August 25, 2008

Fire board OKs volunteer ‘retirement’
Volunteers earn points for activities with fire district

By ELROY KING
of The Chronicle

     A Length of Service Awards program — in essence a retirement plan for volunteer firefighters with Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue District — was adopted by the board when it met Aug. 18.
     A resolution adopting the program was on the agenda at an earlier meeting in July, but at that time the board members had not seen the plan for the program.      Chief Bob Palmer in the interim had provided copies of the plan to all of the board members and most of the questions at the Monday meeting were about funding details and how the plan would be implemented, not the plan itself, which everyone on the board felt was necessary as an incentive to the volunteers.
     The volunteers earn points for a variety of activities — showing up at fires, drills, meetings, special activities, etc. — to be eligible for the program. They have to earn 160 points to qualify and at Monday’s meeting Palmer said volunteers with years of service would be vested up to two years of participation in the plan, which will not go into effect until next year.
     He said Father. Todd Unger, one of the volunteers, will keep track of the points earned.
     The cost to the district will depend on the participation of the volunteers and $16,500 has been budgeted. He said there are about 20 volunteers with the department now and about half of these are active participants.
     He will work on a plan for the EMS volunteers as well on how they will earn their points.
     Earlier Palmer had told the board the current method of reimbursing or compensating the volunteers runs afoul of IRS rules and regulations. A number of fire departments, including Odell, have already adopted such a plan.
     Before it is implemented, it must be reviewed and approved at a number of other levels.
     In other business the board:
     • got an update on the progress of transferring the ambulance billing from the current agency to the Springfield Fire Department. Most of the ambulance billings have already been moved and account records are being mailed to Springfield. The district is working on an electronic hookup with Springfield which will make the moving the billing records quicker.
     • were told the communications equipment purchased from money received from a FEMA grant has arrived and is being installed. He said he is still waiting word on two other grants that the district is seeking and he said he has heard nothing either positive or negative.
     • heard an update that says the plans for a new 911/EOC center are on hold at least for now. The partners involved in this project had been looking at the LaClinica building.
     • learned that a Fire-Med marketing project will begin this fall, coordinated by Dana Woods, office specialist. The marketing plan will go out to everyone in the district, including current Fire-Med members. There will be a change in enrollment times for membership and those who currently have coverage will have their policies prorated. The insurance keeps policy holders from having to pay out of pocket costs for ambulance transports not covered by normal insurance and includes LifeFlight transports. LifeFlight, who now flies out of the airport in Dallesport, will assist with the cost of the mass mailings.
     • got a report from Palmer on requests from some businesses
in the community for possible discounts on ambulance billings. He said the district does not offer discounts and he is currently working on an update in ambulance rates, which will come before the board soon as the next item to be considered as part of a fee ordinance recently approved by the board.
     • heard details of a draft of an organizational statement overview, something required by OSHA. He said that statement will include details of what the district does and does not do.
     • approved an update of an agreement between the district, the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Intertribal council that led to the placement of communications equipment on Stacker Butte last year. Since the original IGA there have been some new users of the equipment and there may be more so a new pact is needed.
     • agreed to loan one of the district’s ambulances to Rufus for up to seven days. Rufus had only one operational ambulance as of the night of the meeting and was to come to town to get the loaner that same night. Palmer said the district previously had similar agreements with Maupin ambulance.