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
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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
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