Sedona AZ (April 3, 2012) – In the interest of fairness, the Sedona Eye publishes the following Sedona Fire District Board March 28, 2012 Workshop and Business Meeting Minutes without editorial comment and or edits:

SFD PUBLIC BOARD WORKSHOP AND BUSINESS MEETING

Station #1, 2860 Southwest Drive, West Sedona – Multipurpose Room- Wednesday, March 28, 2012

4:30 PM Executive Session – 5:00 PM Public Board Workshop – 6:00 PM Business Meeting

 

~ MINUTES ~

I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL.

Board Present: David Blauert – Board Chairman; Charles Christensen – Board Clerk;  Craig Dible, Phyllis Erick, Ty Montgomery – Members  Staff Present: Kris Kazian – Fire Chief; Terry Keller – Assistant Chief; Gary Johnson – Fire Marshal;  Sandi Schmidt – Finance Manager; Tricia Greer – Recording Clerk

Others Present: 25 Members of the Public

Mr. Blauert opened the meeting at 4:30 PM.

II. EXECUTIVE SESSION – 4:30 PM.

A. Vote to go into Executive Session:

1. Pursuant to ARS 38-431.03(A)(3), Legal Advice; and (A)(4) Consultation with/Instructions to Attorney:

a. McGladrey Report;

b. Settlement with former-SFD Employee Julianna Stewart;

c. Possible Lawsuit for False Arrest.

2. Pursuant to ARS 38-431.03(A)(1), Personnel:

a. Complaint against Board Clerk Charles Christensen and Subsequent Investigation.

3. Reconvene into Public Session – Re: Discussion/Possible Actions – McGladrey Report; Stewart Settlement; Possible Lawsuit; Complaint/Investigation against Mr. Christensen.

Mr. Christensen moved to adjourn into Executive Session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03(A)(3); (A)(4); and (A)(1); Mr. Montgomery seconded and the motion unanimously passed.

The Public Session reconvened at 5:15 PM;

Mr. Blauert stated Mr. Montgomery was asked to chair a portion of the Executive Session due to a potential conflict of interest;

Mr. Montgomery said no action would be taken on the items at this time and the item regarding Mr. Christensen was tabled until the next meeting.

III. PUBLIC BOARD WORKSHOP – 5:00 PM.

A. Salute to the Flag of the United States of America and Moment of Silence to Honor American Men and Women in Service, Firefighters and Police Officers.

Mr. Christensen led the Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence.

B. Badge-Pinning Ceremony for Fire Chief Kris Kazian.

Fire Chief Kris Kazian was officially pinned by his wife, Kristy; he introduced his family visiting from Chicago including his wife and daughters, Emma and Cami.

C. McGladrey Representatives/SFD Staff to address the Fire Board Re: McGladrey Report.

Larry Schaedel and Ron Epperson from McGladrey were introduced by Mr. Blauert. Their presentation is presented verbatim.

Mr. Schaedel: I want to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be here again. In  addition to being here, we met with the new Chief today and kind of went through in a fair amount of detail our report and discussed some of the content to the report, and just introduced ourselves, which we appreciate the opportunity to do.

We were asked to be here and we also wanted to be here because of our review of the Minutes from the last Board meeting and some of the statements that were made, most particularly by Ms. Daines.

We wanted to address them because we think McGladrey’s work has been significantly misstated, mis-categorized or mischaracterized, I’m sorry, and misrepresented by Ms. Daines.

We think a lot of what she said was factually incorrect and that there were untrue statements that were said about our work and the results of our work. So, we’d like to address those first. And then, we’d like to open it up for any questions that you may have, that the Board may have.

You know, we did review our work with the Board and then-Chief Terry Keller on a couple of occasions before we submitted our report totaling a few hours on a couple of occasions each time. At this point, Mr. Blauert commented the Board had just received McGladrey’s response letter tonight.

Mr. Schaedel continued: So, we will try and hit on the more, what we think were the more significant areas that were misstated and also in our letter at some point, the Board address… we think it is appropriate the Board address the statements that were made by Ms. Daines. They were made at a public meeting while she was an employee of the Sedona Fire District. So, we think it’s appropriate at some point in time that the Board address those comments and comment on our work. I will try and keep it, again, to the more major items.

We don’t want to go into the items that are less important. One of the things that Ms. Daines mentioned that the staff was not allowed to question McGladrey consultants on our report or findings. We did, in fact, review them with the Board and Chief Keller prior to submitting them.

We had no input on the structuring of that Board meeting. We were not asked for our opinion or recommendations as to how to handle that.

I know it was handled that most questions were asked to be submitted in writing. And, I think that’s how it occurred, but that was not our, necessarily, our doing, our recommendation. In fact, before the meeting when we met with the Chair of the Board, he discussed that there may be some questions that are asked and we were to address questions from the Board or Sedona Fire District management.

One of the things… one of the items that she, we believe, she mischaracterized is referring to our report or our work, as a financial audit. We think this is incorrect and materially misstates the services that we performed, that we were engaged to perform, and that we performed. A financial audit includes a review of information contained in an entity’s financial statements and it asks that somebody express an opinion on that information as being reflected fairly.

We did not express an opinion on Sedona Fire District’s financial statements and the work that would be required to do so would be significantly different than the work that we actually did do. So, we have not expressed any opinions on the financial statements of Sedona Fire District and our work was done for significantly different purposes. There’s an inference or a statement that this work was duplicative of what would be… what was done in a financial audit and that is not correct. The work that we performed was almost entirely different than that would be performed in expressing opinion on one’s financial statements. There were very few areas that could even possibly have any overlap and those would have been the review of expenditures and the review of revenues. That was only approximately 15% of our work and to the extent that any of the same transactions happened to be sampled in the review, any duplicative effort couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3% of our work. So, we did want to clearly on the record, we think her mischaracterizations lead to significant confusion about our services and we would like the record to reflect they were significantly different.

The Minutes reflected that Ms. Daines stated that McGladrey conducted a very thorough review of financials and that no such wrongdoing was found by McGladrey and that McGladrey gave us a completely bill of health with regards to all financial management.

McGladrey did not perform a review, a thorough review of Sedona Fire District’s financials, not in the context of a thorough enough review to express an opinion on those. There were areas we looked at that we went into more depth on than would be in an audit and there were areas that were not looked at. We took Sedona Fire District’s financial information and statements as being true, correct, and fairly presented. We did not express an opinion as to a clean bill of health with regard to all financial management and such a statement is incorrect and untrue. The results of our review of expenditures revealed two instances where we found amounts to be expended that did not appear to be expended for Sedona business purposes. Those two

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items were communicated to the Chief and to the Board and while they were not significant as far as the magnitude of the dollar amount or in comparison to the number of expenditures sampled, they were exceptions and they were communicated and they do not appear to be in accordance with Sedona Fire District policy.

The comment was made that McGladrey is not a firm that is experienced in conducting managerial or service studies of Fire and EMS agencies. We actually have very extensive experience in doing so, both in conducting financial and operational reviews of agencies and also of fire operations. We’ve conducted approximately 30 throughout the United States and that information was presented and set forth within our original proposal and it was made public information as posted on the website. That question was asked during the meeting and I deferred the question because it had been publicly posted. The McGladrey consultants who worked on the engagement actually have provided management consulting services including financial and operational reviews for many years. McGladrey has and we have and McGladrey has performed financial and operational reviews substantially larger and substantially more complex than the Sedona Fire District. We also engaged the services of a fire operations expert who has approximately 35 years of fire operations experience. Our technical expert has served in the capacity of firefighter, paramedic, captain, shift commander, assistant chief, division chief/operations, division chief/health safety services, deputy chief, and assistant to the chief. His credentials were submitted to the Board and to my understanding, to Sedona Fire District management for the review. We were not informed that there were deficiencies in his experience. Ms. Daines did question one area of his technical expertise with respect to technical aspects of communication center, but that was the only question that we had regarding his experience. Our fire expert assisted us with the review of the organizational structure, the assessment of staffing, with the use of rovers, the backfilling of staff and our shift structure analysis, with ISO ratings, with what apparatus is dispatched based on location and type, number and location of apparatus, types of apparatus, he gave us opinions on useful life and the respective ages and miles, personnel equipment, training, travel and turnaround times, the reserve program, FLSA sleep time, and future needs and strategy review for capital improvements. Ms. Daines… the Minutes reflect that Ms. Daines said that McGladrey suggests that there will be $473,000 savings annually if suggested outsourcing to Flagstaff dispatch center is pursued. She also… the Minutes also reflect that when questioned, the new Flagstaff Communications Manager’s reaction to Flagstaff being willing to take over dispatch services for Sedona Fire District was incredulous. She stated that… that Manager stated that that is not what she said. First and foremost, I’d like to point out that our recommendation was to aggressively pursue the outsourcing of dispatch services. Flagstaff was merely identified as a possible provider of outsourced Sedona Fire District dispatch services. We did not ever state that they were willing to take over dispatching. We had not had discussions with them sufficient to make any final conclusions. We believe that Flagstaff is willing to discuss further the issue. We’re not surprised by Flagstaff’s response, but it is not based on an actual statement, recommendation, observation, or conclusion made by McGladrey. We acknowledge that moving the… outsourcing the dispatch services would incur start-up costs and could not occur immediately. In fact, it might take a year or more, two years possibly. We do, however, believe that the start-up costs would be recouped very quickly and certainly, within less than a year.

The Minutes reflect that Ms. Daines stated that McGladrey endorsed all of the various aspects of the Sedona Fire District, how Sedona Fire District is currently providing service. McGladrey has not endorsed almost all of the aspects of how the Sedona Fire District is providing service. McGladrey performed a financial and operational review of the finances and operations for the purposes of making recommendations to improve efficiency and effectiveness of operations. Doing so is significantly different than making endorsement of how they are providing services. In fact, most of our work was focused on financial efficiencies. McGladrey made recommendations… made some recommendations for improvement in Sedona Fire District operations. All of our observations, conclusions, and recommendations are limited to those set forth in the report. As of this date, we have not modified any of those observations, conclusions, or recommendations. All of the conclusions are limited to those that are set forth in the report and we do not make any conclusions, observations, recommendations beyond what is in the four corners of our report.

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There is mention of the Bullhead City… there was mention of the Bullhead City Survey and that we took that information verbatim and drew conclusions based on it. In fact, we did not rely on that information. We did not make any conclusions solely on that information or even based on that information. We presented that information for informational purposes within the appendices of our report. We were not engaged… I’m sorry, Ms. Daines also stated that we expected we would receive an updated survey out of it and that they did not. That is correct. They did not, it was not within the scope of our engagement and at no time, did we ever represent or were we asked to update the Bullhead City Survey. Whether or not that information is accurate in the Survey is irrelevant to the conclusions set forth in our report. We would not rely on survey information to make conclusions. We would not rely on any information to make conclusions that had not been understood as far as what the questions were that were asked and having validated the information that was received.

There were some comments reflected by, or made by Chief Keller. First is with respect to Chief Keller’s statement that Sedona Fire District was discussing implementing or re-establishing the reserve program. We acknowledged that it was. We did come across that information; however, in order to, we must address the current state of an organization, not what may or may not appear at some point in time. The fact was that there was no reserve program in the point in time when we performed our work. With respect to Chief Keller’s comments related to the cost to manage and train reserve personnel. Those personnel would be present irrespective of whether or not, whether they were rovers or reserves and the incremental costs we do not believe would be significantly different. The training costs would need to occur and our recommendation actually was to replace rovers with reserves over time.

With respect to the FLS sleep time, the comment was made that McGladrey does not make any recommendations on how it would realistically be tracked or even managed. They do not come up with that suggestion of who would even do that. We did not suggest who would do that or recommend a way of doing that, but we do believe that cost of doing so would be significantly less than the savings that would be reaped. We believe that implementing an FLSA sleep time would virtually eliminate overtime and greatly reduce Sedona Fire District’s need for rovers. Then, Chief Keller’s comments go beyond the scope of our work and the results of our work. We did not and do not choose to address those comments on a point by point basis, but we would ask that the conclusions, recommendations, and observations that we have made and put forth in our report be considered those that we have made, not any representations by anyone else. We ask that our recommendations, observations, and conclusions be as set forth within the four corners of our report.

In conclusion, we believe we have provided very quality service to the Sedona Fire Board and to the citizens of Sedona. We believe that we have done so in a diligent manner. We believe we have made sound recommendations for consideration. We believe that we have received excellent feedback regarding the quality of our work from Board members. We believe that our report sets clearly… sets forth clearly all of the observations, conclusions, and recommendations that we made and that only that document should be considered as what our observations, recommendations, and conclusions are. We have identified approximately $2 million in areas that should be looked into as potential savings. We understand that these recommendations would not be implemented immediately.

This is not a light switch situation where you can flick the switch and immediately have cost-savings. Many of these things would be implemented over the course of a year to three years. We have recommended that these items be reviewed by management and we believe they should be carefully reviewed and considered by Sedona Fire District management prior to implementing any of these. If even it took two years to implement the recommendations and the start-up costs were equal to one year savings, approximately $17 million in savings could possibly result. Even if these areas, even if 50% of these were chose not to be implemented, possible savings could amount to $10 million over several years, five years or more. Again, Ms. Daines comments were made in a public meeting. We would like at some point in time and request and believe it’s appropriate that the Board address those comments and state their position as to the performance of our work, as well as to whether those statements are the position of the Board. We would like to open it up now to discussion or questions that any of the Board members or management may have.

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Mr. Montgomery informed Mr. Schaedel his statements would be reflected in Minutes of this meeting, so that McGladrey’s position versus Ms. Daines’ position would be posted on the SFD website; his comments from the 2/22/12 meeting were attributed to Ms. Daines incorrectly by McGladrey.

Mr. Schaedel said he felt Mr. Montgomery’s comments were based on Ms. Daines’ statements and he probably did not articulate that clearly.

Mr. Montgomery said some of his comments were based on what constituents said after they reviewed the Report; he said he believes McGladrey probably met the scope of work for the project; however, he said there was frustration that there was not more to the Report. He said many of McGladrey’s recommendations were already on the table and for that amount of money, his constituents and himself were hoping for more, although maybe there was not more to find.

Mr. Montgomery said when Ms. Daines said that was a validation of staff, in his opinion, it is, because we have worked hard to find ways to save money and McGladrey found some of the same ways. Mr. Schaedel said there is quite a bit of information he believes is valuable in the Report details.

Ron Epperson commented on the night McGladrey made the presentation to the Board that Interim Chief Keller, management, Board, and staff has done a good job over the last couple of years reducing costs for the district and preserving service which was not easy; he said as McGladrey dug, there were many things in the Scope of Work they were asked to look into that did not seem to make sense or be very useful; hopefully, there is some value in being able to say we recommend putting those things aside and focusing on recommendations that may have leverage; as they said the night of their presentation, it has not been easy to this point, nor will the rest of it be easy going forward.

Mr. Montgomery commented McGladrey was in a “tough position” coming in because the audit was contentious and he was against it from the beginning; he said politics are involved, unfortunately, so they should take that into account. He said SFD has a “new set of eyes” in Chief Kazian to review the report.

Mr. Christensen thanked McGladrey for being here today to answer questions presented by other people; he said being the longest-sitting member of the Board, he has witnessed an incredible transition in the last 10 years in attitudes, changes in spending habits, and a general move toward more conservative spending instead of flagrant misspending which, in his opinion, SFD did for a number of years. Further, he stated SFD employees, such as our new Fire Chief, are aware of budgeting, aware of costs, and very attuned to the most “bang for the buck” for the public. He said mistakes were made in the past and a lot of things done with the idea that if we have the money, let’s do it; he said it all changed because of the economy in our country; he said he is impressed with Chief Kazian’s knowledge of budgeting and as a person who has knowledge of budgeting, it is rewarding for him to see someone come in and hit the ground running; Mr. Christensen said he can see Chief Kazian’s ability to adapt to current situations which was not prevalent in previous endeavors; he has great confidence the district will take a new direction to see significant improvement in finances and be able to give raises again and see significant improvements in what we do for taxpayers; he said SFD’s service has always been excellent, training is fine, but in the areas of financing and budgeting, we are finally on the right track.

Mr. Dible also thanked McGladrey for coming from Chicago for this meeting and hopes they feel they had a fair chance to dispute some allegations. He said he thinks the report is a worthwhile effort at 228 pages filled with facts, figures, analyses, and recommendations and he believes it will save money.

Mr. Dible asked if McGladrey felt they had the chance to respond to issues; Mr. Schaedel said they responded to the more significant ones and are willing to support SFD in any way we can moving forward; he said, as previously discussed, many of the recommendations are not easy fixes, but if implemented, are complex endeavors.

Mrs. Erick asked why McGladrey used the 30,076 SFD residents’ population figure in the peer group comparison benchmarking.

Mr. Schaedel said he believed that was used in the determination of the $283 per resident figure; he said they adjusted the number of residents upward which, essentially, reduced the cost from the amount that is on the chart for various considerations.

Mr. Epperson stated it was based on the fact SFD is not a census unit, and although the City of Sedona is, the City is only half or less of the population of the entire fire district; he said they worked with Yavapai and Coconino Counties to understand the number of residential tracts and worked with the Chamber of Commerce trying to understand average household size, etc., to try to triangulate on a number because the census bureau does not survey SFD; he said, additionally, there are issues with the number of second

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homes.

Mr. Schaedel said the number does not include visitors to the area.

Mrs. Erick also was concerned about suggestions made that SFD was charged for reports McGladrey used from the district;

Mr. Schaedel said they requested reports prepared in the past from the district and reviewed those reports in performing their work, but they did not re-do work in those; he said McGladrey would be remiss if they did not ask for and review those documents, and most requested were financial information, reports, and others that were previously prepared or generated in the normal course of district operations.

Mr. Epperson said SFD personnel uploaded 1,000s of pages of documents to McGladrey and other pages of documents were reviewed on-site; Mr. Schaedel said the document request they submitted was fairly significant and a fair amount of time was spent by SFD personnel in uploading information, but probably not 1,200 hours as stated by Ms. Daines. He said the amount of time McGladrey spent with SFD staff was probably 200 hours.

Chief Kazian said he spent the afternoon with the McGladrey representatives and talked about the Report; he said a few things mentioned today are important – his goal is to continue to look at important issues like providing core services and noticed in the Report that turnout time and response time are both exceeding the standard; NFPA 1710 standards, ISO requirements, and training are all critical issues to be maintained.

He said as Fire Chief, he is charged with being sure we are maximizing fire district operations to the best of our ability, both economically and efficiently, in finances and emergency services. He said, as was mentioned, the McGladrey Report is not a “light switch” option and some of these issues may take two to three years to upload, get in place, and make happen; he said as we go forward, he would look to this document as something to work from, to gather information, and use as a resource; he is not sure it is a complete roadmap, but it provides opportunities to make good decisions; he wants everyone to realize there are very few things from the Report that could be implemented immediately to initiate $2 million in cost savings; although that sounds great, SFD must be as efficient as possible, and realize it is not necessarily as easy to implement as to read the Report. He said he is tasked with finding the best way to do our job and the most efficient way to provide services to residents of the district; he said he needs to work with staff and the Board to figure out which ones could be implemented and what place in time it could happen through strategic planning. Chief Kazian said this is not a quick fix to solve the budget problem, but must be evaluated to see how it affects operations. He appreciates having the document and we will see what can be implemented; he asked all to be patient.

D. Question from Citizen Doug Ayres in E-Mail Dated 3/20/12: Why Have You Not Answered These Five Questions in the More than a Month During Which You Have Had the Attached Five Questions? The SFD website more than a month ago solicited questions by the public to be posed to your company (McGladrey) about your SFD “Audit”. (Questions are attached to this Agenda.)

Mr. Montgomery said this is about questions one of his constituents, Doug Ayres, had submitted to McGladrey for answers, but not received.

Mr. Schaedel said McGladrey responded to one set of questions, but have not responded to the second set.

Mr. Montgomery said Mr. Ayres has a lifetime in public finance and municipal work and is very interested in the McGladrey Report; he said he placed Mr. Ayres’ questions on the Agenda and asked if they would like to answer at this time.

Mr. Schaedel said he probably would not like to address them here, as most of the questions are somewhat contentious-based.

Mr. Montgomery asked if he would address them in writing;

Mr. Schaedel said he has to receive approval to do so, as it was not within the scope of their engagement; he said they have already spent 15 hours or more addressing questions and the public asking questions and McGladrey responding was not contemplated in their scope; he said he would get back to Mr. Montgomery with an answer, but has to get approval from his management.

Mr. Dible asked if these were the questions in the letter dated February 21, 2012 from Douglas Ayres to McGladrey;

Mr. Montgomery said yes.

Mr. Blauert pointed out that Mr. Ayres did meet the deadline of March 1st; Mr. Dible confirmed Mr. Schaedel had the questions.

Mr. Blauert stated Mr. Schaedel has been totally responsive to his telephone calls and made the effort to show him the support necessary; he thanked them for the extra time and effort Mr. Schaedel gave to him in response to all their work and the Report. Mr. Schaedel thanked SFD and wished it the best. A recess was called at 6:05 PM.

IV. PUBLIC SESSION – 6:00 PM. 3/28/12 SFD Board Workshop and Business Meeting Minutes Page 7

A. Consent Agenda.

1. February 1, 2012 Special Board Meeting Minutes.

2. February 7, 2012 Special Board Meeting Minutes.

3. February 7, 2012 Executive Session Minutes (Pending distribution from Attorney Wakefield).

4. February 16, 2012 Special Board Meeting Minutes.

5. February 22, 2012 Business Meeting Minutes.

6. February 22, 2012 Executive Session Minutes.

Mr. Blauert reconvened the Public Session at 6:15 PM.

Mr. Montgomery mentioned one set of Executive Session Minutes are pending;

Mr. Blauert said there is a tape of the meeting, and Attorney Wakefield would have that transcribed.

Mr. Montgomery then moved to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of the 2/7/12 Executive Session; Mr. Dible seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

V. PUBLIC FORUM.

Mr. Blauert said he would not tolerate personal attacks, and if it happened, he would close the public session.

Wendy Tanzer, VOC: The members of this Board are, I’m sure, well aware of the public’s ongoing concern with the secretive and clandestine manner in which the Chief’s Selection Committee conducted the process originally assigned. Apparently, that marked lack of transparency continued unabated, even after the hiring of our new Chief, Kris Kazian.

When copies of redacted resumes and applications of all finalists were requested, no violations of personal information here, Attorney Scott Wakefield provided the following: “The Court in Arizona Board of Regents held that the Board of Regents was required to provide information regarding all candidates who were interviewed. The Sedona Fire District has provided the applications of each candidate who was interviewed by the SFD Board. No candidates were interviewed by the Fire Chief Selection Committee, thus the district has provided all materials which are required to be provided pursuant to the holding of Arizona Board of Regents.”

The Sedona Fire District, therefore, the taxpaying public has paid for numerous background investigations, more funds were expended for an assessment center held at the Sedona Rouge Resort, hotel accommodations and meals for finalists, and what about roundtrip transportation.

It is my understanding the cost of this Chief Selection process exceeds 300% of Nazih Hazime’s and you expect anyone to believe these people were not interviewed? Is the SFD in the business of providing excursions to anyone wishing to view the red rocks for a few days? It doesn’t matter what committee, board, or assessment center conducted the interview.

After those kinds of expenses, by God, they better have been interviewed by somebody. If not, we spent that outrageous amount of money to interview two candidates. Seriously? Through no fault of his own, the veil of suspicion by an inappropriate selection process has already placed Kris Kazian in a hole from which he’s going to have a dreadful time extricating himself.

Why on Earth would you, or anyone in your employ, continue to cast yet further aspersions on the foundation of his employment? As would anyone in his position, he deserves better than that from you people. What impropriety could possibly be so heinous, its exposure would bring down the empire? What are you trying so hard to hide? It will come out, you know. No legal maneuvering nor seemingly impenetrable walls can prevent it. Ultimately, the truth always prevails. Thank you.

Scott Jablow, Chapel “Midway” area: At last month’s Board meeting, you really came through by catching that $50 error in the new Chief’s contract for his cell phone. Just envision where that yearly savings of $600 will go.

I would like to suggest that the money go towards the purchase of extra gear and extra equipment for the firefighters who put their lives on the line for this community.

Last month’s discussion about whether to purchase bunker gear or not, and holding back the opinions or not was insulting on so many different levels. And proves you have no idea about putting your lives on the line and being dependent on lifesaving equipment.

Let me try to put this into perspective that this Board can understand. It’s sort of like when I was a police officer deciding whether I should buy a new bulletproof vest or not. Mr. Blauert, when you used to build houses, would you even think twice about putting money to take care of your equipment and fixing ladders before you go up the ladder? I think not. And, Charlie, you were a firefighter…

Mr. Blauert remarked to Mr. Jablow that he was “on the edge” and if he made another comment like that, he would be excused.

Mr. Jablow: You say you were a firefighter, a firefighter for many years. Would you go into a burning building with jeans and a t-shirt without SCBA? I think

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not.

Mr. Christensen answered: I have.

Mr. Jablow: Well, that’s the difference in the fire district nowadays. Our firefighters should have good bunker gear, good, safe equipment before they put their lives on the line for this community.

Mrs. Erick, I’m not going to even talk about your safety in what you do in your job. I’m sure you have your lifesaving issues that you deal with. But, it’s so obvious to everyone who attends these meetings, that you really don’t care about the safety of your employees.

Couldn’t you at least try to make it look real, make it look like you care? It’s so obvious to people that are uninformed and they come before you and even suggest not spending the money for the equipment, can’t you at least stand up for your people for once and say, this is for safety equipment, we’re not even going to talk about not spending the money?

And, I’d like to say also, Mr. Blauert, I was very impressed with your presentation last month at the City Council. You gave a nice presentation about the military service park in West Sedona, but while you were there watching from the audience, I was wondering if you learned anything constructive about how to run a meeting? Did you notice how so many people there attended the meeting to learn and to participate in what was happening in their government? Did you notice how Mayor Adams appeared relaxed and he spoke and joked with the community and staff without being paranoid that somebody may character assassinate somebody on his Board? Did you notice how the Mayor sought input and guidance from the staff and followed that guidance? Mrs. Erick, is there something you want to share with me?

Mr. Blauert interjected that last month the Board approved safety clothing.

Mr. Jablow: It took you a long time to approve that. You wanted to wait until the new Chief was seated before you’d even approve it.

Mr. Blauert said they gave consideration to Chief Kazian who was on the telephone last month.

Mr. Jablow: You did, but why couldn’t you just approve it on Chief Keller’s word? This is lifesaving equipment. And I understand you have one firefighter that was burned through defective equipment. Why should anybody be burned?

Mr. Blauert asked Mr. Jablow to end his comments.

Mr. Jablow concluded by stating: These comments are my own and do not represent any other organizations or City Boards and Commissions that I am a part of. I can’t leave without saying that.

At this point, a gentleman submitted a request to speak form to Fire Marshal Johnson, to which he responded as the meeting had already started, he could not accept it. Mr. Blauert told Mr. Johnson to accept the request.

Justin Paffrath, VOC: I’m curious if it is possible to consolidate our Sedona Fire District with a vote of only three Board Members to a neighboring district, for instance, and if it is possible, is it… are the voters able to establish a referendum? And I would leave that up to follow-up with legal counsel or a comment now or it’s just very interesting to me.

Mr. Blauert stated the Board could not comment and it would be a legal matter.

VI. BUSINESS.

A. Items from Staff:

1. Discussion/Possible Action: Proclamation for National Telecommunicators Week – April 8 – 14, 2012. (Fire Chief Kris Kazian)

Chief Kazian recognized SFD Regional Dispatch employee, Jeff Jennings, and Sedona Police Department dispatcher, Michelle Silver. He then read a Proclamation for National Telecommunicators Week (attached). Chief Kazian then stated he has not had the opportunity to work with Sedona Police yet, but certainly will; he stated the Sedona Regional Dispatch is a first-class operation and he is very impressed by its operation, and he is sure the same is true at Sedona PD; he asked them to keep up the great work and reminded all to call 9-1-1 when needed.

2. Discussion/Possible Action: Consider Dates for SFD Budget Workshops for FY 2012/13.

Mr. Blauert asked the Board to consider dates for workshops;

Chief Kazian stated staff would like possibly two Public Budget Workshops in early or mid-April to consider staff’s budget numbers and receive Board direction. After a brief discussion, Workshops were set for Monday, April 2nd and April 9th from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

3. Discussion/Possible Action: Reimbursement of Expenses to Kris Kazian in the amount of $1,073.26 and to David Blauert in the amount of $101.45 for Selected Fire Chief Candidate’s Second Visit to Sedona. (Finance Manager Sandi Schmidt)

Mr. Blauert said he has heard negative remarks about him seeking reimbursement of this expense and is going to refuse payment. He then entertained a motion to approve reimbursement to Chief Kazian in the amount of

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$1,073.26 for expenses for his second visit to Sedona. Mr. Christensen so moved, Mr. Montgomery seconded, and the motion unanimously passed.

4. Discussion/Possible Action: Revisions to Midway (Chapel) Fire Station Design by LEA Architects. (Assistant Chief Terry Keller – Tabled on 2/22/12)

Chief Keller said this item completes his assignment by the Board to ascertain costs for LEA Architects to revise its original design from three- to two-bays and a different roof-line; the quote is $69,400 plus $5,000 for allowances for additional services.

Mr. Christensen said he does not know if SFD got three bids on this project and LEA charges exorbitantly for its work and he believes we are still premature and must make a decision; he requested this item be tabled.

Mr. Montgomery said he does not believe we need to table the issue, but now that we have the answer, it is a matter of whether we would incorporate this into the next budget for building a station.

Chief Kazian said this is a “placeholder” right now to work with in the budget and based on what is decided at the Budget Workshop and the Board’s pleasure to move forward with a potential Midway Station; this can be further discussed at the Budget Workshops.

Mr. Dible said that is a reasonable approach.

B. Item from Board Clerk Charles Christensen:

1. Board Member wants to know why we are not notified when a member is arrested for possible felony.

Karen Schmitt, Chapel area: You’re asking why the Board was not notified when a member is arrested. First of all, I don’t know the particular case you refer to here, but dealing with personnel issues is under the purview of the Chief, not the Board.

I recoil, cringing at the thought that this might be an early sign this Board is already beginning to micromanage our two-week old Chief. Or is it yet another chance to attack the former one? I have contacted experienced professionals on this subject and the normal protocol is for all personnel issues to be dealt with by the Chief.

As a courtesy, he or she may: #1 – instruct the board chairman of the arrest; #2 – handle the details of the case; and #3 – inform the board chair of the final disposition.

Over the past 15 months, it has become obvious that four members of this Board would love to have any salacious details broadcasted to the public, but that would serve no purpose unless someone wanted to simply stain the reputation of the Sedona Fire District as a whole.

There is one member of this Board that was cited numerous times for violating a recent Order of Protection.

Did he notify the public that he serves that he was arrested?

Did he as an elected public servant, notify the people that he serves when he was arrested for aggravated harassment, which is a possible felony and spent the night in jail some months back.

This is a member of our Board.

One of the saddest things in the world to me is for four elected Board members entrusted with the power to showcase Sedona’s finest fire district employees, and hold them up as role models that they are, and instead seizing every opportunity to criticize and degrade them. Thank you.

Mr. Christensen said one of the things he liked about former-Fire Chief Matt Shobert was how he notified the Board of significant events such as a major fire, accident, or something that appeared in the newspaper; this is because citizens call the Board to ask questions about what happened; he said the Board should be prepared for when citizens call about something that is already in the newspaper, to know details.

Mr. Blauert said our present Chief was not on the job when this incident took place and the Board cannot criticize him for it; he said he read about it in the Arizona Republic and another newspaper, although it was not reported in the local newspaper.

Chief Kazian asked the date of the newspaper to which Mr. Blauert referred;

Mr. Blauert replied, February 29th.

Chief Kazian expressed appreciation for the Board’s comments and assured them he will notify the Board Chair of situations of this magnitude and stated Interim Chief Keller did notify the Board and himself via e-mail dated February 23rd at 5:43 PM; he is not sure where the Board’s e-mails are sent, and if they need changing to please let us know.

He said the e-mail outlined pertinent information of the case and believes Chief Keller did his duty as outlined and requested by Mr. Christensen and Mr. Blauert.

Chief Kazian said he would continue this practice in the future and informed the Board this particular personnel matter is finished in relationship to SFD.

Mrs. Erick agreed they were notified by Chief Keller, but did not receive an update because they had no details of this arrest and it came out in two Verde Valley newspapers; Chief Kazian said this is a personnel issue and at the

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time of the arrest, details were very sketchy and up to a certain point, SFD was unable to take any action until an investigation was completed; however, Chief Keller did report it to the Board to the best of his ability; Chief Kazian said he had numerous conversations with Chief Keller as the Chief-elect and was kept abreast of the issue.

Mrs. Erick said she would like to be notified of details because the Board gets calls from people reacting to the newspaper article.

Chief Kazian said they would continue to provide information as timely as possible.

Mr. Montgomery said he hates learning about things from the newspaper when it affects the organization, but the Board has no control over what the Chief does about the situation.

Chief Kazian said he is a communicator and will keep the Board informed of needed information that he can provide. He said if the Board has a question about anything that has not been provided, he expects a phone call.

Mr. Blauert said Chief Kazian told him today about the completion of this affecting SFD and hopes we all move on and not dwell on someone else’s misfortune.

C. Items from Board Member Craig Dible:

1. Review of Architectural Fees for Selected Projects (2004 – 2008).

Mr. Dible distributed a handout regarding this (attached). He said Mrs. Daines’ conclusion last month regarding McGladrey was there was not one thing they offered SFD in findings or recommendations we could learn from or gave new perspective on challenges facing SFD now or in the future and that she was saddened by that fact. He said he disagrees and as stated previously, felt the audit was a worthwhile project because it has facts, figures, analyses, and recommendation. This caused him to be curious about some projects approved between 2004 and 2008 to see what kind of useful information was gleaned. He said his handout is about three projects which were, presumably, approved by previous Boards and acted upon by staff with the first being a Communications Center to be built by Station #4 in Uptown at a cost of over $100,000 in architectural fees by LEA Architects; the second project was for a Forest Service property utilization project done by Perlman Architectural Firm from Phoenix at a cost of nearly $30,000; and the third one was for a conceptualization for a new station in Oak Creek Canyon near Slide Rock State Park by Perlman Architects at almost $17,000; Mr. Dible stated the total for these three projects was $151,528.31. He said our tax dollars paid for these and as near as he can tell, and asked for correction if he is wrong, that SFD has no useful work product from any of these; he pointed out the McGladrey Report is a 228 page report. He stated he believes the Board was fiscally responsible in doing the McGladrey Report.

2. Discussion/Possible Action: Workforce Management System for Time and Attendance.

Mr. Dible said SFD has approved automated accounting software from Tyler Technologies and work began on that project last January, and about the same time, research for a timekeeping system began. He then read from the cover page of a document he presented last year, and provided Chief Kazian with a copy of the document, as follows: Time Management at the Sedona Fire District. According to the January 11, 2011, SFD Board Meeting/Work Session draft Minutes, employee attendance is tracked and reported manually using the scheduling software, Telestaff. To quote Mrs. Daines from that January 11th meeting, Mrs. Daines responded, ultimately, the Battalion Chief is responsible for the operational daily roster through the automated staffing software, Telestaff. She said Administrative and Support staff are also on Telestaff and supervisors of those areas are responsible that it reflects accurate work times of the employees. Spending valuable resources on this time-consuming record keeping takes away from the mission-critical work of the Sedona Fire District and its supervisory personnel, implementation of an automated biometric timecard system would place employees in control of routine time management tasks, and help relieve supervisors of these responsibilities, allowing them to concentrate on other important duties. Additionally, an automated system reduces the possibility of human error in data entry, protects employees by providing an accurate record of their work hours. It eliminates the possibility of shorting or the accusation of time theft by providing a complete report that can be easily reviewed by both supervisor and employee. The City of Sedona implemented an automated time card system in December 2009. All employees including the supervisors, the entire police force, the Chief on down to patrolman are in the system. They report good results and employee satisfaction with the process. The following documents are designed to analyze and assess the many advantages of a biometric time card management system. I present this information to my fellow SFD Board Members and Senior SFD Staff for their consideration.

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Mr. Dible said Tyler Technology’s system is being transitioned into and according to Finance Manager Schmidt will be in place in late summer or early fall. He did a formal Board presentation on February 1, 2011, starting with Automated Data Processing and eventually decided Kronos might better suit SFD’s needs; Kronos is an industry-standard automated time keeping system which will integrate seamlessly with Tyler.

A committee consisting of Board Member Phyllis Erick, Interim Chief Terry Keller, Business Director Karen Daines, Finance Manager Sandi Schmidt, Finance Assistant Kris Capite, Telecomm Manager Bob Motz, IT Technician Jeremy Harris, and Firefighter Brian Espiau, who is the Telestaff expert for SFD, met periodically and made the decision that instead of installing the Kronos system twice, it would make more sense to wait until Tyler is in place and then, integrate the time clocks. He said funding for the system has been approved in the current budget and asked Board Members and staff to review the Kronos proposal and delay any action until the April Board meeting.

Chief Kazian commented this is a concept that Mr. Dible has been working on for quite some time, and he is trying to absorb the information; he appreciates the Board Members evaluating the process and he would continue to do the same with staff to make sure this is a viable option and based on budget workshops and any shortfalls we may have moving forward, to make sure prioritizations are in line and this will work for Sedona Fire District.

D. Item from Board Member Phyllis Erick:

1. Discussion/Possible Action: Termination of Legal Representation by Attorney William R. Whittington of Boyle, Pecharich, Cline, Whittington & Stallings. (From 2/22/12 Meeting)

Mrs. Erick said there has been continued discussion on this matter and she feels it is time for the Board to make a decision and maybe terminate ties with Attorney Whittington by a Board vote and then proceed with our new legal representation;

Mr. Blauert asked if that was a motion and Mrs. Erick indicated it was; Mr. Christensen provided a second.

Mr. Montgomery said since there is no contract with Mr. Whittington and he was employed at will, and should SFD need additional services from him, making the statement we have terminated services negates the ability to use the firm and as they are one of only two specialists in fire district law in Arizona, does not feel the Board should do that.

Mrs. Erick said the reason she made the motion was because Mr. Montgomery felt Mr. Blauert made this decision on his own and wanted to put it to Board vote to see if the Board agreed.

Mr. Montgomery said his issue was with the change in who was “sitting in the chair” at Board meetings and that was not a collective Board decision.

Mr. Dible said this would clarify the situation and reminded the Board they learned from Attorney Scott Wakefield that fire district law is not a recognized specialty by the Arizona Bar, although Mr. Whittington may be knowledgeable on fire district law; he said he is comfortable with representation SFD is getting from the Ridenour firm.

Mrs. Erick moved to terminate legal representation by Attorney William R. Whittington of Boyle, Pecharich, Cline, Whittington & Stallings; Mr. Christensen seconded; the motion passed at 4 to 1 with only Mr. Montgomery voting against.

2. Discussion on Funds Returned to Yavapai County.

Mrs. Erick said this was discussed at the last Board meeting regarding a $65,000 check and asked which Board Member signed the check as it was over $10,000 and asked if it was in a special account and are there other accounts the Board does not know about.

Chief Kazian responded the January 2012 Financial Statements show the grant liability of $65,645; action was taken to return the money to Yavapai County as SFD did not provide the service and it was not our money. He said McGladrey just completed what was not a financial audit, but a financial review, and a separate full financial audit is done annually by another firm and there are no secret accounts; all funds are labeled in SFD’s accounting software and are fully accessible for anyone to see; this money was not hidden and not secretly stashed.

Chief Kazian said the project was not completed and that SFD was able to get out of a contract without penalties is a success for the district and this money belonged to Yavapai County Emergency Management. He said on 2/22/12, a check was cut for $67,461.24 and signed by Board Clerk Charles Christensen, as part of the check run as included in the Board’s financial packet of information.

Mrs. Erick thought it was $65,000 and Chief Kazian explained interest was included, as discussed at the 2/22/12 Board meeting. He said as far as SFD is concerned, this issue is finalized and all funds are returned to the rightful owner.

3. Discussion/Possible Action: Board to authorize funds for publication in Red Rock News of McGladrey.

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Scott Jablow – Chapel/Midway area: After listening to this topic at last month’s meeting, I can now understand why you’d want to pay $2,000 of our tax money to get this information out to the public. With the recall election coming up, I see it as a free way to get political messages out, and if you disagree with me, what’s the rush, why don’t you wait until after May 15th to put that ad out, if it’s that important? Thank you.

Wendy Tanzer – VOC: As this is an agenda item of Phyllis Erick, I’m assuming it will be acceptable if I use her name in the statement of facts. During the last regular Board meeting, Ms. Erick stated the Red Rock News price for a full-page black and white ad to be $1,280, spot-color would be another $220. This is a Fire District Governing Board. You are not Madison Avenue executives choosing the five best ingredients of an otherwise toxic pharmaceutical to sell to an unsuspecting consumer.

The entire McGladrey Report is available on the District website. Points by representatives from McGladrey and by Sedona Fire District staff made here tonight will be available on video and in meeting Minutes, also on the District website, thereby satisfying one citizen’s concern that “no member of the public could possibly read the entire report on-line”.

The same citizen, in fact, who thought it acceptable to spend $10,000 hiring a public relations firm, but objected to the replacement of worn-out safety equipment for our firefighters. Who is running this asylum? To presume a paid advertisement in the local newspaper is an acceptable method of unbiased dissemination of information to the public is sheer lunacy on numerous levels.

They include, but are certainly not limited to: one of the Board members has referenced information in the Red Rock News, as quote – “propaganda from the Red Rock Rag” – Does that refer only to disagreeable information or do members of this Board now embrace the local newspaper? Not everyone in the Sedona Fire District subscribes to the Red Rock News; so, exactly how does an advertisement therein solve the problem? Perhaps a direct mail to every household and business in the district would be more effective.

Can Ms. Erick quote us that price as well? This would be an alarming precedent to set as policy for any and all future controversial decisions made by the Sedona Fire District Governing Board – a slippery descent from any remaining semblance of professionalism to the self-inflicted abyss of dishonor.

There should be no motion, nor any discussion of abusing tax revenue to place a paid advertisement in any newspaper. This is unreasonable on its very face. Any Board Member wishing to quote provisions from the McGladrey Report to promote their own re-election should be footing the bill themselves.

No one in this district has voted for part of their taxes to be used in political campaigns. If any ad is placed in the Red Rock News, McGladrey should pay for it to defend any and all questionable points in the report. May I suggest, however, they come up with something a little more substantial than that oft-repeated on the website quote – “we have not, nor would we draw specific conclusions nor make specific recommendations based upon this or any other survey data” – that kind of copy and paste response gets old in a hurry. Thank you.

Mr. Blauert said McGladrey’s PR company is doing a summary of items that need to be brought back to the public; they expressed an interest to him in participating.

Mrs. Erick said she still wants to make a motion to authorize funds for publication of McGladrey’s Report, and thinks it is important because there are taxpayers that do not access the Internet and with all the negative press the Board has received on the McGladrey Report, she believes the Board owes it to the taxpayers to let them know their money really was not wasted.

Mrs. Erick then moved for the Board to authorize funds for publication in the Red Rock News, a summary of the McGladrey Report, for a full-page ad.

Mr. Blauert asked her to amend her motion to state that McGladrey would prepare and present the summary.

Mrs. Erick so amended her motion to include McGladrey preparing the summary for publication; Mr. Christensen seconded.

Mr. Montgomery recapped his statement from the last meeting that trying to summarize the Report takes out some of the objectivity of it, and he agrees that McGladrey should do the summary and certainly, none of the Board Members, as that could be considered “spin”; he stated he disagrees with spending any money for this.

Mr. Dible said he agrees that McGladrey needs to do its own summation, so the Board is not involved; he reminded all that during the last election cycle, Chief Hazime was heavily criticized for running a full-page ad about SFD salaries and he believes McGladrey should pay for it.

Chief Kazian said the objectivity of which Mr. Montgomery spoke is critical; he said we could sensationalize numbers from the Report to $1.7 million as McGladrey projected could be cut, but to make that happen is not as simple as printing it in the paper, reading it, and making it done; he wants to be very cautious that the Board is not

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just making a number and saying we can do all these things; after talking today about the Report, it would be one to three years to implement; additionally, he said there are things in the Report that have nothing to do with finances that talk about issues related to SFD providing effective emergency services, such as response times, and he wondered if those would also be mentioned in the summation, as they are critical to our core services besides just things we can cut.

Chief Kazian said this is about strategic planning and moving the district forward, and worries about what can be provided in a one-page advertisement from a 228-page document; he said he is about transparency, communication, and providing objective information to people, but the entire Report is on the website and, perhaps, working with McGladrey to pay for it might be the next feasible option.

Mr. Dible believes the ad should clearly indicate the entire Report is available on SFD’s website.

Chief Kazian said the shame of this is the majority of the Report will be left out and believes there must be an approval process before just deciding to accept whatever McGladrey creates.

Mrs. Erick asked if she has Board approval to talk to Larry Schaedel, making sure the language is given to the Chief for approval before publication;

Chief Kazian said he wants to make sure whatever printed is fair, impartial, and represents a well-balanced part of this Report.

Mrs. Erick then retracted her previous motion and asked for Board consensus to contact Mr. Schaedel;

Mr. Blauert said she could contact him, but told her that McGladrey is already in the preparation phase and for her to bring back any ad to the Chief for approval and to the Board for acceptance;

Mr. Christensen retracted his second.

E. Items from Board Member Ty Montgomery:

1. Monthly Update: Current Fees to Date for Legal Services Provided to SFD.

Scott Jablow – Chapel/Midway area: At the February 1st Board meeting, there was a vote to set legal fees for the Fire Chief Search Committee being at or around $5,000.

I bet the general public sitting behind me today would be very surprised to learn that instead of $5,000 that was approved, the actual cost of attorney fees as of March 13th was really $32,440.97. That is with $27,318 for Ridenour, $5,122 for Whittington. You’re over budget $27,440.

I would like to know when the Board is going to call a special meeting or put it on the agenda after the fact to authorize that extra spending.

The Board authorized an overall budget for the Search Committee at $15,000. I’m sure everybody here would be surprised to learn that instead of the $15,000, the figure is really $38,565.02. That means you are over-budget by $23,565.

Again, I’d like to know when you’re going to call another meeting to account for that money. Whatever happened to fiscal responsibility that this entire Board ran their campaign on? It doesn’t sound fiscal to me.

This Board has repeatedly set budgets and gone way over without concern. I recently viewed a tally of this Board’s legal fees spent since being elected and I want to say that it appears to me that other than saluting the American Flag, you have to seek guidance for every decision that you make.

$143,000 on legal fees. Can you imagine?That is almost 3 times what any other Board has ever spent during their entire term for this district.

If you’re going to throw money in the toilet, just to deplete the contingency account, why don’t you at least overspend it on something crazy, like an ambulance, turnout gear, safety equipment, something that is useful and saves lives? What a unique idea instead of spending it and wasting it on legal fees. And, again, these comments are my own and do not represent any organization or City Board or Commission that I am part of. Thank you.

Mr. Montgomery said at the last Board meeting, there was some discussion and allegations made that the Ridenour law firm was not charging SFD the prices originally quoted; he asked Chief Kazian what he had found in his research.

Chief Kazian said based on the budgeting process and communication from the last meeting, he reviewed legal bills and found a discrepancy in the hourly charge; he received confirmation from Ridenour regarding this error in billing and that they would amend the billing accordingly, although he does not yet have a dollar figure.

Chief Kazian said he would update the Board regarding this and that going forward, billing will be correct, as well as credit toward the next legal invoice for retroactive over-charges from the date 11/29/11, which is the date of the signed contract.

Mr. Montgomery asked if there were also errors in billing for travel expenses;

Chief Kazian said there was some discussion about what is in the contract for travel allotment versus what was being charged and that needs clarification; he talked to Attorney Blake Whiteman at the firm about this.

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Mr. Dible clarified this was in Section 6, Compensation and Payment, of the contract with the law firm and 16.G, Flat Rate for Roundtrip;

Chief Kazian confirmed same and said he would need to further evaluate the information from Ridenour.

Mr. Blauert commented some of the costs of legal fees are borne by the public as they have constantly sent in requests of items for our attorneys to evaluate and get an opinion; he said when citizens call the attorney, the “clock goes on”;

Mr. Blauert said something must be done about this and perhaps they should tell the law firm to not recognize those citizens.

Citizen Scott Jablow interjected he would like to address that comment and Mr. Blauert gave him permission.

Mr. Jablow said in the past two weeks, he sent three information requests to SFD through the proper channels and feels he “got the run around” those three times. He said he asked for the applications and resumes with confidential information redacted for all of the Fire Chief finalists; he said he was only give two of those.

Mr. Jablow said he was quoted case law as an excuse to not receive the information and he was told by three different attorneys that the case was not relevant and Attorney Scott Wakefield was incorrect.

He said he is entitled by law to make information requests and receive information; he said if these requests raised the legal fees, it should be put back on the Board’s attorney.

Mr. Blauert stated he respects the Ridenour firm and their opinions highly and believes they cannot give out some information because of privacy;

Mr. Jablow replied he does not want names, addresses, or other private information, he just wants to see their backgrounds; he said Search Committee Chairman Joe Demme requested the Board increase the salary range to get the best possible candidate and he wants to be sure that is what we got; he said there was nothing personal against Chief Kazian who seems like a very qualified individual, and he believes the public is entitled to know about anyone the district paid for hotels, airfares, food, and other items and who were interviewed by the Assessors, staff, or the Board, would be considered the semi-finalist candidates; he said the case law quoted said semi-finalists information can be released.

Mr. Blauert told Mr. Jablow to have the three attorneys that gave him information address it with the Board’s attorney; Mr. Jablow pointed out that would cost even more in legal fees.

Citizen Karen Schmitt stated she could also respond to Mr. Blauert’s previous comment.

Mr. Blauert stated he would get a breakdown of costs of what the public has incurred in legal invoices to Mr. Jablow.

Mrs. Erick commented regarding amounts of legal fees that Ridenour would be crediting, she believes in the past, SFD has retracted amounts from Mr. Whittington’s bills as well; Mr. Dible agreed.

F. Items from Board Chairman David Blauert:

1. Request for Forensic Audit of Board Activities and Actions for the duration of time that this current Board has served. (Requested by SFD Citizen Gayle Kirsch – Tabled 2/22/12)

Mr. Blauert stated this was a request from a citizen and he has received no further information from her to clarify what she wants; he said he does not understand the requests because the public is entitled to all the Minutes.

He said in respect to Mrs. Kirsch, he requested she be sent a note that the Minutes are available and ask if there is anything else she is specifically requesting; with Chief Kazian’s permission, he requested Recording Clerk Greer ask Mrs. Kirsch to explain what she means by a forensic audit to see if there were any other requests;

Chief Kazian said he believes the Minutes will describe all Board actions taken on “face value”, although Mrs. Kirsch may be requesting something different.

Citizen Karen Schmitt requested and received permission to speak;

Mrs. Schmitt stated she knows Mrs. Kirsch has tried to get the name of the attorney who told Mrs. Erick that she did not need an HR person in the Fire Chief selection and she had been given “the runaround”;

Mr. Blauert said that has not been in the requests from Mrs. Kirsch;

Mrs. Schmitt stated it has and she had seen all the memos.

Mr. Blauert said through the Chief’s permission, staff could send a notation to Mrs. Kirsch for what she is specifically requesting.

An unidentified gentleman in the audience stated he would like to make a statement; Mr. Blauert denied his request and asked him to complete a request to address the Board form at future meetings.

2. Discussion/Possible Action: Revised Resolution Establishing Standards by which Services may be Contracted to Private Parties by the Sedona Fire District. (Tabled from 2/22/12)

Mr. Blauert said this has been on-going for some time.

Mr. Montgomery was contacted by Mr. Ayres yesterday and told Mr. Ayres could not be present tonight because of a scheduling conflict;

Mr. Ayres asked Mr. Montgomery to read the following statement: Unfortunately, Douglas W. Ayres cannot be here tonight. He is in Los Angeles meeting with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board at Board request. That is the body that

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sets all accounting and budgeting standards and requirements for all local and state governments including all special districts such as SFD.

Ayres is presenting that regulatory Board his new book, which details the revolutionary municipal business system he developed and has installed for more than 250 local governments and districts including fire districts. Mrs. Daines also has a copy and fully understands it.

Mr. Ayres wanted to present Mr. Dible and me with a copy of Consumer Government Via the Art of Full Disclosure. This book is directly tied to the outsourcing and contracting policy resolution which Mr. Ayres proposed to this Board several months ago and is on tonight’s Agenda.

Mr. Montgomery then gave a copy of the mentioned book to Mr. Dible.

He said the issue last month was that the attorney had reviewed Mr. Ayres’ proposal and made recommendations in writing; he said Ms. Daines said at the last meeting that staff had no issues with adopting it, although it is fairly complex;

Mr. Montgomery asked the Board if they wanted to pursue adopting this as corrected and reviewed by the Ridenour firm.

Mr. Blauert asked Chief Kazian if he had a chance to review these recommendations;

Chief Kazian apologized and said he had not yet had an opportunity to review the document and can make no comment at this time.

Mr. Dible said Attorney Wakefield’s Memo is marked Confidential/Attorney-Client privilege and the conclusion on page five is what concerns him;

Mr. Dible recommended this item be tabled and brought back at another time; he is not comfortable with taking action tonight.

Mr. Montgomery agreed he would like Chief Kazian to review it as the Resolution puts some restrictions on staff with substantial monitoring responsibilities.

Chief Kazian agreed he would review the information and get back to the Board with a recommendation; he suggested he meet with Mr. Ayres for further information.

The Board’s consensus was to table this item.

VII. STAFF REPORTS.

A. Monthly Staff Report – Fire Chief Kris Kazian.

Chief Kazian reported the following: It is important to share a few things I observed in my first 8 days here as Fire Chief of the Sedona Fire District. A couple of words come to mind: Professionalism, dedication, passion, and First Class – are right there at the forefront.

I’ve already responded on at least 5 ambulance calls, transported a few to Sedona, I’ve done an interfacility transport to Cottonwood, I’ve been to a small fire at the car wash on 89A.

I did a hike-out on Friday afternoon with Fire Marshal Johnson and crews at St.#3 at Courthouse Butte about a mile and a half hike in. We took a happy customer to the hospital and that was a challenge and something new for me. Advil was my friend that weekend.

The morning I arrived into town, crews responded to a person in cardiac arrest at a local grocery store. Not only did the crews revive the person, but we can all imagine what that person is going to be able to do when he’s released from the hospital, which I imagine he probably is by now or close to it. Living a healthy, happy life based on actions of the Sedona Fire District paramedics out of this station here a week ago Saturday morning.

Crews also responded this weekend to Camp Verde for a Swiftwater rescue where 11 people were tossed out of a raft, 7 of which made it to the shore, 4 needed to be rescued. Ironically, just 3 days before that our firefighters trained some of the very people that were in the incident command system running that incident, so that those people could be rescued and saved without incident or injury to any other people or to firefighters performing the rescue.

Ironically, TMZ and CNN both reported that a celebrity was ‘resting comfortably’ in a Sedona hospital. This is all in my first couple of days.

This is amazing. I also had the pleasure of sitting in a professional teambuilding exercise with our incredible staff here at St.#1. Some of the leaders, managers, and workers from the front office got to experience me in a boa, a hat… and got a chance to meet and know who I am and, most importantly, I got to know who they are and what makes them tick.

I got to witness things that happened in the dispatch center as they operate during a flurry of calls, dispatching multiple units and providing all the professional support necessary to all the responding agencies for which we dispatch calls. Furthermore, the office and admin staff have proven to me they are as passionate and as knowledgeable as I could ever ask an office staff to be. They were honorable enough to throw me a potluck lunch for my family to come and enjoy last Monday… the care and compassion by the office staff putting that together and made that a first class lunch to honor and welcome my family, will be something I never forget nor will they.

I’m a dedicated fire service professional who’s come from an amazing system in Illinois. I would consider one of the best. I thought there was none better than where I spent the last 20 years of my career in Countryside, but I’m amazed my track record continues. I’ve managed to select the next, second best, or equally as great organization right here in Sedona. As I took the Oath of Office 8 days

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ago, Ms. Greer was able to provide me with the guidance to uphold the laws of the State of Arizona and provide first class fire protection and emergency services for the citizens of Sedona Fire District.

I sit here at my first Board meeting, we operate as a group, we move forward and we take the opportunity to communicate, educate, and bring SFD to the level that it is, can be, and will continue to be based on our hard work, dedication, and passion by the members of the district, members of this Board, and members of the citizenry that sit here before us and will watch this meeting on-line in a couple of days.

I am honored and, again, humbled to serve as your Fire Chief. I am excited for what I can bring to the organization and what the organization and citizens can teach me as your Fire Chief. I think we saw here today we are making progress. We put a few issues away. We will work on some new ones and make SFD an all new fire district in the very near future. I’m excited to be part of it and I will not do it alone.

Thank you to Terry; thank you to all the staff behind me, and those that are not here today, for making me successful in my first 8 days and for my years to come.

I ask that we provide information to me, so in the future, Mr. Dible, if you have information, you can get it to us and communicate ahead of time, so that I could at least answer some of those questions. I have some thoughts so we can perform our duties as we are charged with. So, I ask to provide that professional courtesy, as was asked of me earlier to provide you the information, and I will certainly do that as well.

Call Summary reported by Chief Kazian: Crews responded to 16 calls yesterday; he said Cottonwood was not receiving patients and all had to be transported to Flagstaff which increases SFD’s response times dramatically; he said it is a very dynamic operation and firefighters continue to meet those challenges.

Since last month’s Board meeting, there were 356 total calls with 33 fire-related; 208 EMS including 16 motor vehicle accidents and 5 rescues; 61 special duty; and 54 interfacility transports.

In conclusion, Chief Kazian stated he was completely impressed with the crews’ response on the calls he attended and very comfortable for anyone calling SFD for services and would guarantee the best class service; he stated he is proud to be a part of SFD and the Board should be proud to serve an organization that provides that type of service.

He reported SFD would hold an Open House at Fire Station #1 on Saturday, April 28, 2012, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. He stated he would look forward to citizens coming to him directly to ask questions and would make sure SFD is as transparent as it can be. He stated he looks forward to new friendships in Sedona.

B. Presentation Honoring Terry Keller for his work as SFD Interim Fire Chief.

Chief Kazian requested Fire Marshal Johnson present a plaque to Assistant Chief Terry Keller for his dedication and hard work as Interim Fire Chief; Chief Keller’s wife, Maria, joined him for the presentation.

C. February Financial Report.

The Board had no questions or comments about the Financial Report.

D. Fire Marshal’s Safety Message.

Fire Marshal Johnson asked those present to do two things tonight – first, look for their house number to make sure it is clearly visible for emergency responders; and second, when calling 9-1-1, make sure you have the information needed, answer all questions from the dispatcher, and do not hang up.

Fire Marshal Johnson suggested citizens create a card with pertinent numbers and addresses of friends and relatives because although we may know how to get to someone’s house, we may not know their physical address to report to the dispatcher.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT.

Mr. Blauert asked all Board Members to communicate any new Agenda item requests to Chief Kazian directly so that he could have a better understanding of those items and be able to respond appropriately.

The meeting adjourned 7:50 pm.

David Blauert, Chairman of the Board:tg