County Grand Jury reports on IFPD

For the third time in three years, a Riverside County Grand Jury has investigated and issued a report about the operations of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD).

The Grand Jury addressed five separate issues. The general themes were how the board conducts its business and oversight of operations; although one specific recommendation concerned Commissioner Dr. Charles “Chip” Schelly’s dual relationship as commissioner and paid-call firefighter.

The preponderance of the report addressed the IFPD Commission’s responsibilities for financial oversight of the agency’s operation and its own responsibilities as a Brown Act body.

Recommendations No. 4 (Brown Act compliance) and No. 6 (a cost analysis of services) are essentially a reiteration of recommendations from 2008, which the Grand Jury felt had not been effectively handled.

The six areas, which the Grand Jury investigated and issued recommendations for are summarized below:

1.Inadequate Financial Bookkeeping System — implement a double-entry bookkeeping system for recording financial transactions and internal controls to maintain adequate records

2. and 3. Annual Audits and Lack of Compliance with Requirements of AR IFPD #107 — [commission] members attend mandatory annual training to review and discuss the requirements in AR IFPD #107

4.Violation of the Brown Act — comply with the provisions of the Brown Act at all times and receive annual training on the Brown Act to minimize any violations

5. Conflict of Interest by a Board Member — elected official on the IFPD Board must resolve the current conflict of interest

6. Use of Volunteers and/or Cal-Fire — hire a consulting firm to conduct a cost analysis for:

• IFPD and Cal-Fire

• Ambulance Service

• Career Firefighters and Volunteers

As of this posting, Friday afternoon, none of the commissioners were available to comment on the report.

Since 2005, Riverside Grand Juries have issued four reports about the county Sheriff’s Department and two reports each on the Moreno Valley School District and the Blythe Airport. These are the only other public agencies to have been investigated more than once during the past six years.

Click here to download the Grand Jury Report.

IFPD Special Mtg tomorrow

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District will hold a special meeting tomorrow, March 4 at 1 p.m. The meeting will be in the conference at the station and the subject is the purchase of the Zoll Medical equipment.

special IFPD meeting today, Saturday

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District commission will hold a special meeting today at 5:30.

The commission will address a specific offer from Zoll Medical for the equipment, originally purchased in 2008.

In closed session, the commission will discuss the retirement of Fire Chief Steve Kunkle.

See ya there?

IFPD Special Mtg Feb. 17 Agenda

Here is the agenda for tomorrow's IFPD special meeting.

IDYLLWILD FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT

AGENDA FOR SPECIAL MEETING

~ FEBRUARY 17, 2010 ~

The meeting is held at the Idyllwild Fire Station, 54160 Maranantha Drive. (No Workshop) Meeting begins @ 5:30 PM. The Board may approve or take action on items contained in the Discussion Calendar.

CALL TO ORDER

ROLL CALL: Riggi – Killingsworth – Schelly – Capparelli - Stigall – Mulhall – Coopersmith(s)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Swearing in of New Interim Fire Chief Mike Mulhall

CITIZENS COMMENTS: Citizens may comment on any matter as contained on the Special Meeting Agenda. Individual citizen’s comments will be contained to five (5) minutes each as timed by a member of the board. *Optional Request* Please state your name and address before making comment.

* * * * See action items listed separately * * * * *

NO EXECUTIVE/CLOSED SESSION SCHEDULED.

Adjournment

The next regularly scheduled IFPD Board Meeting is Tuesday, March 9^, 2010 at 5:30 pm workshop/6:00 pm Meeting

ACTION ITEMS

1. Posting of permanent Chief’s Position: Advertising and offer to accept applications for Chief’s Position. Application for this position will be accepted from within the ranks as well as outside.
2. Final Settlement for Chief Kunkle: Amount due to Retiring Chief Kunkle for accrued sick and vacation pay. Final regular paycheck to occur with payroll processed in March 2010.
3. PERS issues: Commissioner Schelly requested report on reason for increase in amounts paid to PERS occurring over the last several years.
4. Breakdown of assets and value of those assets: Commissioner Schelly requested listing of individual items and their value.
5. Board Orientation Packet: inclusion of other items
6. Recommendation to resolve temporary staffing shortage: The filling of temporary vacancies in the staff resulting from Cpt. Mulhall’s promotion to Interim Chief.
7. Request by the Board for date and signature on all documents by person creating them: As indicated.
8. Posting of Office Assistant Position: Placement of advertising and job description to fill this position.
9. Legal Billing Issue: Review of voided check and correspondence.
10. Approve and Accept Audits: Approval and Acceptance of prior years (June 30^th 2004 thru 2008) audits.
11. IFPD Resolution #490: Credit Card information to change Chief Financial Officer to Contact Person.
12. IFPD Resolution #114: Schedule of Offenses & Penalties Policy (proofreading corrections only)
13. IFPD Policy #110: General Rules and Regulations Policy. Update on Status. (proofreading corrections only)
14. Hemet Dispatch Report: (LaMont): Update of progress and discussion of costs.
15. Employee Roster and Certification: Update on status of report.
16. Resolution of new bank signature cards: Update signatures to include Interim Chief Mike Mulhall and remove retiring Chief Steve Kunkle.

IFPD Interim Chief

Last night, the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) commission selected Capt. Mike Mulhall to be the interim fire chief until a permanent replacement for recently retired Chief Steve Kunkle is selected.

The commission also said it would be announcing the vacancy and using normal fire chief chanels (such as journals) to solicit applicants.

Mulhall is a 25-year IFPD veteran. He has served as chief during his tenure and most recently was the district's training officer.

The meeting began with several citizens offering their suggestions to the Commission. For example, Commissioner Dr. "Sweetie" Schelly's wife, Leslie, urged them to consider a person who would work with the staff, understand the district's financial issues and care for its equipment.

Pine Cove resident Jeff Smith suggested the commission postpone the decision until it could discuss its options with riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins and Hemet Fire Chief Matt Shobert.

And Nancy Borchers of Pine Cove reminded the commission that Pine Cove supports the ambulance contract through its payments and hoped the commission would select an individual who would support the contract with adequately trained and capable staff.

Stay tuned later today to see or hear about the agenda for IFPD's special meeting scheduled for 5:30 pm, tomorrow, Feb. 17 at the fire station.

IFPD agenda for Monday, Feb. 15 @ 5:30 pm

PUBLIC NOTICE

Posted Sunday, 2-14-2010

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Idyllwild Fire Protection District

Closed Meeting Agenda

Monday, February 15, 2010

The IFPD Board of Commissioners will be meeting in closed session on Monday, 02-15-2010 at 5:30 PST. The purpose of this meeting will be to address the unanticipated retirement of Chief Steve Kunkle (2-15-2010.)

The board will be meeting to discuss the personnel issues in regards to Mr Kunkle’s departure and the appointment of an Interim Chief. The current Interim Chief is Captain Jim Reyes. A new Interim Chief may or may not be appointed at this closed session meeting depending on action taken.

In accordance with The Brown Act the result of the closed session meeting will be made public at all usual posting sites and by the local media (The Town Crier.) The “usual posting sites” are the fire department, the Post Office, Town Hall, and online at The Town Crier.

Jeannine Stigall

IFPD Board President

General rules..... http://www.thefirstamendment.org/brownact.html

____________________________________________________________________

CLOSED MEETINGS

Closed meetings are the exception and permitted only if they meet defined purposes and follow special requirements (§§ 54954, 54954.2, 54954.5, 54957.7).

EVEN AT CLOSED MEETINGS...

Special public notice and agenda requirements apply (§§ 54954, 54954.2, 54954.5, 54957.7).

All actions taken and all votes in closed session must be publicly reported orally or in writing within 24 hours (§ 54957.1(b)), and copies of any contracts or settlements approved must be made available promptly (§ 54957.1(b),(c)).

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IFPD meeting Dec 14 or wait Dec 15 or …

I received the agenda for the IFPD special meeting this week. At the Dec. 8 meeting, the commissioners said the meeting would be 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 15. However, the agenda I received said the meeting would be Monday, Dec. 14.

I have asked three different commissioners who confirm it is Dec. 15, but I have not received a revised agenda and don't know what's posted at the station.

As of 2 p.m., IFPD has the agenda posted and dated for Dec. 14. I guess that's when the meeting is despite what the commissioners say or said. Since it is a special meeting, they only need 24 hours to post the agenda, so we might see the posted one taken down Monday and a new one up that afternoon.

Fortunately I work close to station and can show up on both days, sorry for those of you who don't, may a call to 659-2153 will help.

Anyways, here the proposed agenda:

IDYLLWILD FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT

AGENDA FOR SPECIAL MEETING

December 14, 2009. (5:30 p.m.)

The meeting is held at the Idyllwild Fire Station, 54160 Maranatha Dr. The Board may approve or take action on items contained in the discussion Calendar.

Call to Order:

Roll Call:

1. Riggi – Killingsworth –Schelly – Capparelli – Charles Stigall - Kunkle – Coopersmith

Pledge of Allegiance:

Consent Calendar:

1. None

Reports:

1. Presidents

2. Vice Presidents

3. Chief

Correspondence:

As Included

Action Items:

1. 2009 / 2010 Budget Review
2. Zoll Information Update

Discussion Items:

1. None.

Citizen Comments:

Citizens may comment on any matter as contained on the special meeting agenda.

Executive / Closed Session:

1. None Scheduled.

Adjournment:

If you challenge any decision in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public meeting described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to this agency at, or prior to, the public meeting.

IFPD meeting Dec. 8, 2009

From the left, Jeannine Charles-Stigall, Dr. Charles "Chip" Schelly, Peter Capparelli and Ben Killingsworth.

At the beginning of last night’s Idyllwild Fire Protection District meeting, the new commissioners were sworn into office.

Commissioner and Treasurer Killingsworth has been serving, but he begins a new elected four-year term now. (He began his service through appointment to replace former commissioner Dr. Emily Shaw.)

The meeting began at 5:30 p.m. and ended shortly after 8 p.m., It was raucous, funny, amiable, angry, long, sometimes tedious, informative and all in a good spirit. Quite a humbling and startling IFPD meeting, but an impressive start.

A new era seems to be dawning on IFPD. All five commissioners spoke out and frequently during the meeting. The President’s voice was not the only one the public heard.

Secondly, the commission seems quite willing and capable of working in front of the public and, most importantly, comfortable doing so without unanimity.

Thirdly, they are already taking steps to establish their open personality and commitment to the Brown Act procedures.

The commission scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m., next Tuesday, Dec. 15. Killingsworth urged this upon his colleagues to get better acquainted with the agency’s budget and prepare for possible budget problems in the last half of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

In addition, the commission appointed an ad hoc committee to investigate the situation with Zoll Medical over the attempted purchase of $100,000 of equipment. In August, the commission recommended keeping the Autopulse untis and returning the rest of the equipment.

Zoll has requested full payment and IFPD still lacks authority to use the Autopulse equipment.

Commissioners Charles-Stigall and Schelly volunteered to pursue the issue and may have an interim report for the special meeting.

Schelly proposed to open up information for t he public through the use of IFPD’s Web site for posting agenda, minutes and commissioner packages. As an example of the commission’s receptivity of the Brown Act and open government, the majority supported Schelly’s reforms, but voted 3-2 to put them on the genda for the January meeting so the public would be aware of them in advance of adoption.

Although long, it was a good meeting. More details will be in the story for the print edition. Have to prepare for the Editor’s meeting at 8:30 a.m., Please come if you have time, see ya at Café Aroma.

IFPD budget meeting

NEWS:

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District Commission has scheduled its second special meeting of the week. Tomorrow at 1 p.m. the commission will hold review of its budget.

I assume they will review the 2009-10 budget. The commission adopted a preliminary 2009-10 budget on June 18. A final budget must be adopted before Oct. 1.

This meeting is needed. Section 13894 of the state health and Safety Code requires fire districts to hold these meetings.

For those who only want the facts, stop reading and go to the meeting. In the next few paragraphs, I plan to express some opinion on the scheduling of the meeting and how I relate this to the commission’s concern about public involvement.


OPINION:

Background
On July 9, the Fire Chief Steve Kunkle published a “Public Notice of a Public Hearing”. The notice started that the hearing would be held on Sept. 8.

The district has moved their regularly scheduled monthly meetings to the second Tuesday of the month. So they should have met, two days ago. Unfortunately, the Commission didn’t post an agenda for the meeting.

IFPD President Paul Riggi canceled the regular meeting and scheduled a special meeting for tonight. The only item on the agenda for tonight is “Parcel Fees”. Now I don’t know if the commission has to ratify the current level, plans on raising them or is taking Commissioner-elect Schelly advice and lowering the fees.

But there is no mention of a budget review on tonight’s agenda.


This afternoon, I received notification that a special meeting would be held tomorrow at 1 to discuss “Budget review”. I get these notifications because I’ve requested them, requested in writing, and you can, too.

Dozens of people attended the June 18 meeting.

My opinion:
Regardless government budgets are in bad shape this year. In June, Commissioner Killingsworth indicated it was easier to over estimate revenues and cut expenditures later if necessary.

Since thin, the state has decided to borrow up to 8 percent of special district property tax revenues this year. IFPD might, no one knows yet for sure, lose $50,000 to $80,000.

Don’t you want to know how they’ll adjust for that. One Captain is retiring but he is being replaced. Word on the street is two reserves were promoted, I can’t confirm that.

Why not advertise the meeting for a week and the hold it in the evening. The final budget is supposed to be approved by Oct. 1. That’s 20 days from now.

Why are they making it hard for you or your friends to attend this meeting? Do they want to pass the budget in private, which is what they tried to do in June before they were outed? Are you the public persona non grata when comes to collecting and spending your tax dollars?

This is the meeting notice:

The Special Meeting will be held at the Idyllwild Fire Station, 54160 Maranatha Drive at 1:00 p.m.
[The date, Sept. 11, is in the letterhead.]

CALL TO ORDER:
ROLL CALL:
1. McWilliams – Vaught – Parker – Riggi – Killingsworth -Kunkle – Coppersmith(s)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

CONSENT CALENDAR:
1. None

CITIZENS COMMENTS:

REPORTS:
1. None

CORRESPONDENCE: None

ACTION ITEMS:
1. Budget Review

DISCUSSION ITEMS:
1. None

EXECUTIVE/CLOSED SESSION:
1. None

ADJOURNMENT:

IFPD reschedules its meeting

For fire departments, fall can be a very disruptive and random time of year bringing the advent of "fire season"

IFPD Commission Chair, Paul Riggi, notified the Town Crier that the regularly scheduled IFPD meeting for Tuesday, Sept. 8 has been moved to Thursday, Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m. (of course the usual pre-meeting workshop will commence at 5 p.m.).

Interestingly, Riggi called after the above photo was taken. If you click on it, you will see its the agenda for the Aug. 11 meeting.

For those who attended in person or vicariously by reading the report in the Town Crier, it was an interesting and good meeting. Some might place it in the "Top Ten IFPD meetings", but worth repeating?

Nah, and that's the value of this photo taken today about 9 a.m. It is not the agenda for the Sept. 8 meeting. The notice wa tacked to the wall just to the left of entrance to the fire station.

The regular monthly IFPD meeting has been set for the second Tuesday of each month. For September, that's tomorrow, Sept. 8.

The intrusive Brown Act (Ca. Gov't code sections 54950 to 54963) requires public bodies to post their agenda 72 hours in advance of the meeting. That allows the public which may be interested in attending to know what will be discussed or what actions taken, even if it approval for a bake sale to buy another fire engine.

Since IFPD had scheduled its meeting for 5 p.m., Sept. 8, the agenda for the meeting should have been posted in three public places by 5 p.m., Saturday.

I didn't see the new agenda Sunday morning and upon returning Monday, the old one was still there, so I photographed.

When asked what had they done, I replied, "Nothing." A few hours later, I received a call from Mr. Riggi and agreed to post the meeting change on-line.

See ya Thursday.

IFPD election results

Three new faces will be sitting in the front of the IFPD meeting room after December 4. That's the date the commissioner-elects will be officially sworn.

Of course, stranger thiings have happened and one or more might be invited to be seated sooner. Afterall Commissiioner Lloyd Vaught has already expressed a desire to retire from the board. Now he will be.

Victors Dr. Charles "Chip" Schelly and Jeannine Charles-Stigall won commission seats in a surprisingly easy race. The voters overwhelmingly retired all of the incumbents except for Ben Killingsworth. (Vote totals are below.)

As of 9 p.m., Tuesday evening, Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore said write-in candidate Steve Kepler had 138 votes with more ballots to be counted. So it is possible that he may eventually slip past Killingsworth, although it is a long-shot.

Schelly and Jeannine each polled more than twice Glen McWilliam's and Earl Parker's vote totals. Both received more votes than President Paul Riggi did two years ago.

Unless a surprise occurs, the composition of the IFDP commission in December will be Riggi, Killingsworth, Schelly, Charles-Stigall and Pete Capparelli, who along with Riggi will be up for election in 2011.


Candidate Vote Count Percent
Schelly 460 30.30
Charles-Stigall 403 26.55
Killingsworth 251 16.53
McWilliams 172 11.33
Parker 170 11.20
Vaught 62 4.08

Vaught to resign from IFPD board

Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Commissioner Lloyd Vaught said today, August 6, prior to a scheduled interview with the Town Crier that he intends to resign for reasons of health.

Vaught said he had tried to get his name taken off the ballot but it was too late to do so. Vaught said he would inform IFPD President Paul Riggi today of his decision.

We are researching, with the Registrar of Voters, how his resignation this close to an election would effect results in the event he is voted in.

We will update this blog with information from the Registrar once we receive it.

A reminder to voters - this is a mail in ballot election. There will be no polling places for walk in voting. What you have received in the mail is not a sample ballot. It is your mailed in ballot. Mailed ballots must be received by the Registrar no later than 8 p.m. on August 25th.