Following the Warsaw Common Council and the Board of Public Works and Safety’s votes, the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Board on Wednesday approved the resolution rejecting the merit board system for the fire department.
In introducing the resolution, Mayor Jeff Grose said the Common Council unanimously voted in favor of the resolution rejecting the merit board at an October meeting, with the Board of Works voting Friday unanimously in favor of the resolution.
Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan explained the resolution to the fire territory board, as he did to the Common Council and Board of Works.
In 2023, he said, the Indiana House passed House Enrolled Act 1016, which was signed into law May 4, 2023.
“Essentially, what that did was turn the process of merit boards on its head. So any department that had 12 members and served a population of 20,000 is mandated to have a merit board unless we pass a resolution to reject that merit board, and then the fire department members will also have a blind vote to be able to do that as well,” Harlan said.
If any of the parties decide to have a merit board, then the merit board will happen regardless of the votes of the other three. Now that the Common Council, Board of Works and Fire Territory Board have approved a resolution rejecting the merit board, the final decision comes down to the fire department members. Harlan said the firefighters’ vote will come in three weeks.
“If they decide to reject it, we’ll continue with the way we’ve operated with the Board of Public Works and Safety. If they choose they want a merit board, then we’ll put one together and have one Jan. 1, 2025,” Harlan said.
Looking at merit boards and speaking with Fire Chief Joel Shilling, Harlan said they feel a merit board is not in the best interest of the city, territory or for the chief, “especially now that he’s really getting in there and getting a lot of traction and getting things turned around.”
Harlan asked the fire territory board to reject the merit board by accepting the resolution.
Grose said when he sat down with Chief Shilling months ago and asked him where he was with the merit board, Shilling told him he thought it was in the department’s best interest to not have a merit board at this time. Grose said he took that position as mayor to support Chief Shilling.
As a voting member of the Board of Works and fire territory board, Grose said he voted both times to approve the resolution.
He explained that city attorney Scott Reust had all three of the boards vote on the resolution because of state code and because they all were involved in the interlocal agreement that created the fire territory in 2008.
Fire territory board attorney Andrew Grossnickle said he did talk to Reust about the resolution and Grossnickle agreed that it was appropriate to have all three boards entertain whether or not to accept the resolution.
Chief Shilling stated, “I just don’t feel that it’s the best thing for our fire department, so I also would agree that we reject the merit system. It may work in other departments, but I don’t feel we need to go down that avenue.”
Board member David Allbritten made the motion to accept the resolution, Wayne Township Trustee Jeanie Stackhouse seconded and it passed 3-0. Board members Gordon Nash and Councilman Mike Klondaris were absent.
In other business, the fire territory board:
• Approved Dive Commander and Capt. Drew Shilling’s request to apply for a $57,428 grant from the K21 Health Foundation to purchase a Deep Trekker PIVOT Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle. The Board of Works and Safety approved the grant application Friday.
Chief Shilling, speaking on behalf of Capt. Shilling as he could not attend Wednesday’s meeting, said, “We do have a joint dive team with us and Warsaw Police Department and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. So, this will also be an asset that we will utilize throughout the entire county, not just for us, but we will retain the asset.”
• Approved for Mikaela Bixler, CARES (Community Assistance, Resources, Emergency Services) coordinator, to apply for a K21 Health Foundation grant for $2,472.50 to purchase training books from the QPR Institute. QPR is suicide prevention training. The Board of Works approved the grant application Friday.
• Approved two lease agreements for two office spaces for CARES at Fellowship Missions’ The Gathering Place for $400 per month for each office for 12 months. The Board of Works approved the two leases on Friday.
• Approved the operating and equipment replacement funds for September, as presented by Chief Shilling.
In the equipment replacement fund, he pointed out two items.
The first was the replacement of the air conditioner at station 17. Core Mechanical Services Inc. came out a few times to attempt to fix it, but in the end it had to be replaced due to its age and parts not readily available. The cost for Flow Tech Plumbing & Heating Inc. to replace it was $10,993.
The second item was the purchase of a 2024 Chevy Silverado utility pickup truck for $46,970 from Kelley Chevrolet Inc. He said the expense was in the budget.
• Approved the annual contract with Pro Air for maintenance on the air tanks for the dive team. Maintenance fees are paid for by each department, with the fire department paying $2,948 on their tanks and the Warsaw Police Department paying $1,430. The contract will go before the Board of Works Nov. 15.
• Approved a resolution to transfer $28,856.23 from FSSA grant for CARES to miscellaneous revenue - operating, as requested by Chief Shilling. The grant reimburses the fire territory for the CARES program. The Warsaw Common Council approved the transfer resolution in October.
• Heard the Lutheran EMS report for September from Alicia Mediano. She reported they ended the month with a total of 502 calls.
• Heard the WWFT monthly report for September from Chief Shilling. In the month, the fire territory had 336 responses, with 114 of those being overlapping (34%).
• Heard the CARES October report from Bixler. She said they had 66 CARES interactions for that month, with 46 of those in-person and 19 new people they had not met before.
The next meeting of the fire territory board is at 4 p.m. Dec. 3 at City Hall.