S.A.F.E.R. Board of Directors

OFFICIAL NOTICE & MEETING AGENDA of a Board, Commission, Committee, Agency, Corporation, Quasi-Municipal Corporation, or Sub-unit thereof Meeting: S.A.F.E.R. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Members: L White {c}; A Opall; B Ermeling; P Kachel; K Langenhahn Location: Rib Mountain Town Hall; 3700 North Mountain Rd, Wausau Date/Time: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 @ 6:00 P.M. AGENDA ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION (All items listed may be action upon) Notice is hereby given that a majority of the S.A.F.E.R. Fire Commission may be present at the above noticed meeting due to the proximity of meeting time/location. This constitutes a meeting of the S.A.F.E.R. Fire Commission pursuant to State ex rel. Badke v. Greendale Village Bd., 173 Wis.2d 553,494 N.W.2d 408 (1993), and must be noticed as such, although the S.A.F.E.R. Fire Commission will not take any action at this meeting. 1. Call to Order. 2. Comments from the public on issues related to the SAFER district – This period is an opportunity for members of the community to come before the Directors and present to them their comments related to the financial and administrative management of the SAFER district. No action will be taken on comments received at this meeting. 3. Consent Items. a) Approval of summary minutes from Strategic Planning/Goal Setting Workshop of Friday 01/02/2015. b) Approval of prior meeting minutes from 12/11/14 and 12/23/14. 4. Business Items. a) Election of Chair and Vice Chair of the SAFER Board of Directors b) Discussion and possible action on issues related to unemployment compensation matters of the District c) Discussion and possible action on authorizing the Fire Chief to retain a CPA to prepare an audit report for 2014 of the District not to exceed a specified dollar amount as determined by the Board d) Discussion on added WRS contributions for 2015 as it pertains to POC members e) Discussion and action on Mutual Aid agreement with the Village of Marathon City f) Discussion and action on ALS Intercept agreement with Hatley Area Ambulance Service 5. Staff Reports. a) Reports from Fire Chiefs. 6. Set next meeting date and discuss items for next committee agenda. 7. Adjourn. This notice was posted at the Municipal Centers and sent to the Wausau Daily Herald newsroom on @ 4:00 p.m. Please note that, upon reasonable notice, efforts will be made to accommodate the needs of disabled individuals through appropriate aids and services. For additional information or to request this service, contact the Rib Mountain Town Municipal Center at (715) 842-0983.  OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT Board of Directors Regular Meeting Thursday, December 11, 2014 @ 6:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order The regular meeting of the South Area Fire and Emergency Response District Board of Directors was called to order at 6:30 PM by SAFER Board Chairman Loren White. MEMBERS PRESENT – Loren White, Keith Langenhahn and Barb Ermeling. Allen Opall and Peter Kachel were absent and excused. Chief Meilahn, Deputy Chief Savage, Administrator Rhoden, Finance Director John Jacobs, BC Andy Schlagel and Attorney Peter Conrad were also present. 2. Comments from the public on issues related to the SAFER District There was no public comment or correspondence. 3. Consent Items a) Approval of prior meeting minutes from Tuesday 11/25/2014. Motion by Langenhahn/White to approve meeting minutes from 11/25/14. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Business Items a) Discussion and action on EMS contract renewal with the towns of Easton, Guenther and Ringle. Chief Meilahn presented a draft copy of the contract to be renewed with the towns of Easton, Guenther and Ringle. He stated this draft would be the model for all contracts going forward. Motion by Ermeling/Langenhahn to accept the proposed EMS contract subject to the following amendments/additions: Amending paragraph 6 to include the following language at the end of the paragraph: SAFER may change either or both the Patient Ambulance fee and/or the No Transport Fee for each term of the Agreement after the Initial Term by providing written notice to the Customer on or before September 1 of the year immediately preceding the year in which new fee will take effect. Notwithstanding Paragraph 5 of this Agreement, the Customer may reject the new fee(s) by providing written notice of nonrenewal to SAFER at least sixty (60) days before expiration of the then current Agreement. Include the following dates: By April 1st of each year, the Customer shall pay SAFER the sum of (the annual fee); By April 1st of each year, SAFER shall provide the Customer with an accounting of all costs; By May 1st of each year, the Customer shall pay SAFER the difference or SAFER would pay the Customer. Change the term “Annual Fee” to “Initial Fee” in Paragraph 8. Motion carried unanimously. b) Discussion and action on Vehicle, Public Liability and Worker’s Comp insurance. Jacobs reviewed quotes from 2 companies. Motion by Langenhahn/Ermeling to accept quotes and purchase insurance from the different companies as recommended. Motion carried unanimously.  c) Discussion and action on strategic planning and goal setting. Langenhahn stated the strategic planning and goal setting meeting will have to be rescheduled. Members agreed to reschedule to January 2, 2015. d) Discussion and action on bi-weekly paychecks for POC staff. Chief Meilahn explained that for some POC staff, getting paid once a month can be a hardship. Motion by Ermeling/Langenhahn to approve bi-weekly paychecks for POC staff. Motion carried unanimously. e) Discussion and action on SAFER and MABAS. Meilahn reported MABAS will begin January 1, 2015. He stated SAFER has to sign the MABAS Agreement. Motion by Langenhahn/Ermeling to pass the Resolution and authorize the Chair and Vice Chair to sign the agreement. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Staff Reports a) Reports from Fire Chiefs None b) Reports from Administrators None 6. Set next meeting date and discuss items for next committee agenda. Next meeting date tentatively set for January 27, 2015. 8. Adjourn Motion by Ermeling/Langenhahn to adjourn at 8:15 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. Prepared by Rhonda Christiansen on January 14, 2015. Presented for consideration to the Board of Directors on January 27, 2015.  OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT Board of Directors Regular Meeting Tuesday, December 23, 2014 @ 3:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order The regular meeting of the South Area Fire and Emergency Response District Board of Directors was called to order at 3:01 PM by SAFER Board Chairman Loren White. MEMBERS PRESENT – Loren White, Keith Langenhahn, Barb Ermeling, Allen Opall and Peter Kachel. Chief Meilahn, Deputy Chief Savage, Administrator Rhoden were also present. 2. Comments from the public on issues related to the SAFER District There was no public comment or correspondence. 3. Business Items a) Discussion and action on Resolution 2014-02 Property and Liability Insurance. Chief Meilahn provided background information as to the necessity of the Resolution. Motion by Ermeling/Langenhahn to approve and execute the Resolution as provided. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Staff Reports a) Reports from Fire Chiefs None b) Reports from Administrators Administrator Rhoden reminded members of the January 2, 2015 meeting. 5. Adjourn Motion by Opall/Kachel to adjourn at 3:06 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. Prepared by Rhonda Christiansen on behalf of Chief Meilahn on January 7, 2015.  Village of Weston, WI John Jacobs Marathon County Finance Director STAFF REPORT / January 23, 2015 TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SAFER BOARD OF DIRECTORS SUBJECT: Estimated Cost of Wisconsin Retirement System Benefits for SAFER paid-on-call employees beginning on January 1, 2015 After the 2014 fiscal year had been completed and the W-2’s run for all of the SAFER employees this week, we have determined that about 18 paid-on-call employees may be required to be added to Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) benefits beginning as of 1/1/2015. Based on existing rules under WRS, any employee who works more than 1,200 hours annually must be enrolled in the WRS. However, because none of these employees were planned to be working over 1,200 hours at the start of 2014, none of their wages or hours are reportable to the WRS for 2014. However, Village Clerk/Human Resources Manager Sherry Weinkauf has informed us that all of these 18 employees may now be required to be enrolled in the WRS as of 1/1/2015, because we have proof that their annual hours from 2014 did indeed exceed the 1,200 hours level. Therefore, SAFER may be required to contribute the 9.63% share of this fringe benefit for 2015, which would cost an additional estimated $32,921 for the 2015 SAFER budget. In addition, these SAFER employees would also be required to contribute 6.80% (or $23,246.69) of their wages toward this fringe benefit. I do not know if any of these employees are aware of this fact, that their take-home pay will be reduced by 6.80% for the entire year of 2015. We do have to consider several points for the 2014-2015 hours and wages shown on this attachment.  First, the number of paid-on-call (POC) hours were likely elevated during 2014, because these POC employees were filling hours for up to 3 vacancies that were open for the full-time positions within SAFER during 2014, up until about early November, when all of the full-time positions were filled once again. Therefore, we will need to investigate a little further to determine if some of these 18 employees’ number of hours worked had decreased after November 1st, when the 3 new full-time employees were hired.  Second, there are many different pay codes that the Fire Department uses to track hours and wages between the Fire division and EMS division. For WRS hours tracking purposes, if an employee is working a shift for a certain number of hours, the WRS hours calculation should not add in any premium pay hours that overlap with the actual hours worked. If an employee is working an 8-hour shift on a holiday and getting paid a standard rate, then any premium pay hours that are added on top of the standard rate hours should not be “double-counted” in computing WRS eligible hours worked. Therefore, we will need to review the actual pay codes and hours worked more closely for each of these 18  Village of Weston, WI John Jacobs Marathon County Finance Director employees, which could result in some of these “double-counted” hours to be removed out of WRS eligible working hours………..and therefore, reduce the total 2014 hours worked under the 1,200 hours threshold.  Third, if these 18 employees had been considered to be working over the 1,200 hours as of 1/1/2014, then SAFER would have had to contribute $35,246 in additional WRS fringe benefit costs to these employees, and this cost would have been charged to the 2014 budget. In addition, these 18 employees would have also contributed $23,930 from their net pay to be applied to their WRS benefits.  Fourth, the 2015 calculations shown here do NOT factor in any increase for the 1% POC wage rate increase for some of their pay codes. Therefore, if the hours worked do remain the same for 2015, the employer and employee costs shown here would be slightly higher than shown on this attachment.  Finally, one factor is a good thing for 2015, because the 2015 rates for both the employer and employee portions have decreased slightly. Therefore, the impact to the 2015 SAFER budget will be slightly lower, due to the reduction in the employer’s WRS rate. Also, the impact to the affected employees’ net pay will not be as great, due to the slight reduction in the employee WRS rate for 2015. POLICY QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER FOR THE SAFER BOARD OF DIRECTORS: 1) Will any POC employees be permitted to work over 1,200 hours annually? 2) If the answer to question #1 is “yes”, then how many employees will be permitted to work over 1,200 hours annually and be subject to WRS benefits? 3) If the answer to question #1 is “no”, then how many additional employees will need to be hired to make up for these hours of employees who were previously over 1,200 hours in 2014? 4) How will SAFER fund the potential cost increase of about $33,000 for WRS employer-paid benefits? This cost was not included in the 2015 original budget. 5) In addition to the 1,200 hours threshold for WRS benefits, there is a health insurance hour threshold also of about 1,560 annual hours (75% full-time equivalent for health insurance) under the ACA. Therefore per the 2014 POC employee listing shown here, there are 5 employees that worked over 1,560 hours in 2014, and which SAFER may be required to offer Health Insurance benefits to these employees. We need to look into this potential “additional” expense as well for the SAFER budget. If you have any answers or comments on this policy questions, please bring them along to the SAFER meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss them with the group.  SAFER District Estimated Cost of Wisconsin Retirement System benefits for Paid-on-Call Employees, which are eligible for WRS benefits 2014 Wis. Retirement Rates 2015 Wis. Retirement Rates 10.31% 7.00% 9.63% 6.80% Hours Wages Employer Share Employee Share Employer Share Employee Share Timothy Stieve 2,094.52 $ 31,754.03 $ 3,273.84 $ 2,222.78 $ 3,057.91 $ 2,159.27 Emily Dobeck 2,061.04 $ 23,814.39 $ 2,455.26 $ 1,667.01 $ 2,293.33 $ 1,619.38 Jason Brandt 2,054.52 $ 26,398.62 $ 2,721.70 $ 1,847.90 $ 2,542.19 $ 1,795.11 William Isham 1,646.75 $ 19,493.22 $ 2,009.75 $ 1,364.53 $ 1,877.20 $ 1,325.54 Edward Friend 1,570.27 $ 19,529.59 $ 2,013.50 $ 1,367.07 $ 1,880.70 $ 1,328.01 Christina Wimmer 1,475.76 $ 18,583.64 $ 1,915.97 $ 1,300.85 $ 1,789.60 $ 1,263.69 Landon Franck 1,472.01 $ 17,519.71 $ 1,806.28 $ 1,226.38 $ 1,687.15 $ 1,191.34 William Zick 1,467.51 $ 17,443.28 $ 1,798.40 $ 1,221.03 $ 1,679.79 $ 1,186.14 John Krueger 1,449.26 $ 17,694.73 $ 1,824.33 $ 1,238.63 $ 1,704.00 $ 1,203.24 Jaclyn Wagner 1,435.26 $ 17,536.68 $ 1,808.03 $ 1,227.57 $ 1,688.78 $ 1,192.49 Jaclyn Murray 1,409.00 $ 18,794.32 $ 1,937.69 $ 1,315.60 $ 1,809.89 $ 1,278.01 Idongesit Ukpong 1,387.76 $ 17,545.29 $ 1,808.92 $ 1,228.17 $ 1,689.61 $ 1,193.08 Daniel Conrad 1,319.03 $ 16,982.78 $ 1,750.92 $ 1,188.79 $ 1,635.44 $ 1,154.83 Darin Westover 1,319.00 $ 17,144.83 $ 1,767.63 $ 1,200.14 $ 1,651.05 $ 1,165.85 Chad Zerkle 1,307.25 $ 18,217.83 $ 1,878.26 $ 1,275.25 $ 1,754.38 $ 1,238.81 Kathleen Fritsch 1,305.50 $ 13,356.82 $ 1,377.09 $ 934.98 $ 1,286.26 $ 908.26 Dylan O'Connor 1,201.52 $ 16,142.16 $ 1,664.26 $ 1,129.95 $ 1,554.49 $ 1,097.67 Ebert Nitzke 1,190.51 $ 13,911.26 $ 1,434.25 $ 973.79 $ 1,339.65 $ 945.97 TOTALS $ 341,863.18 $ 35,246.08 $ 23,930.42 $ 32,921.42 $ 23,246.69 Minimum hours before eligible for Wis. Retirement System benefits = 1,200 hours Finance 1/22/2015  FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT THIS AGREEMENT FOR FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE MUTUAL AID is made and entered into as of this _____ day of _______________, 2015 (the “Agreement”), by and between the Village of Marathon City (“Marathon City”), through its Fire Department and the South Area Fire & Emergency Response District (“SAFER”) through its Fire Department; WHEREAS, it is the intention of Marathon City and SAFER to cooperate and give mutual aid in the area of fire and rescue services in the future; and WHEREAS, the parties recognize that response time is of utmost importance in preventing the loss of life and damage to property; and WHEREAS, this Agreement is entered into pursuant to the authority granted under Wis. Stat. § 66.0313, providing for intergovernmental cooperation by Marathon City and SAFER and shall be mutually binding upon execution of each of the parties. NOW, THEREFORE, it is agreed by and between Marathon City and SAFER that mutual aid for fire protection services (“Mutual Aid”) will be provided in accord with the conditions listed below: 1. RECITALS: The recitals set forth above are incorporated into the term of this Agreement as if fully set forth herein. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE AND TERMINATION: This Agreement shall be effective immediately upon the adoption by both Marathon City and SAFER and shall not terminate until at least thirty (30) days after the governing body of one of the parties informs the other party in writing of its decision to withdraw from this Agreement. -1-  3. GEOGRAPHIC MUTUAL AID AREA: Mutual aAd shall be provided by the parties in following geographic areas: a. SAFER shall provide Mutual Aid to Marathon City at no cost to Marathon City within the fire protection district boundaries served by Marathon City, which includes: a) the entirety of Marathon City; and b) those portions of the Towns of Cassel, Emmet, Marathon, Rib Falls, and Stettin, Marathon County, Wisconsin, to which Marathon City provides fire protection service on a contract basis as of the date of this agreement and as shown on Exhibit A, which is attached hereto and incorporated herein. b. Marathon City shall provide Mutual Aid at no cost to SAFER within the fire protection district boundaries served by SAFER, which includes: a) the entirety of the Town of Rib Mountain, Marathon County, Wisconsin; b) the entirety of the Village of Weston; and c) those portions of the Towns of Marathon and Stettin, Marathon County, Wisconsin, to which SAFER provides fire protection service on a contract basis as of the date of this agreement and as shown on the attached Exhibit A as being included in the Rib Mountain service area. 4. SCOPE: In the event that either party to this Agreement is unavailable to respond or requires additional resources for the provision of fire protection services, the other party shall, within their respective available resources and capabilities, provide Mutual Aid to the requesting party at no cost and respond to the alert with the fire apparatus and personnel requested. 5. COMPENSATION: Mutual Aid shall be rendered without charge to either party to this Agreement. -2-  5. RULES AND REGULATIONS: The respective fire chiefs, or officers in command, will request Mutual Aid through the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department Dispatch Center. The fire chiefs shall establish rules and regulations under which personnel and equipment will be deployed from their respective departments. 6. AUTHORIZATION: Marathon City and SAFER, by signing this Agreement, authorize their respective fire chiefs, or officers in command, to render or request Mutual Aid to the other party in this Agreement. Requests may be granted only to the extent personnel and equipment are available beyond that required to maintain adequate protection of its fire district. 7. LIABILITY: Each party shall assume the liability imposed by law for the operation of its own vehicles and equipment, the acts of its own firefighters and equipment, payroll and for the worker’s compensation benefits due to its own firefighters. 8. SEVERABILITY: The invalidity of any one or more phrases, sentences, clauses or sections in this Agreement shall not affect the remaining portions of this Agreement or other parts thereof. 9. ENTIRE UNDERSTANDING: This Agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties as set forth and supersedes all prior written and/or verbal agreements between the parties hereto. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Marathon City and SAFER each cause this instrument to be signed, sealed and attached on its behalf, by its duly authorized representatives, all as of the day and year first above written. [Signatures and acknowledgments on following page] -3- VILLAGE OF MARATHON CITY SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT By:_______________________________ By:_________________________________ John H. Small, President ATTEST: ATTEST: _________________________________ ____________________________________ Andrew R. Kurtz, Clerk/Administrator ________________________________ ____________________________________ Michael Tylinski, Fire Chief Steven Meilahn, Fire Chief -4-  Exhibit A -5-