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

South Area Fire Emergency Response OFFICAL MEETING AGENDA OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS This regular meeting of the SAFER Board of Directors, composed of five (5) members, will convene at SAFER Station #1, 5901 Hummingbird Rd., Wausau, WI on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 6:00 P.M. A. Opening of Session. 1. Meeting called to order by Chairman Opall at 6:00 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 3. Clerk will take attendance and roll call. 4. Request for silencing of cellphones and other electronic devices. B. Correspondence/Comments from the public on issues, or matters which the SAFER Board of Directors has oversight over. C. Consent Items 5. Approval of prior meeting minutes from December 27, 2016 D. Business Items. 6. Discussion and possible action on Open Records Request Policy 7. Discussion and possible action on Check Signing Policy E. Staff Reports 8. Report from Fire Chief 9. Report from Administrators F. Remarks from the Board of Directors to set the next meeting date, as well as discuss items for the next meeting agenda. (No motions will be made, and no action will be taken related to policy affecting S.A.F.E.R. because of this agenda item): G. Adjourn This notice was revised and posted at the Rib Mountain and Weston Municipal Centers, and on the Village of Weston’s website at www.westonwi.gov, and was emailed to local media outlets (Print, TV, and Radio) on 1/9/17 @ 4:00 p.m. A quorum of members from other SAFER District, Town of Rib Mountain, and Village of Weston governmental bodies (boards, commissions, and committees) may attend the above noticed meeting to gather information. No actions will be taken by any other board, commission, or committee of SAFER / Town / Village, aside from the SAFER Board of Directors. Should a quorum of other government bodies be present, this would constitute a meeting pursuant to State ex rel. Badke v. Greendale Village Bd., 173 Wis.2d 553,494 N.W.2d 408 (1993). Wisconsin State Statutes require all agendas for public meetings be posted in final form, 24 hours prior to the meeting. Any posted agenda is subject to change up until 24 hours prior to the date and time of the meeting. Any person who has a qualifying disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that meeting or material to be in accessible location or format must contact the Rib Mountain Municipal Center at 715-842-0983, by 2pm the Friday prior to the meeting so any necessary arrangements can be made to accommodate each request.  OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT Board of Directors Regular Meeting Tuesday, December 27, 2016 @ 6:00 P.M. A. Call to Order The regular meeting of the South Area Fire and Emergency Response District Board of Directors was called to order at 6:00 PM by SAFER Chairman Allen Opall. MEMBERS PRESENT – Opall, White, Ermeling. Langenhahn. Pete Kachel was excused. Chief Savage, DC Finke, Administrator Rhoden were also present. There was one audience member. B. Correspondence/Comments from the public on issues related to the SAFER District There was no public comment or correspondence. C. Consent Items Approval of prior meeting minutes from October 13, 2016. Ermeling/Langenhahn to approve prior meeting minutes from October 13, 2016. Motion carries unanimously D. Business Items Budget update Chief Savage asked for direction from the board on how to proceed with the changes made to the SAFER budget by the Village of Weston Board of Trustees. Ermeling and White stated the changes will be addressed at the Village of Weston Board meeting in January, 2017. Chief Savage asked how SAFER payroll will be met in early 2017. Ermeling explained SAFER would receive quarterly payments for operational expenses at the beginning of each quarter. Chief Savage stated they met with representatives from Wipfli, the new fiscal agent for SAFER. Transcription position Chief Savage reported on the resignation of BC Schlagel and the need for a part time employee to take meeting minutes and post agendas for the SAFER Board and Commission. The BC position will remain open until the start of the second quarter in 2017. In the meantime, the hours will be covered by both part time employees, Chief Savage and DC Finke. There is also a need for a part time recording secretary. This position would require approximately 12-18 hours or less per month. Should SAFER continue to grow, this position might require additional hours up to and including a full-time employee. White/Langenhahn to approve the part time position of recording secretary not to exceed $3,024 per year. Riverside ALS Agreement Ermeling/White to approve Riverside ALS Agreement as presented. Motion carries unanimously. E. Staff Reports Report from Fire Chief The new fire truck is in service and is currently at station #2. He noted the ski hill is keeping them busy. DC Finke showed the Board one of the new defibrillators. He also informed the Board of recent new hires to SAFER. Report from Administrators Rhoden reported on the possible purchase of part of the Rib Mountain Municipal lot. F. Remarks from the Board of Directors to set the next meeting date, as well as discuss items for the next meeting agenda (No motions will be made, and no action will be taken related to policy affecting SAFER because of this agenda item): G. Adjourn Ermeling/Langenhahn/ to adjourn at 7:10 p.m. Motion carries unanimously.  SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT PUBLIC RECORDS POLICY ARTICLE 1 LEGAL CUSTODIAN (A) The Fire Chief is hereby designated as the legal custodian of the South Area Fire & Emergency Response District (“SAFER”) and is vested with full legal power to render decisions and carry out the SAFER’s public records responsibilities pursuant to Wis. Stats. Ch. 19, Subchapter II. (B) Paragraph (A) above notwithstanding, an elective official is the legal custodian of his or her records and the records of his or her office. However, an elective official may designate an employee to act as the legal custodian. (C) Paragraph (A) above notwithstanding, the chairperson of a committee of elective officials, or the chairperson’s designee, is the legal custodian of the records of the committee. Similarly, the co-chairpersons of a joint committee of elective officials, or their designees, are the legal custodians of the records of the committee. ARTICLE 2 PUBLIC ACCESS TO RECORDS (A) The public may obtain information and access to records in the custody of the Fire Chief or other appropriate legal custodian, make requests for records, or obtain copies of records, and learn the costs of obtaining copies of records from the Fire Chief or other appropriate legal custodian during the Fire Chief’s regular office hours of 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday at 5901 Hummingbird Road, Wausau, Wisconsin 54401. (B) The legal custodian may require supervision during inspection or may impose other reasonable restrictions on the manner of access to an original record if the record is irreplaceable or easily damaged. (C) SAFER is not required to create a new record by extracting information from existing records and compiling the information in a new format, except that: any requestor has a right to receive a copy of a record which is in the form of a comprehensible audio recording substantially as audible as the original or SAFER may instead provide a transcript of the recording to the requestor if he or she requests; any requestor has a right to receive a copy of information contained in the record assembled and reduced to written form on paper if it is not in a readily comprehensible form; and, if a record contains information that is subject to disclosure under Wis. Stats. §19.35(1)(a) or (am) and information that is not subject to such disclosure, SAFER shall provide the information that is subject to disclosure and delete the information that is not subject to disclosure from the record before release. (D) SAFER shall provide a requestor with facilities comparable to those used by its employees to inspect, copy and abstract the record during established office hours. However, SAFER is not required to purchase or lease photocopying, duplicating, photographic or other equipment or to provide a separate room for the inspection, copying or abstracting of records. (E) SAFER will impose a fee upon the requestor of a copy of a record which may not exceed the actual, necessary and direct cost of reproduction and transcription of the record, unless a fee is otherwise specifically established or authorized to be established by law. Actual, necessary and direct fees for public records requests shall be charged to requestors as follows: (1) The costs of photocopying shall be $0.25 per page. (2) Other methods of reproduction, including but not limited to photographic or transcriptions, shall be at cost. (3) Computer programming expenses required to respond to a request shall be at cost. (4) Mailing or shipping expenses required to respond to a request shall be at cost. (5) Staff time calculated on the pay rate of the lowest paid employee capable of performing the task. (6) Locating a record if the actual cost therefor exceeds $50.00. (7) The legal custodian shall estimate the cost of all applicable fees and require a prepayment if such estimate exceeds $50.00. (8) SAFER may provide copies of a record without charge or at a reduced charge where the legal custodian determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest. (9) Elected and appointed officials of SAFER shall not be required to pay for public records they may reasonably require for the proper performance of their official duties. (10) Continuing or ongoing requests are not possible. Requests can only be made and fulfilled for records that exist at the time the request is made. ARTICLE 3 ACCESS PROCEDURES (A) A request to inspect or copy a record shall be made to the legal custodian. (B) A request is deemed sufficient if it reasonably describes the requested record or the information requested. A request for a record without a reasonable limitation as to 2  subject matter or length of time represented by the record does not constitute a sufficient request and may be denied for those reasons. However, nothing herein shall prevent the legal custodian from contacting the record requestor in an attempt to better identify what the person is seeking. (C) Upon request for any record, a legal custodian, as soon as practicable and without unnecessary delay, shall either fulfill the request or notify the requestor of SAFER’s determination to deny the request in whole or in part and the reasons therefor. (D) A requestor may be required to show acceptable identification only when the requested record is being kept at a private residence or whenever security reasons or federal law or regulations require it. Otherwise, no request may be refused because the person making the request is unwilling to be identified or to state the purpose of the request. (E) A request may be made orally or in writing and need not be made in person. If a request is made orally, SAFER may deny the request orally unless a demand for a written statement of the reasons denying the request is made by the requestor within five (5) business days of the oral denial. If SAFER denies a written request in whole or in part, the requestor shall receive from SAFER a written statement of the reasons for denying the written request. Every written denial of a request by SAFER shall inform the requestor that, if the request for the record was made in writing, then the determination is subject to review by mandamus under Wis. Stats. §19.37(1) or upon application to the attorney general or a district attorney. (F) No record may be destroyed after the receipt of a request for inspection or copying of the record until after the request is granted or until at least sixty (60) days after the date that the request is denied or, if the requestor is a committed or incarcerated person, until at least ninety (90) days after the date that the request is denied. Upon written notice that an action relating to a record has been commenced under Wis. Stats. §19.37, the record may not be destroyed until after the order of the court in relation to such record is issued and the deadline for appealing that order has passed or, if appealed, until after the order of the court hearing the appeal is issued. If the court orders the production of any record and the order is not appealed, the record may not be destroyed until after the request for inspection or copying is granted. (G) In limited circumstances, a request can experience minor delay in order to properly notify a record subject pursuant to Wis. Stats. §19.356. ARTICLE 4 LIMITATIONS ON RIGHT TO ACCESS (A) Although there is a presumption of access to a record, the legal custodian must also consider whether there are any explicit rights or prohibitions to access in statute or case law and, finally, by a balancing test weighing possible harm against benefit to the public. (B) If a record contains both information that may be made public and information that may not be made public, the custodian shall provide the information that may be made public 3  and redact the information that may not be made public from the record before release. The Custodian shall confer with SAFER’s attorney prior to releasing any such record and shall follow the guidance of SAFER’s attorney when separating out the exempt material. If in the judgment of the custodian and SAFER’s attorney there is no feasible way to separate the exempt material from the nonexempt material without unreasonably jeopardizing nondisclosure of the exempt material, the entire record shall be withheld from disclosure. (C) A requestor has a greater right of access than the general public to any personally identifiable information pertaining to the individual in a record containing personally identifiable information that is maintained by SAFER. This policy was duly adopted by the SAFER Board of Directors on the ___ day of October, 2016. SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT By:_____________________________________ Allen Opall, Chairman ATTEST: _________________________ ____________, Clerk 4  POLICY NO. _____ A POLICY OF THE SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT RE: DESIGNATION OF AUTHORIZED PERSONS TO SIGN CHECKS/DRAFTS & TRANSFER FUNDS BETWEEN FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS WHEREAS, the South Area Fire & Emergency Response District (“SAFER”) must periodically issue checks; and WHEREAS, SAFER determines that its administrative tasks would be clarified and improved by the designation of certain offices within SAFER to be authorized to sign checks and transfer of funds between banks; and THEREFORE the SAFER Board of Directors hereby adopts the following policy: 1. The following offices are hereafter considered authorized positions with the authority to execute/sign checks/drafts/wire transfers on behalf of SAFER: the Chair of the SAFER Board of Directors, the Vice-Chair of the SAFER Board of Directors, the EMS Division Chief, the Fire Chief, and the Deputy Fire Chief. 2. At least two, but one of which must be the Chair or Vice Chair of the SAFER Board of Directors, of the authorized positions are necessary to act as signers. 3. The Fire Chief or the Deputy Fire Chief are authorized to initiate and approve transfers of funds from the SAFER Chase deposit account to the SAFER general checking account. The foregoing policy was duly adopted by the SAFER Board on the ____ day of January, 2017. SOUTH AREA FIRE & EMERGENCY RESPONSE DISTRICT By:_____________________________________ Allen Opall ATTEST: _______________________________ ________________________