin Assistant staff from 2 to 1 Training staff from 3-2 Prevention staffing from 4-2 • Maintenance staff from 4-2 Emergency Management— most of the positions are grant funded so division will not be affected. 2.5 million deficit Thanks for all who attended and helped with the millage. • Chief Cochran is working with the divisions on the core services of what we can provide. Chief Cochran is concerned about injuries. He has also been working closely with the union. Chief Cochran's message is that we will survive. This is the worst crisis we have had and we will make through. If people call 911 we will respond. We need to look at our core functions and make some changes. The Union may vote on concessions. We may get some revenue sharing from the State. Helen Keeney asked when the affected employees will be of the payroll. Chief Cochran reported that they are 4 paychecks away and they get paid every 2 weeks. Chief Cochran asked the Board members to look at the budget and reply back to him with any thoughts and/or questions. Patriot Flag Ceremony took place last Tuesday May 3rd. It was a great event. The flag was 30x60 and was carried from Wentworth Park to the State Capital. We will be sending thank you letters to those who participated. Hi Ball Crane company flew the flag at the Capital. Many participated including Police, Fire, Glen Erin band and the public. Commissioner Perez Banuet reported that the Accident Fund employees watched from the windows. Battle for the Blood- Red Cross blood drive between Police and Fire. Basketball game will be held in June and is the kickoff to the event. Bike Rodeo - May 21 10am-2 pm Sinas Dramis bike rodeo at station 8 — Sinas Dramis runs the event and gives away bike helmets, bike raffle and other events. Last year of 600 kids participated. Please stop by if you get a chance. Risk Watch safety program at Averill Elementary school involving several agencies. Sinas Dramis law firm donated bike helmets to the students. LFD Memorial Service May 28th at 11:30 a.m. — if you would like to attend please do. 2 Events - Chief Cochran has been involved in many events including the annual Sikh parade, diversity luncheon, neighborhood groups etc. Committee Reports None Old Business • Commissioner McConnell said hats off to chief for the outstanding job he did at the budget hearings. Chief Cochran thanked her for attending and for her support. New Business none General Order: • Commissioner Vinson has flyers for the gateway community services fund raiser. • Chief reported that Yvonne was reaffirmed and Jill Rhode has been appointed to the board. She was a former Budget Director for the City of Lansing. • Commissioner Perez-Banuet reported that June is her last month and she will be bringing pizza to the meeting. • Commissioner Washington asked how much is cut from the budget chief said $5.3 million. • Working on the SAFER grant and the Homeland Security grant • Trying to get the IAFF 421 layoff clause from 3 to 5 years. • Commissioner Young-McConnell asked if we were still looking at regionalization plan. Chief Cochran reported that several regional departments are trying to get a regional study done with a 50 percent match grant. • Commissioner Ferro asked about private ambulance companies. Discussion. Chief Cochran reported that Fire Based EMS is the best way to go. • Commissioner Washington asked about a hydrant on Rockway and Foster. Hydrant destroyed. Adiournment Ferro /Vinson A motion was made by Commissioner and supported by Commissioner to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. pam': 51 Minutes Submitted by: on June 8, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED June 8th, 2011 3 i City of Lansing " Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street t' Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 .k G Fax(517)483-4488 ww�0ansingfire.com Virg Bernero,Mayor Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING April 13, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on April 13, 2011, at 1821 Todd Ave., Lansing MI 48910. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Louis Vinson, Helen Keeney, Alicia Perez-Banuet, Frank Ferro, Jody Washington, Robert Hudson, Yvonne Young McConnell Commissioners Excused Robert Brown Jr. _, Others Present Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Patti Starnes, Station 5 Crew: Additions to the Agenda None ' co Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Young- McConnell to approve the March minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote to approve the March minutes as written. Communications Thank you card from a citizen for the special care the crew gave to her husband. Presentations Station 5 Crew introduced themselves to the Board. Captain Thomas, Engineer Martinez, FF Christiansen, (FF Lenoir & FF Wolfhert out on an EMS call) Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • Budget hearings started last night. Chief Cochran's budget presentation will be tomorrow at Pattengil on Marshall St. @ 6:30 p.m. He does not have any new 1 information at this point. Everyone is aware of the $20 million deficit and the impact it will have on the Lansing Fire Department. Chief Cochran reported that he is very optimistic and hopes that the millage will pass. Chief Cochran has a budget prepared if it does not pass. • Commissioner Young-McConnell asked if the board could see the 2 budgets; millage passing and the non- passing version. Yvonne would like a copy up front for reviewed so that they are prepared when they get to the point of voting on the budget. Chief Cochran will provide the documents. • May 3rd Patriot Flag tour—The 30-feet-by-55.5-feet flag was donated to the World Memorial, an international non-profit dedicated to healing from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The flag will be flown in every state in the country. The event starts at 9 a.m. at Wentworth Park and includes a march to the Capitol where the flag will fly for a period of time along with a ceremony. LFD will be participating. • Chief Cochran has attended several neighborhood organization meetings in the last month. Commissioner Perez-Banuet asked how the meetings went. Chief Cochran thought they went well and he answered a lot of questions about the budget and the fire department. Commissioner Washington reported that Chief Cochran did a great job speaking and answering questions at the Eastside Neighborhood organization was very grateful for his attendance. • Mobile Food Pantry at Cristo Rey on Saturday at 9 a.m. • Last week Chief Cochran and his son Dominic participated along with Dr. Joan Johnson Jackson at the Feed the Kids program for our local students on spring break. They delivered lunches to several organizations. • Commissioner Hudson informed Chief Cochran that the Touch a Truck is coming up in May. • Upcoming Events: o Ingham Regional Medical Center has invited LFD to participate in their Hero gala at the Lansing Country Club. o LFD Softball tournament at Cottonwood Campground is coming up. o Battle for Blood is coming up for the Red Cross. Chief Cochran and Chief Szymanski will be holding a press conference soon. It also involves a basketball game at the Westside YMCA between Police and Fire. Last year we met our goal of close too 800 units of blood. • A new kitchen has been installed at station 5. The station received new counters and cupboards. 2 Saturday Fire Ops at the Training Tower may be canceled due to low participation. Only 3 people signed up. Chris Lake will let everyone know tomorrow. • Commissioner Alicia Perez-Banuet's term is up the end of June and she will not be seeking another term. She has appreciated the opportunity to serve. Chief Cochran thanked her for her service to the Lansing Fire Department and the citizens of Lansing. Yvonne Young McConnell's term is up in June and she has sent her letter in for reinstatement. • Fire at 2509 Maplewood — received a still alarm, which is an engine company and truck company....prior to arrival crews called for a full alarm. Crews arrived within 4 minutes of the call and fire was extinguished 8 minutes after that. The crews did a great job of cutting vents in the roof...there was a lot of fire. A 58 yr old male perished in the fire. The crews located him and transported him to Sparrow. Fire has been ruled accidental. The Chiefs point is that you can do everything right and still have a bad outcome. The neighbors were very thankful that there was minimal damage to the remaining apartments and many personal items were recovered. FIRE calls - There has been an increase in fires lately. • EMS calls— had a number of CPR's lately and several saves. 100 Club organization life saving award ceremony will be held on April 26t" at 5:30 p.m. at the Golden Rose on Okemos Rd. The organization assists with scholarships for children of Firefighters and Police Officers who are killed in the line of duty. They are a very active group. LFD has received 2 nominations; 1 for a life saving award and 1 for an excellence award. If anyone is interested in attending let Chief Cochran know. • Commissioner Vinson inquired about the Frandor fire. Chief Cochran said it was in Lansing Twp. LFD responded for mutual aid with 2 engines and 1 truck. The store was totaled and it is under investigation and suspicious. The crews along with Lansing Twp and East Lansing did a great job with minimal damage to the surrounding businesses. The surrounding businesses did have smoke and water damage. Chief Cochran explained how quickly fires progress and move through buildings. • Susan G. Komen race is this weekend. Chief Cochran has directed staff to wear their pink shirts this week. • 1 st annual Capital Area Film Festival runs this weekend Thursday thru Sunday and his son Dominic is co-founder and co-chair. Info is in the City Pulse and the Lansing State Journal. Committee Reports 3 • Chairperson Keeney reported that the 2010 Fire Commissioner Year End report was submitted to the Mayor and City Council. A copy was included in the April packet. Old Business • None New Business • Millage - Chief reported that the Keeping Lansing Safe Committee has formed in favor of the millage. They will be doing a phone bank, door to door and yard signs. Discussion followed. • Commissioner Washington commented on the stark difference between LFD and the private companies on patient care and response time. LFD crews are professional and quick. She works in a local nursing home and has witnessed the difference first hand. • The medic crew introduced themselves. FF Eric Wohlfert and FF Brian Lenoir. FF Lenoir spoke to the Board about his experience as a firefighter. Chief commented that Brian was a former Muskegon FF who was laid off. FF Lenoir commented that he was laid off after 4 years. He found out LFD was hiring and applied, went through the process and interviewed with Chief Cochran and has been with LFD for 4.5 years. He definitely saw the difference from LFD and other departments the he worked in such as townships in that LFD response time is so much faster. Homes are usually saved with minimal damage. General Order: • Commissioner Vinson is working on a fundraiser for Gateway Community Services on June 9th and will send out the info. • National Tele-Communicator's Week is this week. Chief Cochran sent a letter to Dispatch thanking them for their work. He will also be taking them pizzas on Friday. They are truly the unsung heroes working behind the scene. • Commissioner Washington asked about her new fire commissioner orientation. She would like to be included in the orientation when the new person comes in. Chief Cochran reported that he will certainly include her in the orientation. Robert Hudson is also interested in the orientation. Commissioners can also do a ride- along as well. Chairperson Keeney commented on how interesting and informative the ride-along is. • Alicia Perez-Banuet noted corrections in the March minutes on page 2 - New Business — paragraph 3 should read: Commissioner Ferro stated that there are a couple of the Neighborhood Associations that are not on the Neighborhood Association list. Commissioner Washington stated that she will have that list fixed tomorrow at the meeting. Adjournment 4 A motion was made by Commissioner Vinson and supported by Commissioner Washington to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 6:51 p.m. Minutes Submitted by: on May 11, 2011. Patti Starnes May 11th, 2011 APPROVED 5 S City of Lansing ' Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 k `` Fax(517)483-4488 1riww.lansingfire.com Virg Bernero,Mayor Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING February 9, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on February 9th, 2011, at 120 East Shiawassee, Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present Robert Brown Jr., Louis Vinson Yvonne Young McConnell, Helen Keeney, Alicia Perez- Banuet Commissioners Excused Frank Ferro, Jody Washington, Robert Hudson, '— c c) - — Others Present Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Michelle Greko, Dave Keeney Additions to the Agenda None Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner Vinson with Commissioner Perez-Banuet abstaining. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Communications • Chief Cochran presented information regarding the Firefighter Assistance Grant that the Department has received and the matching funds. He stated that it will be used to purchase a compressor for the Scott Air bottles, wet/dry suits for Ice Rescue, electric Positive Pressure Ventilation Fans, Descenders for rope rescue. • Chairperson Keeney asked if we had the matching funds for this grant. • Chief Cochran stated that it is a Capital Improvement Project and that he had been assured that the funds were there and available. • Chief Cochran handed out the 2010 Annual Report. 1 Presentations • Chief Cochran gave an updated in depth presentation on the budget and what the Fire Department will be proposing. He stated that this has been a process and we are still not there yet. • Chief Cochran discussed areas to raise revenue as part of the budget. • Chief Cochran discussed a Safer grant that we will be applying for in August or September and it will allow us to fill firefighter positions that we won't be filling and the grant will pay their wages for 3 years. • Chief Cochran spoke about getting an inflatable safety house to use for various events. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • Chief Cochran spoke about the USAR truck. He said that it is at Station 8 on Marshall Street and the board is welcome to go over there anytime and look at it. Chief Cochran gave a brief description of what the truck's purpose is. • Chairperson Keeney stated that she saw it driving down the road and it is huge. • Chief Cochran stated that he would have March's meeting moved to Station 8 so that everyone can get a view and tour of the truck. Committee Reports • Finance — Commissioner Vinson and Commissioner Ferro met with the Chief and discussed budget issues. Old Business Commissioner Perez-Banuet spoke about meeting with the neighborhood associations and it looks like it is going to be important with the budget and things. Chief Cochran said that he thought that would be very important to do because of the proposed millage increase. New Business None General Order: None Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Vinson and supported by Commissioner Perez- Banuet to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. r Minutes Submitted by: on March 9, 2011. March 9th, 2011 APPROVED 2 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 f 1 (517)483-4200 tf C` Fax(517)483-4488 v Virg Bernero,Mayor mm.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING March 9, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on March 9th, 2011, at 815 Marshall, Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. Commissioners Present Robert Brown Jr., Louis Vinson, Helen Keeney, Alicia Perez-Banuet, Frank Ferro, Jody Washington, Robert Hudson Commissioners Excused Yvonne Young McConnell, Others Present Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Michelle Greko, BC Miller, Captain Kriegbaum, Engineer Connie Summers, Engineer Carl Pawluk, Engineer Chris Wheeler, Firefighter Adam Ruff, Lt Wade Elton Additions to the Agenda • Commissioner Hudson discussed that a group of people are going around with petition's to bring a casino to downtown Lansing. Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Vinson and supported by Commissioner Brown. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Communications None Presentations • Captain Kriegbaum and Engineer Summers gave a tour of the USAR Truck beginning at 6:00 p.m. and concluded at 6:40 p.m. • Chief Cochran stated that at the back of the board packet there is a list of facts that Captain Kriegbaum put together with regards to the USAR truck. 1 • Commissioner Washington asked if this information was allowed to be shared. Chief Cochran responded yes. • Chairperson Keeney stated that it is important for this vehicle to be shown and said that the City did not buy it. Chief Cochran said that if he could take the vehicle out and give the Governor a ride he would, but I do not have the authority to do so. • Lt. Elton discussed a pancake breakfast to raise funds to go to Honor Guard School. It is tentatively set for April 16 here at Station 8. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • Chief Cochran thanked Captain Kriegbaum and Engineer Summers for the tour of the USAR truck. • Chief Cochran stated that City Hall on the Road is starting back up. The first one will be March 22 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the former South Precinct at the corner of Holmes and Cedar St. • Chief Cochran discussed the kick off of a program that Fire Marshal Sabon started this week at Averill School. It is called the Risk Watch Program. It is designed for 2"d grade kids and to help them learn about safety in all areas, i.e Bus Safety, Fire and Water Safety, Gun Safety and Health Safety. It is a pilot program. • Chief Cochran discussed grant funding for equipment the crews will use for safety purposes while on a highway rescue. • Chief Cochran discussed the upcoming Bike Rodeo that is coming up in May at Station 8 sponsored by Sinas and Dramis Law Firm. • Chief Cochran discussed information regarding the up coming millage proposal and the budget. Committee Reports • None Old Business • None New Business • Commissioner Hudson discussed a coalition group called Lansing Jobs Coalition and they are trying to get placed on the ballot for a casino in Downtown Lansing. Stated it would create 1500 post construction full-time jobs and looking at contracting with the City Police and Fire, which could mean more jobs and revenue for the City. He is in support of this as is his neighborhood. • Commissioner Washington discussed a concern that she had about comments that have been made about the Fire Department by some very influential people in the City. • Commissioner Ferro stated that there are a couple of the Neighborhood Associations that are not on the list. Commissioner Washington stated she will have that fixed tomorrow at the meeting. General Order: • None 2 Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Vinson and supported by Commissioner Washington to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Minutes Submitted by: on April 13, 2011. Michelle Greko APPROVED 3 ' G City of Lansing " Board of Fire Commissioners ,. 120 E. Shiawassee Street f Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-42001 �� . Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Virg Bernero,Mayor Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING January 19, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on January 19th, 2011, at 120 East Shiawassee, Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Vice-Chairperson Louis Vinson called the meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. Commissioners Present Robert Brown Jr., Frank Ferro, Robert Hudson, Jody Washington, Louis Vinson Commissioners Excused Yvonne Young McConnell, Helen Keeney Others Present Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Michelle Greko, Eric Weber, Jerry Ambrose Additions to the Agenda S None Approval of Minutes ( , A motion was made by Commissioner Hudson and supported by Commissioner Brown, to accept the December minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Communications None Presentations Chief Cochran stated that he e-mailed everyone the information that Jerry Ambrose, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, has submitted to the City Council and this presentation will be based on that. Jerry Ambrose stated that he just wanted to stop by and inform everyone of where we are with the budget. He said that the next several months are going to be contentious because of the circumstances of where we are at. The big picture is that the economy and how it affects the City's revenue has not improved the way we thought it would or 1 as quickly as we thought it would. We continue to see short falls in our revenues. Our fiscal year budget for 2009 which began July 1 was a $117 million dollar budget for the general fund and of that the Fire Department's portion was around $30 million. When we closed the books for the end of that year we didn't take in $117 million we took in $108 million and that was because our income tax revenues were down because we continued to have fewer and fewer people working. Property tax revenue was down because the state, after we had our budget in place, made some administrative changes to the personal property tax multiplier, cost the City nearly $1.5 million. The State, through an Executive Order, reduced the revenue sharing by $2 million. There were some other things to, but by large we had some things happen revenue wise that affected us badly. We knew some of that early in the year we went through what steps we could to reduce our cost during that year. At the end of the year we didn't spend $117 million which was good, but we did spend about $112 million. So we spent about $4.5 million more than we took in last year, which we were not at all pleased with. Luckily we had the reserves and that is why we don't spend every penny that we have and try to keep a little in the check book. But we spent about half of the reserves, so that is of concern to us. Now we saw all that coming at the time we adopted this year's budget. This year's budget that we are living in now is $109 million and we made a lot of changes. Half our work force is working 36 hr weeks. We've got changes in our labor contracts with Fire and Police and other things to reduce costs. We are all familiar with cut backs to the budget, what can we do with less than we get. Our budget this year is $109 million and as best as we can tell we are on track with our spending over all. Our revenues are about what we expected having said that we have the State of the State address that will be taking place in a few minutes and we are not sure what the State will do in this fiscal year. We do know that we have a lot of property tax appeals under way right now. There are a lot of people not making any money. Businesses are being advised to appeal their assessments and a lot of property owners are appealing their assessments. The decision will come from the Michigan Tax Tribunal and we are at risk of having to pay back taxes to property owners. So we are dealing with a $109 million budget right now. We look forward to next year, the fiscal year begins on July 1 and the Mayor has to present a balanced budget to City Council by March 28. We are spending a lot of time right now trying to figure out what budget the Mayor is going to purpose at the end of March and look forward to what the Council will end up adopting sometime in May. As we look at what our revenues will be for next year we have to consider that property values are going to continue to drop. Our Assessor tells us that over all the property value is down by 8 percent. So that is about $3 million less in revenue that we will get from property tax. Income Tax, good news there, as reported by the State there are more people working today than there was a few months ago. We see that we are collecting income taxes at a better rate than we did last year, but we are nowhere close to what income tax revenue was in 2008. So there is improvement there but not much. We have already heard that the new Governor will not be raising taxes and the word revenue sharing has come up several times and for us that is a significant threat. We get about $14 million in revenue sharing; $ 7 million can not be touched by the legislator without constitutional amendment. That is good news but the bad news is the other $7 million can be touched. As we know from passed experience they didn't feel bad about taking away $2 million, so we need to decide what we think the State is going to do in terms of revenue sharing. So we assume we are going to lose a little bit, we actually 2 think we will be losing a couple of million, but we also know we could lose as much as $7 million. So if you look at property tax revenue, income tax revenue and revenue sharing those are our big 3 revenue sources they also account for about 80 percent of all of the revenue that we get. We are projecting about $103 million to build our budget on next year. So that's a challenge and that would be more workable if it weren't for knowing that our costs are going to go up just to meet the obligations that we need to meet. Half of our work force is working 36 hours a week and we designed that as a temporary measure not a permanent one. So if we look at everything we are doing today and said what is it going to cost us next year to do everything that we are not doing but to work people at 40 hours and not at 36, we came up with a figure of$118 million. So just to do what we are not doing today and to move people back to 40 hour a week, we need $118 million and we have a $103 million in revenue. That is the $15 million that we have talked about. So that is the challenge that we have. As I have said we have been doing this exercise for 4 years going on the 5th year and where the City's work force for employees was over 1300 in 2005 it is now less than 1000. Now we have to find $15 million and reduce expenses to meet the revenues that we expect to come in. So that is the challenge that we are facing and we are well into that process of thinking it through. Every department including the Fire Department has been asked to tell us what they can do with a budget target that is 85 percent what otherwise it would be. Now that is $25 million for a budget roughly for the Fire Department. Now for all the conversations that you may hear about, nothing has been decided and will not be until the Mayor has submitted his budget to the City Council in March. We will probably have budget decisions in our head by the first week in March. But right now we are going to be talking about a lot of things. I know the Chief has been talking with his staff about a lot of different things. We should not confuse those things with decisions that haven't been made. Chief Cochran has been told to tell us what he can do with a $25 million budget as opposed to $30 million. Now we have to see what a Fire budget looks like at $25 million and a Police budget at $30 or$32 million. We have to see what other budgets look like with 15 percent taken out. A lot of departments have already seen significant changes and we are going to look at that and the Mayor is going to look at that and he is going to do what he needs to do to present a budget that he is comfortable with. He has been pretty stead fast from day 1 that public safety is his number 1 priority. He is not going to recommend a budget that is going to compromise public safety being Police or Fire. But that doesn't mean whatever the Police Department and Fire Department wants is going to be what they get. They are going to have to look at some choices. We are going to work with our employees to address some cost saving measures. Over the last 3 to 4 years we have had great success with our employees on coming up with ideas. Our cabinet has been great on coming up with alternatives that we can live with. I think for the most part if you ask someone out in the city if they have seen their services seriously degraded from the City over the last 4 or 5 years, I don't think that they would say that they have. Most people will say oh yeah I didn't know that. They care about if they call 911 they had better get a response and it had better be quick if their house is on fire or if there is someone in their house. They would like their streets occasionally plowed. They want to know if they have concerns with something in their neighborhoods that someone is going to address that. There are a number of things 3 that they expect to get and they have been getting. They expect to have a decent parks system; they just renewed the Parks Mileage. So they value those. So we have done a good job over the last few years, as have many cities. Commissioner Ferro asked if that $15 million cut includes $2 million in revenue sharing. Jerry said yes it is. We have a risk that the Governor will purpose to eliminate all statutory revenue sharing and that would be another 5 so it would be $20 million instead of$15 million. Commissioner Ferro asked if all of the property tax appeals were approved how much of a loss would that be? Jerry responded that it would be $3 million and that would be worse case. We can't control the time frame on it either. Commissioner Brown asked what has been the real affect of the 36 hour weeks. Jerry stated that people have noticed that because it is sometimes a little harder to get a hold of a department. Some offices are closed on Friday's. Planning and Neighborhood Development works four 9 hour days and are closed on Fridays and people had to adjust to that. Treasurer's office is closed every other Friday. Early on we had people coming in and knocking on the door. Interdepartmentally it is probably more complicated. We tried to be flexible with the employees and when you call to talk to someone you find out that they are not there that day. Beyond that we made sure people had the ability to pay their taxes. We had builders that weren't to happy that needed permits only to come down and find out that the office was closed on Friday. We tried to work with that by saying that if you call us in advance we will make the adjustments. It's been ok. But it has been tough internally to schedule more than anything. There have been times that we have had to work people more than 36 hours and then the question comes up who gets to do that? Commissioner Washington asked when is that set to end. Jerry stated that the agreement with the labor contracts was until the end of this fiscal year. We will be talking with our Unions. Commissioner Hudson asked if stepping up our enforcement of collections give you a bigger increase in revenue. Jerry stated that it would some but not a lot. I think you have to look at our population. We have a high number of folks who just can't afford it. We could harass them more but what little we would get would not be worth the harassment. We had this conversation with District Court, District Court creates enough revenue to take care of them selves and that is not the case here. We will be looking at all the fees and charges to see if they are enough and we will be looking at the way we do things as we have always done. I wish there was a silver bullet somewhere but there is not. People have asked about raising taxes and yes it can be done by Council, but if they raise it 4 mil it is only going to give $8 million not $15. The Mayor has been pretty stead fast on living within our means. 4 Commissioner Hudson asked if they have gone back and looked at possible savings that did not get passed and reviewed those again? Jerry said that they have looked at everything a second time. Commissioner Hudson asked about like another incentive for retiring? Jerry stated that they have offered 2 years in a row a retirement incentive. He said we have worked hard not to lay anyone off and have been successful so far. I am not sure the answer is offering another retirement incentive right now. Commissioner Washington asked if there was any consideration to selling assets. Jerry stated that we are going down an entire list of things. Some things will not happen that quickly. Long term we could look at selling City Hall. We are looking at our entire inventory of Parks. We have 104 Parks in the City about half of them are really considered by the Parks Department as program Parks. Commissioner Vinson stated that the City has a lot of rental property has it been considered to raise the fee for rentals? Jerry said that it is one of the items on the list to look at. Firefighter Weber asked if there was an option to sell the Golf Courses. Jerry said that we only have 1 golf course left open. The rest of them are vacant and they are on the list to look at selling. But some of these things do require the vote of the people to sell them. We have tried to minimize our cost to maintain them only to get weed ordinance violations from the Townships. Commissioner Brown asked if the City Council was being fairly corporative with the Mayor of the budget issues. Jerry stated that they do no know yet. He said you are one of the first groups that we have meet with. At this point we have talked with them but they don't know what we have proposed to Fire and Police. They are concerned; their question is how are you going to do this? Commissioner Ferro asked about regionalization. He asked if that has been looked at as a possibility and what kind of cost savings is there? Jerry stated that it has been talked about and talked about a lot. I think there is not enough pain yet and not enough incentive yet. He stated that in his opinion only that if the State was to say you want revenue sharing than you need to do something specific on regionalism, if that were to happen I think you would see a lot of people jumping. That is a multi million dollar incentive. Then people would begin to pay attention. There are more corporations going on than one sees. The 911 Center for example is regional. They will be moving out to their new location on Jolly Road and Cedar Street by spring 2012 and then we won't be supporting them once that happens. There has been talk and meetings about the Fire Departments. 5 Chief Cochran said that there is a meeting on Friday regarding that. Jerry said it best that there is this perception out there that it is Lansing's problem and Lansing is the one that is hurting and we are not going to come in and solve Lansing's problems. In all fairness there is a lot that we have done, a lot of positive things and I have discussed those with you. Commissioner Hudson asked if there is a priority list of all departments that are funded? As a homeowner I feel Fire and Police are very important and I am all in favor of supporting neighborhoods. If I had to choose between having a community center painted or something for the kids to do during the summer and having patrols on the streets or in the stations I would choose safety. Do you have a list of where the money is going? Jerry stated that all of them are important. The budget that will be presented will reflect the Mayors priorities. Part of what we need to do as a city is grow. We have to have people who want to live here; we need to have businesses that want to locate here. We can't do it if there are holes in the streets and if you wonder if Police and Fire are going to respond. It's not that simple, you can't just go down the list, and we want to do it all. The one thing we do know is that everything we do benefits some people. All you have to do is say that you are taking something away and all of a sudden you have this group of people coming up with reasons not to. This budget will be a getting back to basic budget. For example, to provide basic Fire services, do we need to do everything that we are currently doing, do we need to have all the personnel that we are using? Commissioner Vinson asked when looking at the budget, do you look at it on a 1 year status or a 2 year status? Jerry said that he was glad that this question was asked. He said we like to look at it by multi year. Last year at this time we said it's not only going to be tough this year but over the next 4 years it will be tuff. We predicted that it would be 2015 before we saw growth and revenues would resume before we would see a difference and we have now revised it to be 2016. We are looking financially ahead and there are things that we have got to begin to do now if we are going to try and impact the City finances in the next 2 years. We have to look ahead and know where we are going. So having said this and with all the gloom and doom we are going to continue to invest in the City. We have got to continue to make this City attractive, we have got to aggressively pursue businesses to come here. We will get through it. Chief Cochran stated that we have got to look at the positives, looking right across the street we have the world headquarters for the Accident Fund and bringing jobs to the downtown area. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • Introduced Michelle Greko. She is a newest staff member here at the office. She is filling in for Patti who is off on leave. • Mike Lewis had back surgery and is doing well. • We have had some very productive meetings and have some great ideas on building a budget on $25 million. I have brought in my division heads and some administrative assistants and we have been very productive. I am 6 communicating with the unions. The unions are meeting with their boards and are having some very serious discussions. We are about ready to submit our first round of proposals. • We have taken delivery of our new Tech Rescue Vehicle. It is at Station 8. That was purchased through grant funds. It is a beautiful rig and there is a lot involved with that like transferring all the equipment. Training is required to operate this vehicle. Would like to see about changing the location of February's meeting to Station 8 so you can see the new vehicle. • End of year report is being worked on and needs to be completed. • Tri-ad, No Senior with out Christmas. We held the event on December 15 and it was very successful. 270 Christmas baskets were delivered. They were very grateful for the hard work of the Firefighters at the station. It was really great to see the parade of Police and Fire vehicles going through the station picking up baskets and going and delivering them to the seniors. That was a huge positive event. Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business None General Order: Commissioner Washington requested to be excused from February's Meeting for she will be in Cancun for 2 weeks. Adiournment A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. "CAA Minutes Submitted C0-TiZa-At(I on February 9, 2011. Michelle Greko APPROVED: February 9, 2011 7 \ 5 X�f;i ,yg,�8k2y4� CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda , Wednesday, March 9,2011 at 6:00 pm t . Fire Station 8 815 Marshall St.,Lansing,MI 48912 Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward February Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Tech Rescue Rig Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Larp,e Chief Cochran — Department Update Frank Ferro At-Large Committee Reports: Alicia Perez-Banuet Old Business: At- Large Josephine Washington i New Business: Secretary Patti Starnes General Order: Fire Chief Adjournment: -_.t - Tom Cochran Assistant Fire Chief tom_,,, in r) Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING ` BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda ' ' Wednesday, February,9,2011 at 6:00 pm } 2114 N.Grand River,Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 22-'Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward January Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Update on Budget Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At Lar e Chief Cochran Frank Ferro At-Large Committee Reports: N Alicia Perez-Banuet `= Old Business: At- Large 1 1 Josephine Washington New Business: t=' -- r Secretary �1 Patti Starnes General Order: _ Fire Chief Tom Cochran Adjournment: Assistant Fire Chief Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E.SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda / Wednesday, February,9,2011 at 6:00 pm � l 2114 N.Grand River,Lansing MI # Y ' Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2nd Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward January Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Update on Budget Fourth Ward Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran Frank Ferro == Committee Reports: uo .-> At-Large Alicia Perez-Banuet Old Business: gin, t At- Large _! Josephine Washington -Cs New Business: Secretary Patti Starnes General Order: t- Fire Chief Adjournment: Tom Cochran Assistant Fire Chief Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E.SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 n �* a Al CITY OF LANSING r ` BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS ' Meeting Agenda r Wednesday, January 19 2011 a16:00 pm ✓ rnc,a `� ,' �t71120 E.Shiawassee.,Lansing MI Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward December Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Jerry Ambrose, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran Frank Ferro At-Large Committee Reports: Alicia Perez-Banuet Old Business: At- Large Josephine Washington New Business: Secretary ? Patti Starnes General Order: C7 v Fire Chief =: Adjournment: 4—+ Tom Cochran co Assistant Fire Chief ti0 Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E. SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 CITY OF LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS Meeting Agenda Wednesday, January 19,2011 at 6:00 pm I 120 E.Shiawassee.,Lansing MI C'� i Chi Mayor Virg Bernero Fire Chief Tom Cochran Call to Order - Roll Call Chairperson, 2"d Ward Request for Commissioners to be excused: Helen Keeney Vice-Chairperson At- Additions to the Agenda: Large Louis Vinson III Review/Approval of Minutes: First Ward December Robert Hudson Third Ward Review of Communications: Yvonne Young- McConnell Presentations: Fourth Ward Jerry Ambrose, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Robert Brown Jr. Administrative Comments: At-Large Chief Cochran Frank Ferro = -- At-Large Committee Reports: Alicia Perez-Banuet Old Business: At- Josephine Washington New Business: Secretary Patti Starnes General Order: cp Fire Chief Adjournment: Tom Cochran Assistant Fire Chief Please contact Patti Starnes at 483-4564 if you need special accommodations, or you can not attend the meeting. LANSING FIRE DEPARTMENT, 120 E.SHIAWASSEE ST., LANSING MI 48933 PHONE 517-483-4200 s , ,�'G City of Lansing ' Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran,Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING January 19, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on January 19th, 2011, at 120 East Shiawassee, Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Vice-Chairperson Louis Vinson called the meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. Commissioners Present Robert Brown Jr., Frank Ferro, Robert Hudson, Jody Washington, Louis Vinson _ N Commissioners Excused Yvonne Young McConnell, Helen Keeney ? Others Present _ �o Fire Chief Tom Cochran, Michelle Greko, Eric Weber, Jerry Ambrose Additions to the Agenda = �-' None Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Hudson and supported by Commissioner Brown to accept the December minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Communications None Presentations Chief Cochran stated that he e-mailed everyone the information that Jerry Ambrose, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, has submitted to the City Council and this presentation will be based on that. Jerry Ambrose stated that he just wanted to stop by and inform everyone of where we are with the budget. He said that the next several months are going to be contentious because of the circumstances of where we are at. The big picture is that the economy and how it affects the City's revenue has not improved the way we thought it would or 1 as quickly as we thought it would. We continue to see short falls in our revenues. Our fiscal year budget for 2009 which began July 1 was a $117 million dollar budget for the general fund and of that the Fire Department's portion was around $30 million. When we closed the books for the end of that year we didn't take in $117 million we took in $108 million and that was because our income tax revenues were down because we continued to have fewer and fewer people working. Property tax revenue was down because the state, after we had our budget in place, made some administrative changes to the personal property tax multiplier, cost the City nearly $1.5 million. The State, through an Executive Order, reduced the revenue sharing by $2 million. There were some other things to, but by large we had some things happen revenue wise that affected us badly. We knew some of that early in the year we went through what steps we could to reduce our cost during that year. At the end of the year we didn't spend $117 million which was good, but we did spend about $112 million. So we spent about $4.5 million more than we took in last year, which we were not at all pleased with. Luckily we had the reserves and that is why we don't spend every penny that we have and try to keep a little in the check book. But we spent about half of the reserves, so that is of concern to us. Now we saw all that coming at the time we adopted this year's budget. This year's budget that we are living in now is $109 million and we made a lot of changes. Half our work force is working 36 hr weeks. We've got changes in our labor contracts with Fire and Police and other things to reduce costs. We are all familiar with cut backs to the budget, what can we do with less than we get. Our budget this year is $109 million and as best as we can tell we are on track with our spending over all. Our revenues are about what we expected having said that we have the State of the State address that will be taking place in a few minutes and we are not sure what the State will do in this fiscal year. We do know that we have a lot of property tax appeals under way right now. There are a lot of people not making any money. Businesses are being advised to appeal their assessments and a lot of property owners are appealing their assessments. The decision will come from the Michigan Tax Tribunal and we are at risk of having to pay back taxes to property owners. So we are dealing with a $109 million budget right now. We look forward to next year, the fiscal year begins on July 1 and the Mayor has to present a balanced budget to City Council by March 28. We are spending a lot of time right now trying to figure out what budget the Mayor is going to purpose at the end of March and look forward to what the Council will end up adopting sometime in May. As we look at what our revenues will be for next year we have to consider that property values are going to continue to drop. Our Assessor tells us that over all the property value is down by 8 percent. So that is about $3 million less in revenue that we will get from property tax. Income Tax, good news there, as reported by the State there are more people working today than there was a few months ago. We see that we are collecting income taxes at a better rate than we did last year, but we are nowhere close to what income tax revenue was in 2008. So there is improvement there but not much. We have already heard that the new Governor will not be raising taxes and the word revenue sharing has come up several times and for us that is a significant threat. We get about $14 million in revenue sharing; $ 7 million can not be touched by the legislator without constitutional amendment. That is good news but the bad news is the other $7 million can be touched. As we know from passed experience they didn't feel bad about taking away $2 million, so we need to decide what we think the State is going to do in terms of revenue sharing. So we assume we are going to lose a little bit, we actually 2 think we will be losing a couple of million, but we also know we could lose as much as $7 million. So if you look at property tax revenue, income tax revenue and revenue sharing those are our big 3 revenue sources they also account for about 80 percent of all of the revenue that we get. We are projecting about $103 million to build our budget on next year. So that's a challenge and that would be more workable if it weren't for knowing that our costs are going to go up just to meet the obligations that we need to meet. Half of our work force is working 36 hours a week and we designed that as a temporary measure not a permanent one. So if we look at everything we are doing today and said what is it going to cost us next year to do everything that we are not doing but to work people at 40 hours and not at 36, we came up with a figure of$118 million. So just to do what we are not doing today and to move people back to 40 hour a week, we need $118 million and we have a $103 million in revenue. That is the $15 million that we have talked about. So that is the challenge that we have. As I have said we have been doing this exercise for 4 years going on the 5th year and where the City's work force for employees was over 1300 in 2005 it is now less than 1000. Now we have to find $15 million and reduce expenses to meet the revenues that we expect to come in. So that is the challenge that we are facing and we are well into that process of thinking it through. Every department including the Fire Department has been asked to tell us what they can do with a budget target that is 85 percent what otherwise it would be. Now that is $25 million for a budget roughly for the Fire Department. Now for all the conversations that you may hear about, nothing has been decided and will not be until the Mayor has submitted his budget to the City Council in March. We will probably have budget decisions in our head by the first week in March. But right now we are going to be talking about a lot of things. I know the Chief has been talking with his staff about a lot of different things. We should not confuse those things with decisions that haven't been made. Chief Cochran has been told to tell us what he can do with a $25 million budget as opposed to $30 million. Now we have to see what a Fire budget looks like at $25 million and a Police budget at $30 or $32 million. We have to see what other budgets look like with 15 percent taken out. A lot of departments have already seen significant changes and we are going to look at that and the Mayor is going to look at that and he is going to do what he needs to do to present a budget that he is comfortable with. He has been pretty stead fast from day 1 that public safety is his number 1 priority. He is not going to recommend a budget that is going to compromise public safety being Police or Fire. But that doesn't mean whatever the Police Department and Fire Department wants is going to be what they get. They are going to have to look at some choices. We are going to work with our employees to address some cost saving measures. Over the last 3 to 4 years we have had great success with our employees on coming up with ideas. Our cabinet has been great on coming up with alternatives that we can live with. I think for the most part if you ask someone out in the city if they have seen their services seriously degraded from the City over the last 4 or 5 years, I don't think that they would say that they have. Most people will say oh yeah I didn't know that. They care about if they call 911 they had better get a response and it had better be quick if their house is on fire or if there is someone in their house. They would like their streets occasionally plowed. They want to know if they have concerns with something in their neighborhoods that someone is going to address that. There are a number of things 3 that they expect to get and they have been getting. They expect to have a decent parks system; they just renewed the Parks Mileage. So they value those. So we have done a good job over the last few years, as have many cities. Commissioner Ferro asked if that $15 million cut includes $2 million in revenue sharing. Jerry said yes it is. We have a risk that the Governor will purpose to eliminate all statutory revenue sharing and that would be another 5 so it would be $20 million instead of $15 million. Commissioner Ferro asked if all of the property tax appeals were approved how much of a loss would that be? Jerry responded that it would be $3 million and that would be worse case. We can't control the time frame on it either. Commissioner Brown asked what has been the real affect of the 36 hour weeks. Jerry stated that people have noticed that because it is sometimes a little harder to get a hold of a department. Some offices are closed on Friday's. Planning and Neighborhood Development works four 9 hour days and are closed on Fridays and people had to adjust to that. Treasurer's office is closed every other Friday. Early on we had people coming in and knocking on the door. Interdepartmentally it is probably more complicated. We tried to be flexible with the employees and when you call to talk to someone you find out that they are not there that day. Beyond that we made sure people had the ability to pay their taxes. We had builders that weren't to happy that needed permits only to come down and find out that the office was closed on Friday. We tried to work with that by saying that if you call us in advance we will make the adjustments. It's been ok. But it has been tough internally to schedule more than anything. There have been times that we have had to work people more than 36 hours and then the question comes up who gets to do that? Commissioner Washington asked when is that set to end. Jerry stated that the agreement with the labor contracts was until the end of this fiscal year. We will be talking with our Unions. Commissioner Hudson asked if stepping up our enforcement of collections give you a bigger increase in revenue. Jerry stated that it would some but not a lot. I think you have to look at our population. We have a high number of folks who just can't afford it. We could harass them more but what little we would get would not be worth the harassment. We had this conversation with District Court, District Court creates enough revenue to take care of them selves and that is not the case here. We will be looking at all the fees and charges to see if they are enough and we will be looking at the way we do things as we have always done. I wish there was a silver bullet somewhere but there is not. People have asked about raising taxes and yes it can be done by Council, but if they raise it 4 mil it is only going to give $8 million not $15. The Mayor has been pretty stead fast on living within our means. 4 Commissioner Hudson asked if they have gone back and looked at possible savings that did not get passed and reviewed those again? Jerry said that they have looked at everything a second time. Commissioner Hudson asked about like another incentive for retiring? Jerry stated that they have offered 2 years in a row a retirement incentive. He said we have worked hard not to lay anyone off and have been successful so far. I am not sure the answer is offering another retirement incentive right now. Commissioner Washington asked if there was any consideration to selling assets. Jerry stated that we are going down an entire list of things. Some things will not happen that quickly. Long term we could look at selling City Hall. We are looking at our entire inventory of Parks. We have 104 Parks in the City about half of them are really considered by the Parks Department as program Parks. Commissioner Vinson stated that the City has a lot of rental property has it been considered to raise the fee for rentals? Jerry said that it is one of the items on the list to look at. Firefighter Weber asked if there was an option to sell the Golf Courses. Jerry said that we only have 1 golf course left open. The rest of them are vacant and they are on the list to look at selling. But some of these things do require the vote of the people to sell them. We have tried to minimize our cost to maintain them only to get weed ordinance violations from the Townships. Commissioner Brown asked if the City Council was being fairly corporative with the Mayor of the budget issues. Jerry stated that they do no know yet. He said you are one of the first groups that we have meet with. At this point we have talked with them but they don't know what we have proposed to Fire and Police. They are concerned; their question is how are you going to do this? Commissioner Ferro asked about regionalization. He asked if that has been looked at as a possibility and what kind of cost savings is there? Jerry stated that it has been talked about and talked about a lot. I think there is not enough pain yet and not enough incentive yet. He stated that in his opinion only that if the State was to say you want revenue sharing than you need to do something specific on regionalism, if that were to happen I think you would see a lot of people jumping. That is a multi million dollar incentive. Then people would begin to pay attention. There are more corporations going on than one sees. The 911 Center for example is regional. They will be moving out to their new location on Jolly Road and Cedar Street by spring 2012 and then we won't be supporting them once that happens. There has been talk and meetings about the Fire Departments. 5 Chief Cochran said that there is a meeting on Friday regarding that. Jerry said it best that there is this perception out there that it is Lansing's problem and Lansing is the one that is hurting and we are not going to come in and solve Lansing's problems. In all fairness there is a lot that we have done, a lot of positive things and I have discussed those with you. Commissioner Hudson asked if there is a priority list of all departments that are funded? As a homeowner I feel Fire and Police are very important and I am all in favor of supporting neighborhoods. If I had to choose between having a community center painted or something for the kids to do during the summer and having patrols on the streets or in the stations I would choose safety. Do you have a list of where the money is going? Jerry stated that all of them are important. The budget that will be presented will reflect the Mayors priorities. Part of what we need to do as a city is grow. We have to have people who want to live here; we need to have businesses that want to locate here. We can't do it if there are holes in the streets and if you wonder if Police and Fire are going to respond. It's not that simple, you can't just go down the list, and we want to do it all. The one thing we do know is that everything we do benefits some people. All you have to do is say that you are taking something away and all of a sudden you have this group of people coming up with reasons not to. This budget will be a getting back to basic budget. For example, to provide basic Fire services, do we need to do everything that we are currently doing, do we need to have all the personnel that we are using? Commissioner Vinson asked when looking at the budget, do you look at it on a 1 year status or a 2 year status? Jerry said that he was glad that this question was asked. He said we like to look at it by multi year. Last year at this time we said it's not only going to be tough this year but over the next 4 years it will be tuff. We predicted that it would be 2015 before we saw growth and revenues would resume before we would see a difference and we have now revised it to be 2016. We are looking financially ahead and there are things that we have got to begin to do now if we are going to try and impact the City finances in the next 2 years. We have to look ahead and know where we are going. So having said this and with all the gloom and doom we are going to continue to invest in the City. We have got to continue to make this City attractive, we have got to aggressively pursue businesses to come here. We will get through it. Chief Cochran stated that we have got to look at the positives, looking right across the street we have the world headquarters for the Accident Fund and bringing jobs to the downtown area. Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran • Introduced Michelle Greko. She is a newest staff member here at the office. She is filling in for Patti who is off on leave. • Mike Lewis had back surgery and is doing well. • We have had some very productive meetings and have some great ideas on building a budget on $25 million. I have brought in my division heads and some administrative assistants and we have been very productive. I am 6 communicating with the unions. The unions are meeting with their boards and are having some very serious discussions. We are about ready to submit our first round of proposals. • We have taken delivery of our new Tech Rescue-Vehicle. It is at Station 8. That was purchased through grant funds. It is a beautiful rig and there is a lot involved with that like transferring all the equipment. Training is required to operate this vehicle. Would like to see about changing the location of February's meeting to Station 8 so you can see the new vehicle. • End of year report is being worked on and needs to be completed. • Tri-ad, No Senior with out Christmas. We held the event on December 15 and it was very successful. 270 Christmas baskets were delivered. They were very grateful for the hard work of the Firefighters at the station. It was really great to see the parade of Police and Fire vehicles going through the station picking up baskets and going and delivering them to the seniors. That was a huge positive event. Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business None General Order: Commissioner Washington requested to be excused from February's Meeting for she will be in Cancun for 2 weeks. Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the meeting. A unanimous vote was taken. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Minutes Submitted `C, a 0-f� C) on February 9, 2011. Michelle Greko APPROVED: February 9, 2011 7 City of Lansing A. Board of Fire Commissioners �t 120 E. Shiawassee Street ` Lansing MI 48933 Y (517) 483-4200 Fax (517) 483-4488 RID Virg Bernero,Mayor �^~ Tom Cochran.Fire www.lansingfire.com LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS 20.11 REGULAR MEETINGS 9�Ir E t It hE 1t e� 'h I x 4 I - 5 x. F I 7 l r� ll. 4 `��. } 5 N P !I I 3 y�!I Ill 'i DATE ;Yq TIMES�' LIOCATION,�I ADDRESSa� , t! ¢ '��'{I�j _" ' }d � 1_' E i� 2`rAl Pt� ��N January t12� � ',;6.00�P'M`� ` , Station�1: 120aE zShiawassee� , rE r z W. x p t—I a 'r€. -wan q,l �` h„a I a r x I .0 I rE'I ti h p February 9 6 00 P M ; Station114 N Grand1Rner ,FED j March'`9' , aq 6.00�P M' Station 4'� r' 1435E M111er>a 4 1 MI i77r 4 jn sYu�'lnnty. a c. April 13 6 OOgP;M t Station 5 I021 Todd Ave'. F mN �a � "rN June 8i � E d t �629 N Jenisbn. m. Julyl `X3,, '' , ' 6 0'OP M Station8�°,� r k815 MarshallS.t Nr No August 10 U0 P.M. Station 9 520 Glendale'_St. f; September 14 ;16 00 P M LFD Maintenance 3708 Pleasant Grove Rd :.October 12 6:00 P M. LFD Training 3015 Alpha:St 44 INovember 9 6 00 P M EOC 815 Marshall December ;_1'4 6:00 P:M. Station 1 120 E:Shiawassee Please contact Patti Starnes in Lansing Fire Administration at 517-483.4564 or pstarnes()lansingmi.gov for more information. •) l �� y�I15.i�� City of Lansing . Board of Fire Commissioners " y ` 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 2� T (517)483-4200 f C_ Fax(517)483-4488 Rp np4 1�1 1 G.•`,� www.lansin firq e.com Virg Bernero,Mayor Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING December 14, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on December 14, 2011 at Fire Station #1 Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present: Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Bob Brown, Yvonne Young McConnell, Louis Vinson, Jody Washington Others Present: LFD Chief Tom Cochran, ELFD Chief Randy Talifarro, EM Chief Trent Atkins, DFO Ellen Vogt, Patti Starnes Commissioners Excused: Robert Hudson Frank Ferro Additions to the Agenda: �= none Review/Approval of Minutes: - F+_i A motion was made by Commissioner Vinson and supported by Commissioner Brown to accept the November minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote':,_; Review of Communications: 2012 Draft Schedule presented. The Board accepted the schedule with the following change: February 8th meeting location to the EOC and the September 12th, meeting location to Station #2 Presentations: Introductions: Chief Cochran introduced Interim Fire Chief Randy Talifarro. Chief Talifarro is the current Fire Chief of East Lansing and will hold a dual Fire Chief role between East Lansing and Lansing Fire for a 1 year period as the departments move forward towards City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes December 14, 2011 shared services. Chief Cochran commented that Randy has been a mentor, good friend and "key" in the shared services discussion with six of the local fire departments. Chief Cochran introduced Lansing Emergency Management Chief Trent Atkins who is anticipated to be the Interim Assistant Fire Chief at Lansing Fire. Chief Cochran commented that Chief Atkins will do a great job working for the department and working with Chief Talifarro. Chief Talifarro thanked Chief Cochran and said that he looks forward to working with this Board and the City of Lansing. Discussion of shared services began at the Metro Chiefs Luncheons under former Lansing Fire Chief Greg Martin. This concept of shared services has been explored for many years. Chief Talifarro looks forward to the opportunity. It will bring the departments closer together. We will focus on what we have in common and where we are apart. Then we will create a plan to bring us closer together, which, may lead to a more formal agreement at a later date. Chief Cochran commented that Chief Talifarro along with himself have been an advocates of regionalization. Chief Cochran introduced LFD Department Financial Officer Ellen Vogt. She has 14 years on the department and has been the Finance Officer for over a year now. She is doing a phenomenal job. Not only Ellen but Patti Starnes and others have taken on other responsibilities as well. Ellen is working on the payroll, budget, and other extra responsibilities. It has been an honor working with Ellen and Patti. Administrative Comments: Department Update — Chief Cochran • Thanked Ellen, Patti and Michelle Greko for the community room decorations. Michelle has done a wonderful job on the office decorations. • End of year tasks: o Shared Services Study — Mike Hamel is the point of contact person. o ISO rating review coming up in Feb- Mike Hamel is working on that as well. • 3900 Burneway fire — There were a number of residents displaced. Crews were aggressive and made a phenomenal stop on the fire. • Will be moving 5t" ambulance from station #46 to station #48 for a six-month trial period. • Long term sick leave and injury leave is down to eight people. That is a good number. It has helped our staffing numbers. • Chief Cochran thanked the entire Board for the opportunity to be here as the Lansing Fire Chief. Has enjoyed the relationship with them and thanked them for all they have done. Committee Reports none Old Business none City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes December 14, 2011 New Business • Commissioner Jody Washington announced that this was her last meeting. Being on the Board has been a lot of fun for her. She was sworn into today to city council. She hopes success for Chief Talifarro and his regional efforts. Jody will submit a letter of resignation to the Board. • Chairperson Keeney asked to be excused for the January meeting. General Order • Commissioner Young-McConnell asked Chief Atkins about the Interim Assistant Chief position. He is waiting on the final documents. • Chairperson Keeney asked about the East Lansing Fire Board? Chief Talifarro replied that that City of East Lansing does not have a Board of Fire Commissioners. • Commissioner Rhode asked about Chief Talifarro's command staff. Chief Talifarro explained the rank system and roles within the East Lansing Fire Department. • Chief Talifarro commented that the Union's involvement in the regionalization process is critical. Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Vice-Chairperson Vinson . A unanimous vote was taken to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. ,4,- 5�v� Minutes Submitted by: on January 11, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: January 11th, 2012 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes December 14, 2011 City of Lansing ` rk Board of Fire Commissioners ^ 120 E. Shiawassee Street Lansing MI 48933 (517)483-4200 1 f t G Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING November 9, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on November 9, 2011 at Fire Station #8 (EOC) Lansing Mi. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners Present: Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Bob Brown, Frank Ferro, Yvonne Young McConnell, Robert Hudson, Louis Vinson Others Present: r Chief Cochran, Dave Keeney, Trent Atkins, Patti Starnes , Commissioners Excused: �- Jody Washington Additions to the Agenda: t none N) Review/Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Brown to accept the September minutes as written. Motion carried with a unanimous vote. Review of Communications: Thank you letter from the 100 Club regarding the recent donation from the Bank of America Stair Climb. Presentations: none City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 Administrative Comments: • Chief Cochran announced his retirement effective January 15th, 2012. His last work day will be Friday, January 13th, 2012. Chief Cochran personally thanked the Board. He is very grateful for the support he has received from them and for their support of the Lansing Fire Fighters. It was a tough decision to retire. He was set to go in June but decided to hold off until January due the department's difficult financial situation. He has had a great career with the City of Lansing Fire Department. By working closely with the department, union and mayor we have weathered the financial storm. He is proud to have had the opportunity. Again, thanks to the Board for their support. • Chief Cochran spoke regarding the passing of the millage. Patty Farhat and Ellen Vogt along with many others put a lot of time in to the Keep Lansing Safe campaign and it paid off. The Mayor announced that the Lansing Fire Department will maintain the status quo. Commissioner Ferro asked what that means to LFD. Chief Cochran commented that it is not enough money to bring back the 11 laid off Firefighters. To survive the 12/13 budget "as is" would be great. We are certainly stretched as a department. Chief Cochran gave an example that we recently had 2 fires and a cardiac arrest at the same time throughout the city. We had to call in mutual aid. When the crews are out on multiple calls and then a large fire comes in it is difficult. Our response times have increased by 1 minute. We continue to study and monitor the response times. • Chief Cochran proposed that the February meeting change to station 8 so they can see the new technology that is being installed. Several Smart Boards were purchased with Homeland Security money and the EMS donation account. Chief Cochran felt strongly that we needed this technology for roll call, updates, training etc. These Smart Boards will be an awesome tool for LFD to use. A lot of training will be done online, but we will still have plenty of hands on training. • Trent Atkins spoke regarding a request from Hillsdale County for a Demo of the USAR (Tech Rescue) truck. An LFD Captain and Engineer attended the Hillsdale County Chiefs Meeting and gave a Demo of the metro truck. Homeland Security grant funds covered the callback on our end. The truck was purchased 100 % by grant money. • Chief Cochran commented that Jim Moreno is doing really well and plans to back to work soon. • Chief Cochran commented that Michelle Greko continues to heal. She is working. She has had a few post surgery issues but is doing well. • Chief Cochran commended the Mayor and the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protestors are currently camping at Ruetters park in Lansing. The Mayor has embraced the protestors and they have been working closely with them from City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 a public safety standpoint. Chief Yankowski from LPD and Fire Marshal Brad Drury have been working with the group to address safety issues. The group has a 7 pm community meeting nightly. • Trent Atkins spoke about the new EOC Video and Smart Board Technology. A large piece of the EOC is situational awareness. The new technology will soon be functional and very valuable to us. He invited the Board back in February to see the systems up and running. • Trent Atkins informed the group of the Do One Thing program and the promotion items given to the Board. The program was started by his predecessor and Ronda Oberlin and has grown into very large and successful program. • Chief Cochran spoke about the upcoming Silver Bells and the Disney show afterwards with Cody Simpson. This is mid-Michigan's premier event. We are in the thick of the planning and the command post will be at station #1. • Commissioner Brown asked for any info on the Nationwide Emergency Alert System exercise that took place this afternoon. Trent reported that we were not too involved in it, but so far there were a few glitches reported. We will know more once the "after action" report is released. • Commissioner Rhode asked if the sirens generally go off to start Trick or Treating in Lansing. Chief Cochran reported: "Yes, a lot of communities do that." • Commissioner Ferro asked about the fire on Pennsylvania/Saginaw. Chief Cochran will check into it. Committee Reports none Old Business none New Business none General Order • It was noted the Local 421 Union President Bryan Epling sent a nice letter out and thanked the Board regarding Keep Lansing Safe campaign. • Chief Cochran reported that Jody Washington's position on the Board will become available since she was voted in as a Council Member. Chief Cochran suggested forwarding names of those recommended to fill her seat to the Mayor. City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Brown. A unanimous vote was taken to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Minutes Submitted by: on December 14th, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: December 14t", 2011 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Minutes November 9th, 2011 City of Lansing . '.., Board of Fire Commissioners 120 E. Shiawassee Street / Lansing MI 48933 \ (517)483-4200 Fax(517)483-4488 www.lansingfire.com Bernero,Mayor ww.lansingfire.com Tom Cochran, Fire Chief OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE LANSING BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS REGULAR FIRE BOARD MEETING October 12th, 2011 The Lansing Fire Board met in regular session on October 12th, 2011 at 3015 Alpha Access, Lansing MI. Fire Commissioner Chairperson Helen Keeney called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. r� Commissioners Present Helen Keeney, Jill Rhode, Robert Brown Jr. Robert Hudson, Frank Ferro, Louis Vinson`-y Yvonne Young McConnell, Jody Washington Others Present Tom Cochran, Fire Chief Patti Starnes, Secretary Additions to the Agenda Commissioner Hudson requested Millage Discussion to be added to the Agenda under New Business. Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Brown and supported by Commissioner Hudson to approve the October minutes as written. Communications none Presentations Chief Cochran presented the members with LFD blue/pink t-shirts to support breast cancer awareness for the month of October. Chief Cochran gave a demonstration of the "pulse oxometer" which measures CO levels in people. The device was purchased with Region One grant funding and will be used for an informal survey our crews. 1 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th, 2011 Administrative Comments — Fire Chief Tom Cochran 1. BC Moreno, an LFD Battalion Chief has been battling cancer and is currently in remission. Green bracelets are available for donation to the foundation. Jim Moreno's mom is running marathon to support the foundation. So for over $3500 has been raised. Bracelets are available for a donation. Ellen Vogt in LFD Administration has the bracelets if anyone is interested. 2. Michelle Greko who works in LFD Administration is doing quite well. She recently donated her kidney to her cousin. The surgery was a success and she and her cousin are doing well. 3. The LFD Open House took place on Saturday October 8th. This year's open house was very successful. Just under 500 people attended. Chief Cochran thanked the Fire Marshal division and everyone who attended and volunteered. It was a great event with lots of young kids. Sunrise donated the burn cell materials. Delta Twp donated the smoke house. Ultimate Bounce Inflatable's donated the bounce house. Susan G Komen t-shirts were sold at the event for the foundation. Commissioner Hudson reported that the pink fire helmets were a hit. 4. Chief Cochran attended Councilmember A'lynne Robinson's 2nd Saturday meeting held at the Fire Station #46 community room. About 18 people attended. Also, Chief Yankowski from LPD, Bob Trezise from Lansing Economic Development Corporation and Chief Cochran attended. Chief Yankowski and Chief Cochran spoke about the millage for Police and Fire. 5. City Hall on the Road is coming up at the end of October. Check the City's website for more information. 6. Chief Cochran attended the Box 23 dinner last night at fire station #46. The club supports police and fire at large events with water/coffee/hoods etc. Julie Chrysler is the President and does a fantastic job. 7. Community Connect recently took place. It was a great turnout. 8. Smart Board project is ongoing. 9. Moving forward on Cascade Air System to fill the air tanks that will purchased through a grant. 10.SAFER grant— LFD is anticipating a fall rollout but, not positive. Mike Hamel and Chief Cochran are continually watching for grants. 11.Chief Cochran attended a meeting regarding the "Occupy Wall Street" group that is in Lansing. Currently it is a small group but the protest will be on Saturday 2 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12'h, 2011 from 10 am — 930 pm. The group is currently camping out at Rutters park. They are being allowed to camp there with restrictions. So far they have been very cooperative and very much believe in a peaceful protest. 12.Mobile Food Pantry is this Saturday at Friendship Baptist church. 13.There have been 11 fires in the last week and half. 14.There was a recent fire in Lansing where a dog was saved by a member of the Lansing Fire Department. Captain Ward Meldrum is currently on light duty and is researching the program Project Breathe — oxygen mask donation program, which provides oxygen masks for pets. 15.Chief Cochran thanked everyone who attended his father's visitation and funeral. It was a nice celebration of his life. Committee Reports None Old Business None New Business Millage Discussion: Commissioner Hudson spoke regarding the millage. He will be writing a letter to the Lansing State Journal. It seems like people are misinformed. Chief Cochran reported that there is a calculator on the City's website to calculate the proposed millage increase. Chief Cochran reported that Keep Lansing Safe has targeted the absentee ballots in the City of Lansing. The organization sent out a mailing 2 weeks prior to the absentee ballots going out. Chief Cochran reported that $10 million has been cut from the Lansing Fire Department in the last 5 years. Staffing has gone from 52 in 2006 to 38 currently. There has been a 25% percent reduction of LFD staff. The department has reduced 2 engine/2 truck companies and closed 3 stations. Chief Cochran will send Commissioner Hudson a summary. Commissioner Keeney reported that the City of Jackson's response times have gone from 4 minutes to 11 minutes. Commissioner Keeney spoke to the current economic situation at the Lansing Fire department. General Order None 3 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th, 2011 Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Ferro and supported by Commissioner Vinson. A T ous vote was taken. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm. *� Minutes Submitted by: on November 9th, 2011. Patti Starnes APPROVED: November 9th, 2011 4 City of Lansing Board of Fire Commissioners Official Minutes October 12th, 2011