Ochopee FCD Advisory Board Minutes 10/12/20110
OCHOPEE FIRE CONTROL DISTRICT
ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
HELD ON OCTOBER 12; 2011
In attendance were the following:
Alan McLaughlin, Fire Chief, Ochopee Fire Control District
Caleb Morris, Captain, Ochopee Fire Control District
Linda Swisher, Administrative Secretary, Ochopee Fire Control District
Ronald Gilbert, Chairman, Port of the Islands Advisory Board Member
James Simmons, Port of the Islands Advisory Board Member
Anthony Davis, Port of the Islands Advisory Board Member
The meeting came to order at 4PM.
OLD BUSINESS
Approval of the Bond Letter
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Ron Gilbert — Noticed that the specific amounts and the years of repayment had been left out
of the revised letter was that purposely done?
Chief McLaughlin — Yes, that information was left out because I don't know who is going to set
the amount and time of repayment.
Ron Gilbert — Will you have any input to it.
Chief McLaughlin — No I don't believe I do that will be set by someone at the County. I believe it
is going to be the tax appraiser. The budget office will recommend what that set rate will be.
The final approval for that when the bond comes back has to go by recommendation of the
budget office to the Board of County Commissioners when it goes up for the bond to be placed
on the ballot.
Ron Gilbert — He wants to make sure it was stretched out at least four years so the payment
won't be high.
Chief McLaughlin — They might even want to stretch it even longer than that more like five or
six years. He remarked that Isles of Capri Fire District had a bond and repayment was stretched
over seven years.
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Ron Gilbert -- But we will get the money up front.
Chief McLaughlin — Yes, that's why he was told to approach it as a bond issue because the
money comes upfront and then payment is regulated over so many years.
Approval of September 29, 2011 Minutes
A motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the minutes of 9 -30 -11 as read.
Back to the Bond Letter
Chief McLaughlin — Everyone needs to review the bond letter from Ron Gilbert then if you
approve the letter he will attach it to a Request for Legal Services Form so it can be sent on to
the County Attorney's Office. Facility Maintenance will probably check the building again to see
if the amount needed to remodel is sufficient. If the job is done for less than the bond the
difference would be returned so the bond payment and time could fluctuate.
James Simmons — Asked wasn't the presidential preferential ballot moved up to January?
Chief McLaughlin — He was not sure but he thinks it has been moved to January.
The month of February was removed from the bond letter.
Chief McLaughlin --- He said that the whole process takes approximately 90 days to get it on the
ballot.
Anthony Davis made a motion to approve and present the bond letter to the County Attorney's
Office. It was seconded by Jim Simmons the motion was passed and the Chairman Ronald
Gilbert signed the bond letter.
NEW BUSINESS
Chief McLaughlin —The union contract was signed and approved. The County Attorney's Office,
Human Resources and the Budget Office signed off on this contract then when it came time to
adjust the payroll to conform to the contract it turned out that it will cost $26,000 more to
implement the changes. So to correct the problem he created a furlough calendar. It works
out to four furlough days per person someone is off every Tuesday starting 10 -25 -11 to 9- 18 -12.
There is an easy correction for this problem he made an attempt but the union turned it down.
He thinks there is a possibility that the contract could be reopened specifically pertaining to the
articles that relate to the payroll. Per Human Resources we can no longer average the Fire
Personnel's payroll so per the contract we would have to pay 19 hours of overtime each week
there is 72 hours.
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Chief McLaughlin — But per FLSA we could figure they payroll on a 21 day cycle at 159 hours
with 9 hours over time this action will not have to go to the Board we are just amending an
article. The impact to the budget without furloughing people would be an extra $26,000
because it not only raised the overtime rate it raises FICA, Social Security, Retirement Benefits
everything across the board. He was waiting for the official language from the County
Attorney's Office so that he can circulate the information to the union members. This re-
opening would only be an amendment to the contract to fix this problem.
Chief McLaughlin — The water tender will have a midpoint inspection in January which means in
less than 90 days the vehicle could be completed with possible delivery at the end of February
or early March.
Anthony Davis — He asked if Mayor Hamilton had appointed any one from Everglades City to
the Advisory Board.
Chief McLaughlin — No, we need to move forward.
Anthony Davis — He has not seen Bob Miller for the last two weeks. He will hopefully see him
one day this week. He will talk to Bob Miller to see if he is still interested or if he wants to meet
with Sammy or do this on his own.
Chief McLaughlin — He received an e-mail from Ian Mitchell asking if Frank Hawkins was in or
out. You can move forward with'Frank Hawkins if he is still interested.
Ron Gilbert — Frank Hawkins is still interested in serving on the advisory board.
Anthony Davis — He was holding off to see if Bob Miller wanted to pursue a position on the
board either as a nominee of the Mayor or on his own. But this goes back to the board do we
want to do something with Frank Hawkins.
Chief McLaughlin — You can make that recommendation as a board to approve both Frank
Hawkins and Bob Miller for the Advisory Board. Franks paper work is already in they are just
waiting for you to recommend him for the advisory board.
Linda Swisher — You just need to put a letter together recommending him then the advisory
board approves it and the Chairman signs it.
Anthony Davis — He was hoping Bob Miler would just come on but he wanted to go through the
Mayor.
Ron Gilbert — He told Anthony Davis to continue to pursue Bob Miller as a candidate for the
Advisory Board.
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Ron Gilbert made a recommendation to accept Frank Hawkins to the Ochopee Advisory Board it
was seconded and passed.
James Simmons — I wonder if your union members know what happened to East Naples they
cut their wages and now they are going to lay off four firefighters.
Chief McLaughlin — They are aware of what is going on it was rumored that Golden Gate Fire
District is laying off 12 personnel but this is going on all over the State.
Ron Gilbert — It's said though it is going to take a major catastrophe for them to realize they
need those people.
Chief McLaughlin — As the property appraiser continues to devaluate properties aggressively
due to the recession the impact will be the public services are going away.
Anthony Davis — Property appraisal is an arbitrary number.
Chief McLaughlin — Big Corkscrew Islands Fire District lost approximately 70% of their budget
due to devaluation of property, short sales and foreclosures.
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting it was seconded then passed ending at 4:30PM.
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Ronald Gilbert, Chairman
Ochopee Fire Control District Advisory Board
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