Archive for June 1st, 2016

North Riverside considers privatizing the fire department (more)

Excerpts from the RBLandmark.com:

On the heels of a fiscal year in which every single fund, from general operation to water to waste hauling ended in the black, North Riverside’s finance director on May 24 said the village is in its best financial position since prior to the economic crash of 2008.

Although the figures are not yet audited, revenues for the second straight fiscal year reportedly outpaced expenditures in the village’s general operating fund, which pays for day-to-day expenses such as salaries and benefits, including pension contributions, by nearly $200,000.

And for the second straight year, North Riverside’s water enterprise fund, which for two decades operated at a loss because the village’s general fund subsidized costs it now passes along to customers, also ended in the black by about $430,000.

During the second of two meetings to discuss the proposed 2016-17 fiscal year budget, Scarpiniti on May 24 also said the village will be in a stronger position to argue its case for an improved bond rating when village officials meet with the Moody’s rating service later this month.

Should the village’s bond rating improve, officials would be poised in the next six to eight months to issue between $2.2 million and $2.5 million in alternate revenue bonds to fund a major street improvement campaign along with a handful of other capital expenditures identified in the 2016-17 budget.

The debt service on the alternate revenue bonds would be funded by earmarking roughly $250,000 in revenue the village receives from its places of eating and drinking tax. The village will raise that tax to a full 2 percent from the present 1 percent in 2016-17, which should result in an additional $460,000 annually.

Another major purchase coming in 2016-17 is a new aerial ladder truck for the fire department, which is being financed via an installment contract with Pierce Manufacturing, at a cost to the village $1.16 million.

It replaces a 1997 Pierce aerial that has been out of service with an inoperable main ladder since 2014. The fire department will take delivery of the new truck sometime in July, according to Fire Chief Brian Basek, and will attempt to find a buyer for its old truck.

 The numbers in the 2016-17 budget also indicate that the village’s two-year campaign to privatize its fire department may be coming to an end.

While the village is still pinning its hopes on a reversal of a circuit court decision by the Illinois Appellate Court and favorable responses to village protests of a proposed unfair labor practice ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board, the budget indicates North Riverside’s investment in those fights is over.

The budget includes no money allocated for privatization in the new fiscal year and a much lower budget figure for fighting union grievances, most of which have come from firefighters in the past three years.

After spending $47,721 in legal fees regarding fire department issues in 2013-14, North Riverside spent $265,762 in 2014-15 and an estimated $252,475 in 2015-16.

The legal services budget for the fire department in the fiscal year ending April 30, 2017 is estimated at $100,000, a majority of that for contract negotiations and grievance proceedings. The mayor and firefighters have been meeting informally for several months. On May 24, Hermanek said he’d agree to a contract with the union and hire three more firefighters if the union would agree to reduce the number of firefighters allowed to call off during a single shift.

Right now, two people are allowed to call off during a shift, a policy that Hermanek said is responsible for skyrocketing overtime costs that have prevented the village from hiring more employees.

The overtime problem would be solved if the union would reduce the number of people asking for a shift off from two to one, however the union won’t budge, Hermanek said.

thanks Dan

Tags: , , ,

Somers Fire Department news

Excerpts from the KenoshaNews.com:

Somers Fire Chief Carson Wilkinson is back home. His new job has brought him closer to family and back into the firehouse.

For more than 25 years, Wilkinson was with the Kenosha Fire Department, most of those years as a division chief in charge of training. At the same time, he had been working part time at Road America in Elkhart Lake before taking a full-time position as the organization’s safety director.

Hired in March to replace Tom Smith, who left the Somers Fire Department more than a year ago, the Paddock Lake native said he took the Somers job because he wanted to come home.

“I wanted to get back to where my family is,” said Wilkinson, whose son David is a lieutenant with the Pleasant Prairie Fire Department. His daughter, who lives in Buffalo Grove, Ill., is also married to a firefighter.

In the nearly three months Wilkinson, 60, has been chief, he said he has formalized the way firefighters in the village are introduced to their job.  His son presented him with the chief’s helmet when he was sworn in on March 10, .

Wilkinson believes that families should be involved because “it’s one of those professions that affects family life. You can’t leave the job at work all the time,” he said. “So, it’s important to have it mean something for family members.”

Under his command are 55 employees, including eight full-time and 47 part-time and paid-on-call firefighters. Among the goals Wilkinson has for the department is to improve its rating for fire departments.

“The previous chiefs got Somers to an ISO 4,” he said. “We’re going to try to move it toward (a rating of) 3.”

That rating, he said, would be comparable to Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie.

 

While the rating isn’t affected by its rescue component, Wilkinson said he wants to have firefighters become certified paramedics.

The department has certified I-99 emergency medical technicians, who perform many of the same duties as paramedics, however, the I-99 classification will soon be changing, he said.

 

thanks Dan

Tags: , , ,

New aerial for Dekalb (more)

Excerpts from the DailyChronicle.com:

The DeKalb Fire Department is inviting the community to a dedication ceremony for the city’s newest fire truck.

The dedication ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Fire Station 1, 700 Pine St., DeKalb.

The city spent $420,000 last year to buy the 2008 Pierce Quantum 105-foot aerial ladder truck. Northern Illinois University contributed $275,000 as part of its fire service agreement with the city.

The new truck replaces a 1990, 102-foot Grumman AerialCat, nicknamed “Big John,” after 26 years of service that was  named for former DeKalb Fire Department Capt. John Isom, who was influential in the design of the truck.  He died from a fire service-related illness before the truck was put into service. The city bought Big John for $473,000 in 1990.

The new truck will be named “Rip Roaring” as a tribute to former DeKalb Fire Chief Albert “Al” Riippi.  The name was chosen by the community in a voting contest. “Rip Roaring” won the contest with 77 percent of the 636 votes, beating out “Spirit of DeKalb” and “The Baron.”

Riippi first joined the fire department in 1949 after serving in the U.S. Navy and retired in 1986 after almost 30 years of service. He left the city in 1952, but later returned and rejoined the fire department in 1959. He was appointed acting chief in late 1978 and was made the permanent chief the following year.

After the ceremony, firefighters will be available to answer questions and give tours of the station and fire equipment.

thanks Dan

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Garage fire in the Central Stickney FPD, 5-31-16

This from Eric Haak:

Here are some images of a garage fire in Central Stickney Tuesday morning (5/31).  I was on my way to work and saw the smoke.  Address was on the 4700 block of Lockwood.  The home next to the garage was involved as well but was saved largely due to the small addition that was a buffer between the actual house.  The house did have some fire in the attic space.
alley garage engulfed in flames

Eric Haak photo

alley garage engulfed in flames

Eric Haak photo

alley garage engulfed in flames

Eric Haak photo

firemen advance hose line on fire

Eric Haak photo

firemen break windows to vent house on fire

Eric Haak photo

aftermath of alley garage destroyed by fire

Eric Haak photo

aftermath of alley garage destroyed by fire

Eric Haak photo

Tags: , , , ,