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1994 Fire Personnel CITY OF NEW HOPE 4401 XYLON AVENUE NORTH HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA 55428 Fire Department Personnel Committee October 11, 1994 Meeting #1 Fire Station, 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER The New Hope Fire Personnel Committee met pursuant to due call and notice thereof; Chair Sherry Draper called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Quarnstrom, Smith, Draper Absent: Tare Ms. Draper said she did receive a visit from Jonathan Tate saying he would be in a training class the night of this meeting. Ms. Draper said she did remind Jonathan that he was the only firefighter representative on this committee and should try and be in attendance. MOTION Motion by Smith, seconded by Quarnstrom to approve the minutes of December 7, 1993 as written. All present voted in favor. Motion carried. RECRUITING Ms. Draper said we have had one committee member position open for about a PLAN year and Jonathan Tate's term expires at the end of the year. She said that COMMITTEE MEMBERS Jonathan has told her he is not interested in re-applying as he will be applying for the Lieutenant position. She said somehow interest has to be created for being a member of this committee. Chief Smith said he did bring it up at the membership meeting the first of October and the position should be posted again to give employees a chance to sign-up. Ms. Draper set October 12 to post the position, with the deadline of October 26 to respond and meeting November I to interview. It was the consensus of the committee to continue to limit the applicants to employees who have attained firefighter status. RECRUITING Ms. Draper reiterated that Henry Benton has resigned his position as Lieutenant. PLAN FOR She said the expiration of that term is June, 1995 so there is nine months left of OFFICERS that term. She said in the past, a temporary appointment was made until the term expired and recruiting was started right away for a permanent appointment. The following schedule for recruiting was set: post - November 8; deadline - November 29 and interview candidates at the December 6 Personnel Committee meeting. OTHER BUSINESS Ms. Draper asked Chief Smith to give a staffing level and overview of what was occurring in the Fire Department since this committee last met. Chief Smith said there are currently 31 firefighters in the department. He said three firefighters have resigned in the last three months: Henry Benton, Rob Dallman, and Tom Bramwell. Chief Smith went on to say that at the October membership meeting, he did encourage the firefighters to participate in the committee as it is their opportunity for representation. Chief Smith stated the Fire Department held an Open House on October 5 that Fire Personnel Committee October 11, 1994 Page 1 was well attended by the community. He said the DARE officers were in attendance with their DARE vehicle and they set up a booth with literature. He said the Building Official also set up a booth. Chief Smith stated that the department ran out of their lump sum agreement with the City the first week of September. Commissioner Quarnstrom asked why the money had run out. Chief Smith stated there were more fire runs, more people on staff, and more activities. He said the department had a huge amount of training expenses also as there were 12 - 15 people who went through Firefighter II training which entails about 75 hours for each firefighter. He said EMT training will be curtailed next year and that particular training will be limited to about two a year. Chief Smith said that two probationary firefighters passed their training and four more will be going through testing. Ms. Draper asked Chief Smith about future recruiting. He said it worked out well to hire six people in a block and would like to do that at the same time next year when other cities do their recruiting. Chief Smith brought the committee up to date on the consolidation issue. He said he feels the two City Managers (New Hope and Crystal) are working to get a bill formulated to submit to the Legislature that should satisfy the needs of the two relief associations. He said New Hope City Council has taken a stand that there will be no increase in the Fire Department budget until the consolidation issue is settled. ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Chief Smith, seconded by Commissioner Quarnstrom to adjourn the meeting. The Fire Personnel Committee adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sherry Draper Staff Liaison Fire Personnel Committee October 11, 1994 ~age 2 CITY OF NEW HOPE 4401 XYLON AVENUE NORTH HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA 55428 Fire Department Personnel Committee November 1, 1994 Meeting #2 Fire Station, 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER The New Hope Fire Personnel Committee met pursuant to due call and notice thereof; Chair Sherry Draper called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Quarnstrom, Smith, Draper Absent: Tate MOTION Motion by Quarnstrom, seconded by Smith to approve the minutes of October 11, 1994 as written. All present voted in favor. Motion carried. RECRUITING Sherry Draper said she had received a written resignation from Jon Tate, due to PLAN his appointment to the Lieutenant position. Following discussion, the Committee COMMITTEE MEMBERS decided to post this opening immediately, with a short period for response, so that a full committee would be in place for interviewing the officer candidates on December 6. The following recruiting schedule was set: post -November 2, deadline - November 9, interview - week of November 14, possibly during the day. Sherry also said the Personnel Board's representative to this committee for 1995/96 would be discussed at its next meeting on November 10. INTERVIEWS Committee members reviewed and revised the previous list of interview questions. FOR COMMITTEE They then interviewed the two candidates who applied before, the application MEMBERS deadline: Tim Wallace and Kathy Hammerseng. Both candidates expressed an interest in either the one-year remaining term or the new two-year term. MOTION Motion was made by Commissioner Quarnstrom, seconded by Chief Smith to certify both candidates, Voting in favor: All. Motion carried Sherry Draper will discuss the appointment decision with the City Manager. TEMPORARY FIRE Jori Tate's temporary appointment to the Lieutenant position was announced. It LIEUTENANT is effective from October 20 to December 31, 1994. APPOINTMENT RECRUITING FOR As the dates for officer recruiting had already been set, the only item for OFFICERS discussion was the posting notices. It was determined that for the Lieutenant position only, applications would be considered from "those who are relatively close to meeting all the requirements." Chief Smith suggested, and all agreed, that the December 6 meeting begin at 6:00 so there would be time to train new committee members on the interviewing process prior to meeting with the officer candidates. Fire Personnel Committee November 1, 1994 Page I OTHER BUSINESS Chief Smith noted that probationary firefighter Jim Mason had resigned. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business to come before the Committee, the Fire Personnel Committee adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sherry Draper Staff Liaison Fire Personnel Committee November 1, 1994 Page 2 CITY OF NEW HOPE 4401 XYLON AVENUE NORTH HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA 55428 Fire Department Personnel Committee December 6, 1994 Meeting #3 Fire Station, 6:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER The New Hope Fire Personnel Committee met pursuant to due call and notice thereof; Chair Sherry Draper called the meeting to order at 6:20 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Draper, Quarnstrom, Smith, Hammerseng, Wallace Absent: None MOTION Motion by Dick Quarnstrom, seconded by Doug Smith to approve the minutes of November 1, 1994 as written. All present voted in favor. Motion carried. WELCOME NEW For the record, Chair Draper reviewed the appointment process of new Committee COMMITTEE members. Following the November 1 interviews, Kathy Hammerseng was MEMBERS appointed to fill the first opening, a remaining one-year term. The Committee met again on November 16 to interview Don Kirchoffner, an additional applicant for the second opening created by Jon Tate's resignation. Tim Wallace was appointed to this new two-year term. The Committee then welcomed new members Kathy Hammerseng and Tim Wallace. INTERVIEW All Committee members reviewed the officer interview questions and scoring TRAINING sheets. Tim Wallace asked what classes qualified for Hazmat I and II credit. Chief Smith said he would ask the Training Officer for clarification. It was noted that job descriptions may need to be rewritten to clarify the Hazmat training requirements. The Committee discussed setting a minimum "passing" interview score for officer positions. Chair Draper said she would research the files for history from past interviews. INTERVIEWS FOR The Committee interviewed Jon Tale for the Lieutenant position and Mike Bennett OFFICERS and Ron Bjorklund for the two Captain positions. All candidates were incumbents and all were certified for reappointment. COMMITTEE CHAIR Chair Draper reported the Personnel Board had reappointed her as Chair of the Fire APPOINTMENT Personnel Committee for another two-year term beginning January 1, 1995. OTHER BUSINESS Chief Smith stated that other departments are implementing physical agility testing for active firefighters and he wanted the Committee to be aware there was a firefighter who did not pass the test. Since Kathy Hammerseng participated in this testing as a recruit, Smith asked for her comments. She said she was very Fire Personnel Committee December 6, 1994 Page I impressed in how the testing was handled and she believed it to be very related to a fire scene. She also stated she did not think it was gender biased in any way. The Committee did not set a next meeting date. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business to come before the Committee, the Fire Personnel Committee adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sherry Draper Staff Liaison Fire Personnel Committee December 6, 1994 Page 2