MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING

OF FEBRUARY 21, 2005

 

Members of the Town Board present: Chairman Gene Ratzel; Supervisors Dave Scharlau, Jack Meinke, Chris Webb (5:15) and Dixie Chermack. Also present were the Clerk Lu Peet and the Town Attorney John Carlson.

Also in attendance: Donna Porter, Del Jerome-Ambulance Director, Marcia Wellnitz, Deputy Clerk Elaine Brustad, and Tom Renz-Fire Chief. (5:30)

 

Chairman Gene Ratzel called the meeting to order at 5:09PM.

 

Chairman Ratzel read the Notice and Amended Agenda as follows:

Special Town Board Meeting

Monday February 21, 2005 5:00PM at the town hall

Amended Agenda Items

  1. Employee Policy Handbook-Revisions to cover all employees-meet with Ambulance and Fire Department Heads on their input
  2. Bridge Rating Costs and Weight Limits
  3. Decision on Janitorial Service-How does the Town Board want to proceed with the issue
  4. Attorney John Carlson will be in attendance

Motion (Meinke/Scharlau) to approve the Notice and Amended Agenda as read. Chermack noted the date on the notice was incorrect. It should read February 21st instead of January 24, 2005.  So noted and motion carried.

 

1.   Employee Policy Handbook- Chairman Ratzel said Tom Renz, who was not yet at the meeting should         

be here a little later as he was on duty tonight. The Board was given a copy of the Town of Barnes Ambulance Service Policies and Procedures to review.  Chairman Ratzel asked how to address this in the handbook, what section should it be placed, and discussion followed if it should be an addendum or an annex or separate chapter.  Del asked if an extra copy of the Policy and Procedures could be shared with the two members of the Ambulance Department who were present and the Chairman said that would be appropriate. Del also asked if the plaque purchased for Marilee Ludgatis for her years of service in the Ambulance Department and was refused by her could be hung in the hall somewhere.  Gene said since technically this was not on the agenda it could not be discussed at this time, but they would take the plaque and decide what they should do with it. Gene again asked where everyone thought this should be placed within the TOB Employee Handbook.  Attorney John Carlson stated he felt that on page 3 of the Town of Barnes Employee Handbook, the Introductory Statement Section would be the appropriate place to mention this Policy Handbook for the Ambulance Department, and it should mention that anything not in the Ambulance Policies would be governed by the TOB Employee Handbook Policies. The Fire Department will have its own Policy Handbook also, but this would be addressed when Tom Renz got to the meeting.  It was felt the individual Handbooks were a good idea because if the need arose to change anything or add to them it would be easier to do that. Carlson added he felt the Board needed to go over each item in the Handbook along with the additional changes he had for the TOB Employee Handbook this evening.  Everyone felt Sections I and II were fine. In Section III, Item B, under definition of an �employee�, there was a question on the wording "Barnes Town Board Members". The definition reads: �All personnel receiving compensation for services rendered, other than Barnes Town Board Members.� The Board felt the wording was appropriate as Town Board Members mentioned here meant only that they were not considered employees.  Del asked that each Ambulance member be sent via mail a copy of the Handbook, so they could go over it during their March Ambulance Meeting. The decision was made to go over the Ambulance Handbook and make changes, and then approve the Handbook at a later date after everyone in the Ambulance Department had time to look it over. This would also not hold up the TOB Employee Handbook being approved at this meeting. Under Section III, Item D: definition of a Paramedic, was that the proper definition?  Del Jerome and Chris Webb felt it was the acceptable definition for a Paramedic. Under Section IV, Item B, the Board felt the reference to Annex B should be scratched and the current rates for services should not be mentioned here, but the actual section for Service Charges should remain. On pages 2 and 3, Item C, Pay and Benefits: the pay scale in the boxed-in section should be left out but the first two paragraphs are kept.  The dates listed in the first paragraph would be changed and it would read: The Ambulance Director will forward EMT and First Responder�s time reports to the Clerk/Treasurer on the 28th day of

 

each month. All employees will be paid monthly on the last day of the same month.  The Director will forward their time reports to the Board as directed by the Board.  It was mentioned we should formally open the floor for general discussion to allow the Ambulance members and others to speak.  Motion (Meinke/Webb) to open the floor for general discussion. Motion carried.   Tom Renz felt the Chain of Authority listed on page 2 should include the Incident Commander, discussion followed and the Board felt the reference to Chain of Authority was only for day-to-day operations and not for an emergency operation.  On page 3, Item C, regarding run pay and run reports the board agreed that paragraph should remain.  Chairman Ratzel mentioned the last sentence was a good one: �Reports are to be approved by the Ambulance Director before submission to the Town Clerk for payment.  He noted an issue had recently come up regarding this and that we dump a lot of work on the clerk having to go through all the sheets and determine what each employee gets paid and at what rate and is that something the Ambulance Department could do before it goes to the Clerk for payment?  Clerk Lu Peet felt it could be consolidated so that each employee had one sheet which listed how many runs, how many hours and so forth so it would be easier to figure out each employee�s gross pay for the month. Del Jerome thought that could be done. Marcia Wellnitz had a question on the next paragraph. With the new 24/7 sign up if someone would not be able to respond during their shift what would be the legal ramifications with that?  And why would that have to be so noted in their personnel file as described in this paragraph?  She stated she felt she didn�t want to sign up if that was going to happen.  Del asked if this could be discussed with the attorney and Gene said yes we should do so now.  Tom Renz mentioned about a recent call where he was getting ready to respond to it as a First Responder for the Ambulance Department.  He was actually called by the Sheriff's Department as his job to respond to the same call. He would not have been able to call anyone else because he had to leave right away. If he was scheduled to be on call that day he would not have been able to respond as a First Responder. Gene stated the 24/7 coverage would be mandated by the Medical Director as of March 1 of this year and many of the Ambulance Department employees were concerned if they were signed up and could not respond during their shift would there be legal repercussions for that?  Attorney John Carlson felt that since the employees were not going to be paid for the on-call time there would be not legal issues but he would check that out.  Attorney Carlson was going to call the Medical Director and find out why he was going further than what was state-wide mandated and let us know what he finds out.  Gene Ratzel asked that could it be in writing as there were some individuals very concerned about that. In the last paragraph of part C, page 3, the sentence �A request to attend Ambulance workshops or training should be presented to the Ambulance Director for approval prior to confirming attendance. Sections D and E were fine except it was felt that "EMT's" should be changed to "all Employees" as eligible for fee exempt Ambulance Service.  On page 4 under Item F, in the second paragraph the last sentence should be deleted because uniforms are not always worn. ID cards or tags will be incorporated into this paragraph as it was generally felt identification is mandatory for all employees to be recognizable by other agencies and the public. Regarding intoxicating beverages in the next paragraph, the last sentence should read: "Employees cannot drink any alcohol four hours before operating the ambulance or any other emergency vehicle, and they cannot have any trace of alcohol on their breath.  Employees are considered legally drunk if their blood alcohol level is .00 or greater. Item G: Equipment Issue and Maintenance should be combined with Item B on page 5. Items H, I, and J will be deleted. On page 5, Section VI, Item A was fine, Item B will need to be rewritten to included the

additional item G from page 4, Item C was to include the Ambulance Director "or his designee".  Item D was okay.  In Section VII- Operations, Item A- Scheduling, it was felt to add after Ambulance Director, �or its designee".  The balance of Section VII was ok through item D, with the exception of a few typographical errors.  In Item D, Intercept Protocol was changed to Intercept Guidelines, and that paragraph was to remain in the handbook.  In Item H, Helicopter Extraction, the first sentence was removed and also the last sentence was changed to read: "Eye and Head protection are mandatory prior to approaching a helicopter". Under Item F-Reports, the paragraph was fine except it was noted that two copies, not one of the run report is placed in the Ambulance Director's in-box at the end of duty.  Item G looked fine.  Under Item H, Emergency Vehicle Operation, there was discussion about exceeding the speed limit while driving an emergency vehicle.  The Board felt all reference to that should not be in the handbook because the Board felt it could be a liability issue if they were perceived to allow it.  The state

 

 

law reads it is proper with lights and sirens flashing to exceed the speed limit by twenty miles per hour.  Attorney Carlson said he would check that out and let the Board know if this is proper or not and what

the liability is for the Town.  It was also noted to check on the insurance requirements for the Emergency Vehicle Operation Course, and how often a refresher course would be required by them.  The last sentence was to be included which read: �A refresher course may be required every four years."  This could be changed if needed. On page 8 Item H, Backing and Intersection procedures said to refer to Annex I.  The Board felt the whole sentence should be deleted. Finally, under Item I, Accidents: the final sentence would end with "or in accordance with the Town of Barnes drug policy.  Attorney John Carlson spoke on the few changes he had for the Employee Policy Handbook, then Dixie Chermack said she had a couple of changes to go over also.  There were some grammatical errors pointed out, and on Section 202 "Access to Personnel Files" that section should be combined with Section 204, which is "Personnel Data Changes".  On the second draft for Section 205- Introductory Period, the employment classifications at the bottom were not in, but it was determined those were moved to 201-Employment Categories.  Section 203 should be combined with Section 206, but Section 207 � Performance Evaluation, would remain alone. John Carlson asked on Section 302, what was the number of hours allowed to be carried over, and Gene stated it was 24. Other changes were made on various pages to make the descriptions more clear.  Attorney John Carlson again spoke on changes and additions to be made to the various pages, which will be done by him for the final draft. Regarding the substance abuse policy, John Carlson said he used the CDL policy and just changed the wording so it would be applicable to everyone. 

 

2.   Bridge Rating Costs and Weight Limits � Chairman Ratzel stated this subject came up because          Len Schiller was quoted $1500.00 to $2000.00 by Cedar Corp. to rate the 4 bridges that we have.  If the rate is wrong and there is an incident the Town could be liable if not rated by a qualified engineer. If each bridge has the weight limits posted if would take the liability off the Town if there was a problem.  Decision was made to check first with Denny Brevak of the County and see if we could consolidate the work to be performed or if the county's inspection included the weight limits for each bridge. Once the information has been received we can put the item on the next meeting's agenda. 

 

3.   Decisions on Janitorial Service-How does the Town Board want to proceed with the issue.

We have a description of the work to be done in each building, and it was felt that five and one half hours would be needed weekly for cleaning of all areas.  Gene reviewed the reasons for switching to a contract service.  As an employee we are withholding, we pay social security and Medicare, and they are under our Worker's comp insurance, and if any additional people are assisting, they become our employees also as far as risk, so that is the primary reason we want to switch to a contract position.  Since we have no one now for cleaning service we should put it out on bids.                    

Motion (Chermack/Ratzel) to put the Janitorial Service out for contract bids. Motion Carried.

 

Chris Webb mentioned the Ambulance Investment Account and what should be done with it.  Since this item was not on the agenda, it was agreed it should be put on the agenda for a later meeting.

Motion (Meinke/Webb) to close the floor.  Motion Carried.

Motion (Meinke / Chermack) to adjourn the special town board meeting Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Elaine J. Brustad

Barnes DeputyTown Clerk

Dated this 21st day of February 2005