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HomeMy WebLinkAbout19.02.07 - Minutes, Emergency Services Advisory Council Emergency Services Advisory Council Washington County, Maryland Page 1 of 4 REGULAR MEETING Date: Thursday, February 7, 2019 Attending: R. David Hays, Director, Emergency Services, Ex-Officio Bob Moncrief, President WCVFRA, Ex-Officio Kingsley Poole, Chairman, Citizen-at-Large Dick Hopkins, Co-Chairman, Association Oley Griffith, Chief, Boonsboro FD, Association Dwayne Lunsford, Citizen-at-Large Ron Horn, Chief, Emergency Support Services, Citizen-at-Large Brian Albert, Citizen-at-Large Gary Farrell, President, Funkstown FD, Association Bonnie Keltner, Administrative Assistant Absent: Michael Hosier, Citizen-at-Large Guests: Steve Lohr, Chief, HFD Ward Fleger, Assistant Chief, Smithsburg EMS Randall Wagner, County Commissioner Jeff Kline, President, County Commissioners Sam Anderson, Operations Manager, Fire Operations, DES Emily Keller, City Council Member Jonathan Hart, Asst. Dir. Fire Operations, DES Jeb Eckstine, President, Community VFC of Fairplay CALL TO ORDER: • Chairman Poole called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and introductions were made. Minutes: • Gary Farrell said his name was misspelled on the January 3 ESAC minutes. That was corrected on this set of minutes and on the sign-in sheet. • MOTION: On a motion by Gary Farrell and seconded by Oley Griffith, the ESAC members accepted the minutes of January 3, 2019 as presented. CARRIED Old Business: Fairplay Report • President Eckstine provided the council with an update on continuing progress of the Community Volunteer Fire Company of District 12. Washington County, Maryland Emergency Services Advisory Council Meeting Thursday, February 7, 2019 Page 2 of 4 Discussion of Priorities – Chairman Poole • Chairman Poole was not able to schedule a meeting with the voting members of the council to talk about the priorities for the VFIS study. He will schedule an informal meeting with the voting members in the next few days. New Business: DES Director’s Report – Director Dave Hays • A presentation was given to the County Commissioners on phase two for staffing. We were encouraged with the responses we received from the County Commissioners. We are charged to work on a more detailed plan and bring it back to the Commissioners on Feb. 26. Dir. Hays will reach out to the WCVFRA (Washington County Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association). Surveys have been sent to all 26 fire and EMS companies including the City of Hagerstown. We also talked about a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response) federal grant application. The DES staff is fully engaged in preparing for this grant if we are given the opportunity to do so. • We meet on Tuesday, Feb. 12 with the EMS sub-committee to talk about the EMS staffing subsidies. • We are continuing to move through the reimbursement process from the FEMA program for the south county flooding. We just received notification for Garrett’s Mill request; it will be a 75% award or approximately $800,000. • We are working through the county department, Wireless Communications, to upgrade the fire station alerting system; it is now 12 or more years old. This system has been plagued with problems for a long time. Jon Hart, Asst. Director, Fire Operations • Asst. Dir. Hart is anticipating that progress will be made to improve staffing for the volunteer fire companies throughout the county. We are working aggressively to look at a SAFER grant. Deputy Chief Tom Coe, from Frederick County, MD, sent us a copy of their 2016 SAFER grant application. Sam Anderson - Operations Manager of Fire Operations • Working on statistics for a possible SAFER grant. • January had the most hours we’ve been able to staff the companies and, coincidently, the most hours requested by the companies, which was about 2300 hours. DES has budgeted approximately 1400 to 1500 hours a month, so we are about maxed out with available funding. WCVFRA Report – President Robert Moncrief • The membership of the WCVFRA would like to ask questions to Dr. Jenaway. We are trying to schedule a time for him to come to Hagerstown when he can give a presentation to the County Commissioners and the membership at the same time. • We had scheduled interviews for the advertised recruitment & retention position, but only one candidate showed up for the interview. We are still in the process of filling the position. Washington County, Maryland Emergency Services Advisory Council Meeting Thursday, February 7, 2019 Page 3 of 4 • Currently each volunteer station must provide workers’ compensation benefits for hired personnel. The price of the policies is very high. We are trying to figure out how to put several of the companies together on a policy. Hagerstown Fire Department Report (HFD) – Chief Steve Lohr • Chief Lohr handed out a copy of the City’s Monthly Fire Report for 2018 to those present. • A FLSA federal (Fair Labor Standards Act) ruling is expected to be published in March of this year. • There has long been an issue with water for firefighting purposes on the eastern edge of Hagerstown (and beyond). Hagerstown Water Dept. Zone 5 (manual, weighted swing check vale on Robinwood Dr.) will be installed before the end of this summer 2019. This should greatly increase flow in that area. • The Hagerstown Fire Dept. is committed in assisting DES and the county companies with training. We’re making improvements to the Bowman Avenue site and we are looking at a new three-story burn building that will cost around $1 million. • It was mentioned at the State of the County breakfast that there are approximately 1200 volunteers in Washington County, 600 of which are active. Chief Lohr asked who is responsible for assuring that number is updated because it is not correct. A discussion followed. • Chief Lohr is requesting an audit of the city companies LOSAP (Length of Service Awards Program) records.  MOTION: A motion was made by Ron Horn and seconded by Brian Albert to have the WCVFRA obtain accurate numbers of volunteers for funding reasons based on three criteria - levels of training (i.e. Level I & II firefighting), what programs firefighters are certified in, and accurate LOSAP points. Bob Moncrief will send out an e-mail to the membership and it should be no longer than 30 days to bring back to the ESAC. CARRIED Reappointments – Chairman Poole • The Chair suggested that Dwayne Lunsford be reappointment for an additional three-year term as a member on the ESAC. His second term ends on March 31 (according to the current by-laws a member can only serve two 3-year terms). Commissioner President Cline and Commissioner Wagner were present and seemed to agree that this is a good idea since there is much going on with emergency services at the present time. There was a consensus of members at this meeting to ask for an extension (of three years) to Mr. Lunsford’s term. Dir. Hays suggested that we submit a by-laws’ amendment and submit it to the County Commissioners for approval. Chairman Poole said that he would submit such a change and ask the Commissioners to move forward with filling the ESAC current vacancies and those that will occur on March 31. Council Member Emily Keller suggested we bring someone from the city and CRS to be voting members. A discussion followed and it was informally agreed that no single fire or EMS organization should have a voting seat on the ESAC. Chairman Poole said he will look at the by-laws and see if we have to wait 30 days to vote on any changes. Washington County, Maryland Emergency Services Advisory Council Meeting Thursday, February 7, 2019 Page 4 of 4  MOTION: A motion was made by Gary Farrell and seconded by Ron Horn to have Dwayne Lunsford reappointed for an additional three-year term. CARRIED Recording Secretary Appt. – Chairman Poole • This will be discussed at next month’s meeting. Remarks for the Good of the Council – Chairman Poole • The Chair stated that the Fire & Rescue High School program has 22 students enrolled and 21 passed the mid-term of Firefighter I. The student who didn’t pass will retest as provided in the MFRI (Maryland Fire & Rescue Institute) Rules and Regulations. Graduation for the Fire & Rescue High School students will be held May 22, 2019 at South Hagerstown High School. It would be an honor to have members of the ESAC attend. • Chief Lohr said that we should find a way to move those graduating students into a fire and rescue job in Washington County, City of Hagerstown, CRS, or another fire & EMS station. Adjournment • MOTION: With no other business brought forward, a motion was made by Gary Farrell and seconded by Dick Hopkins to adjourn the meeting at 8:52pm. CARRIED. Next Meeting: • March 7, 2019 – 7pm Location: Div. of Emergency Services 16232 Elliott Parkway Williamsport, MD 21795 Respectfully submitted by, Bonnie Keltner, Administrative Assistant Washington County Div. of Emergency Services, Kingsley Poole, ESAC Chairman, & Richard Hopkins, ESAC Co-Chair