March 2008
As with last month, a vast majority of my time has been committed to working with the El Dorado County Grand Jury, Glen Eastman C.P.A., Joe Harn, Keely Gonzalez Debbie Barfield and other staff at the County Auditor/Controller's office the USFS and the El Dorado County District Attorneys office in their investigation of past Garden Valley Fire Protection District financial matters. I meet daily with Chairman Bob Rogers at the District office and converse with him via telephone on most evenings in regard to personnel, financial and legal issues. I assist Board member Jo Cleaver on her efforts to organize the District's office and record keeping system. Board members Manard and Clark visit the office numerous times a week to meet with me on District issues.
The recent events on the Administration side of the Department have been stressful, frustrating and a lot of work for all of us. The issues of the past are being aggressively reconciled one by one and we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I thank all who have put in many hours and have helped to bring this experience to a close so that we may move forward in our primary responsibility: Quality, professional and accountable emergency service delivery to the residents and visitors to the Garden Valley Fire Protection District.
I had the privilege of attending the Garden Valley Grange meeting as a speaker, along with Chief Greg Schwab to discuss and answer questions on the operations of the EMS JPA, the GVFPD and the Georgetown ambulance.
I attended the County Fire Chiefs/ JPA board of Directors meeting in Placerville.
We have contracted Ms. Jessica Russell to assist us with payroll, vendor payments and general accounting support. Ms. Russell is currently scheduled in at the office on every Thursday.
Interviews were conducted for the new shift captain's position. All 3 candidates did well and would all have done a good job in the position. After much thought, review, and discussion with references and past employers, Jeff Burch was asked to accept the position. Jeff Burch will serve a one year probationary period. I will be meeting with Jeff after March 15 to set up his professional personal development program for this position.
Testing was conducted for the new shift engineer position. 9 applicants participated in the testing process which included a engineer knowledge based written test, an extensive physical agility test, an interview board made up of out of the area fire service professionals and a reference/past employer check. Charles Frost was asked to accept the position. Charles is scheduled to start work on March.
I traveled to Laughlin, Nevada to attend the Region 4 Incident Management Teams annual business meeting. Subjects presented included the 2007 Cascade Fire (ID) camp burnover (safety), new cost-containment procedures, supply cache ordering changes and team organization breakout sessions.
We received a $1500 donation from the Divide Health Care Auxiliary to be used for an EMS related project or purpose. The funds were raised at their Xmas bazaar. Staff will be consulted on what they think their needs are.
Davison Chief Szczepanik and I will travel to the USFS headquarters in Vallejo on March 13 to enter into negotiations on the settling of the All-Risk funds issue.
I responded to emergency dispatches as needed and attended department training when available.
We held the mandatory monthly staff meeting on Wednesday, March 4, 2008. In attendance were: myself, A/C Bement, D/C Szczepanik, Capt Buchmiller, Eng Norman, and Eng Frost. Issues discussed included the new shift schedule, modifications to Squad 51, responsibilities of the Shift Captain and Engineer, response procedures and items of general interest. Not present were: Jeff Burch (at training), Rich Waters (sick), and Paul Bado (unknown).
I was appointed to the El Dorado County Fire Chief 300 level peer review Board for Wildland Fire qualifications.
Respectfully submitted,
William Dekker, Fire Chief
3/6/08
