Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout21.11.04 - Minutes, Emergency Services Advisory Council Emergency Services Advisory Council Washington County, Maryland Page 1 of 4 REGULAR MEETING Date: Thursday, November 4, 2021 Attending: R. David Hays, Director, Emergency Services, Ex-Officio Dale Fishack, President, WCVFRA, Ex-Officio Kingsley Poole, Chairman, Citizen-at-Large Dick Hopkins, Co-Chairman, WCVFRA Ron Horn, Citizen-at-Large Roger Otzelberger, Jr., WCVFRA Dwayne Lunsford, Citizen-at-Large Joe Kroboth, Citizen-at-Large Bonnie Keltner, Administrative Assistant Guests: Randy Wagner, County Commissioner Dave Chisholm, Deputy Director, Operations Absent: Tim Ammons, Citizen-at-Large Scott Buskirk, Citizen-at-Large Gary Farrell, President, Funkstown FD, WCVFRA CALL TO ORDER: • Co-Chair Hopkins called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Minutes: • MOTION: On a motion by Kingsley Poole and seconded by Roger Otzelberger, the ESAC members approved the minutes from the September 9, 2021 meeting as presented. CARRIED Washington County, Maryland Emergency Services Advisory Council Meeting Thursday, November 4, 2021 Page 2 of 4 Old Business: Fire Company Audits Update – Dir. Hays • Dir. Hays spoke with Sara Greaves who reached out to UHY, which is the auditing company. Over the last couple of weeks there were still some outstanding issues, not anything non-compliant. UHY lost the primary person that was handling this process, so they had to transition to another person which caused a week or two delay. We are being told that by the second or third week of November we should have a final draft. New Business: Director’s Report – Director Dave Hays • They had budgeted in the FY21 and FY22 new volunteer incentives. They briefed the County Commissioners back in May to officially launch those incentives and back dated them to January 1, 2021. They just received from Rick Hemphill, WCVFRA, what their third quarter FY21 payout is. When it was started, it was about $23,000 a quarter, and it is now at $89,033.00 in this quarter payout for those incentives. Dir. Hays will try for next month to get a snapshot of the first six months of our FY budget and give you a picture of what it was prior to the incentives and what it is now to show the number of calls per unit per responder. He wants to quantify this back into a product and see if the Association can break this out for us and to certify or non-certify, more specifically what certifications they have, so we can see who is performing and who is not. • Joe Kroboth brought up about the firefighter registry that he talked about at one of our previous ESAC meetings. It should be determined if the Association or County has some type of data base that will list the certifications, classes, etc., and tie that right to the person who is receiving a check. Dir. Hays thought that Chandler Fishack could create the registry and upload that information. Joe suggested that when Dir. Hays is ready for the registry to be done, to bring it to the ESAC for a recommendation. • Another handout listed the monies needed for the new training center. Discussion followed about the center and the burn building. • The county directors have been asked by the County Commissioners to work with Budget & Finance to prioritize items that would be considered for potential ARPA (American Rescue Plant Act) funding that the county has available. Dir. Hays handed out a sheet that lists what qualifies for this funding and spoke about each one. Joe Kroboth feels the greater need over the reserve engines is our ambulance fleet and would like to see more financial resources pushed towards reserve & front-line ambulances. In addition, Joe said he feels the need to have reserve ladder trucks before reserve engines. Washington County, Maryland Emergency Services Advisory Council Meeting Thursday, November 4, 2021 Page 3 of 4 • Joe Kroboth added to the survey that whatever compliment of equipment and supplies would be needed to stand up our paramedic program, meaning our teaching program to grow paramedics, which he feels really needs to be a priority – do we have everything we need to start this program? • Dir. Hays said we didn’t get the granular parts of the study; however, we did get a list of 10 things instead. But to answer Joe’s question, we are fully funded to launch the paramedic program in the fall of 2022. There is $50,000 for a simulation mannequin and a simulation lab. There is also funding for an educational program coordinator, instructor, administrative assistant, and full funding for a logistics maintenance worker for the training center. • Commissioner Wagner asked if Dir. Hays knows 100% sure how all of this qualifies? Dir. Hays said when we met last week, there was a senate bill that had already passed the Senate that has gone to the House that opened the doors pretty wide. • Dir. Hays gave out information with generic data on what is happening in a month relative to ALS coverage and in some cases BLS coverage. If a station does not have this coverage, sometimes they will reach out to other stations. If they let DES know ahead of time, Dave Chisholm or Eric Jacobs will try to find staffing from within DES. They will try to figure out a solution with the EMS companies and if not, through DES bring it to the ESAC and ask for their support. Dir. Hays believes we cannot support transport- based ALS as a primary delivery model. Lengthy discussion followed. WCVFRA Report – President Dale Fishack • Elections are coming up with no change in officers except Troy Lloyd did not run again. Skip Menzies will fill that position. Officers will remain in office for two years. • A discussion was held on out of county apparatus. There is a certain group of individuals who believe that if a squad responds from out of county that they should be inspected. They don’t have the management or the resources to do this. President Fishack said that if Frederick County says it meets the squad standard or engine standards, that’s good enough if it is running as mutual aid. This is a result of Blue Ridge Summit putting in a sub-station in Rouzerville. Washington County, Maryland Emergency Services Advisory Council Meeting Thursday, November 4, 2021 Page 4 of 4 Chairman Poole • Chairman Poole read his resignation letter. Dir. Hays did not agree with everything that Chairman Poole had stated in his letter. He asked Chairman Poole to re-think some of the content of his letter. Much discussion followed. Remarks for the good of the Council • MOTION: On a motion by Dwayne Lunsford and seconded by Ron Horn, it was agreed by the ESAC to resend a letter that Joe Kroboth wrote to the County Commissioners. CARRIED Adjournment • MOTION: With no other business brought forward, a motion was made by Ron Horn and seconded by Dwayne Lunsford to adjourn the meeting at 9:20pm. CARRIED. Next meeting: • December 9, 2021, 7pm • Location: TBD Respectfully submitted by, Bonnie Keltner, Administrative Assistant Washington County Div. of Emergency Services & Richard Hopkins, ESAC Co-Chair