Excerpts from Fox32chicago.com:
The food court at North Riverside Park Mall will remain closed Thursday after a small fire broke out at 11:15 a.m. in one of the eateries.
Multiple agencies responded and the flames were quickly contained, leaving behind minimal damages.
No injuries were reported. The mall was temporarily closed as crews worked the scene.
thanks Martin
Excerpts from rblandmark.com:
North Riverside trustees upended a nearly 40-year operational policy on Oct. 17, voting to abandon its practice of outsourcing paramedic services to a private company in favor of staffing its fire department with union firefighter/paramedics. The move coincided with trustees voting unanimously to approve a new five-year contract for firefighters and lieutenants who are members of North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, retroactive to May 1, 2021. Paramedic Services of Illinois (PSI) has provided contract paramedic services to North Riverside since 1984. The village board most recently renewed its contract with the firm for five years in 2019.
The deal appears to mark the end of what has been a contentious relationship between union firefighters and village administration going back more than 15 years, and it represents a complete rejection of a bid to privatize the entire department, including firefighting services, which the village began in 2014 and ended after a fruitless court battle in 2018.
In 2019, the mayor along with a trustee broke ranks with their party’s longstanding policy of simply rejecting the thought of union firefighters, saying they were open to bringing paramedics in-house if it made financial sense.
What pushed the village board to accept the union’s proposal to bring paramedics in-house was a request by PSI to renegotiate its contract with the village due to financial pressures the company has faced in order to staff its needs. In the past couple of years, it has been a challenge for PSI to fully meet its commitment to provide North Riverside with six paramedics – two per shift. Paramedics have been known to double up on shifts to keep the ambulance in service and their ranks bolstered by fill-in medics.
In its 2022-23 fiscal year budget, North Riverside earmarked $508,000 for PSI paramedics. However, PSI proposed charging $200,000 more annually. Instead, the village triggered a clause in its contract with PSI and on Oct. 12 sent a letter announcing it was terminating its deal with the firm in 30 days.
Starting Nov. 12, PSI’s paramedics will be out and the village will begin using part-time union firefighter/paramedics from other municipalities to staff its ambulance as the village begins to hire six more firefighter/paramedics to bring staffing up to five per shift from the current three.
Short staffing has led to exorbitant overtime costs in recent years. In 2019-20, fire department overtime was nearly $850,000. In the past two years overtime costs topped $550,000 each year.
The new arrangement will eventually be able to keep a lid on overtime, and the new contract includes an “overtime containment mechanism” capping the number of shifts where two firefighters can be off at the same time. It also limits when higher-paid lieutenants can fill in for firefighter/paramedics. Included in the new contract are base pay raises of 2.5 percent in the first year and 2.75 percent for the final four years. Employee health insurance contributions will gradually rise from 15 percent in the first year to 19 percent by the end of the contract, which expires April 30, 2026.
thanks Rob
From the Fire Service, Inc. @FireServiceIncStJohn:
Congratulations to Chief Bob McDermott and the North Riverside Fire Department on their recent purchase of a 2022 Ford Type III Wheeled Coach ambulance. This is the second Wheeled Coach in their fleet and includes a patented Safeguard Box Modular Frame including the patented TrueForm Wall construction, which provides the highest quality, precision engineering with accurate and square framed results. Utilizing Wheeled Coach’s AntiCor Protection and the ToughCoat Paint Process, the longevity of the body paint and anti corrosive properties will serve the department in maintaining their cultural image within the community for years to come. Other highlights include the Cool Bar HVAC system, Whelen emergency warning systems, Stryker Power Load, Per4Max controlled deceleration restraints, and Technimount monitor mounting systems. Once again, North Riverside is a great example of a community who values the safety and engineering attributes of Wheeled Coach, combined with the strength of service and relationship Fire Service, Inc. provides. We are thrilled to partner again with North Riverside in providing them a product that is trusted by the toughest.
Excerpts from the ForestParkReview.com:
Phil Chiappetta is Forest Park’s new fire chief appointed by the mayor and unanimously approved by commissioners Sept. 28. He is replacing Chief Bob McDermott who retires effective Sept. 30, at which point he will join the North Riverside Fire Department as chief. Also retiring are Lieutenant Tom “TJ” Janopoulos and of Lieutenant Russ Nelson.
Chiappetta has served as deputy chief in Forest Park Fire since 2016. He started as a contract paramedic in 1997 and in 2001 was hired as the first firefighter/paramedic in Forest Park. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2010.
This appointment leaves an opening for deputy chief, a position that will take about 3-6 months to fill. The promotion must be made off a list of lieutenants who have taken the captain’s test, but currently there isn’t a list since none of the lieutenants took the last test that was offered. The village is working on scheduling the test now.
At the Sept. 28 meeting, the council voted to direct the Fire and Police Commission to appoint two candidates from its current fire lieutenant eligibility list and two candidates from its current probationary firefighter eligibility list to fill vacancies.
Excerpts from the RBlandmark.com:
North Riverside Fire Chief John Kiser resigned from his post Sept. 3. The village hired Bob McDermott, who is retiring from a 32-year career as a firefighter in Forest Park at the end of the month. While both Kiser and the North Riverside mayor said the parting of the ways was mutual, the timing was unexpected and things came together very rapidly this week.
McDermott, 53, a Forest Park native and Nazareth Academy graduate who lives in LaGrange Park, was elevated to fire chief in Forest Park in 2016 after 11 years as deputy chief. He started his career as a full-time firefighter there in 1988. He will split his time between North Riverside and Forest Park through the end of September, but reported for his first day in North Riverside on Sept. 4.
Previously, a years’ long feud between village government and union firefighters peaked during a five-year campaign to privatize the fire service in North Riverside. The lengthy court battle, which started in the summer of 2014 and resulted in expensive and seemingly endless litigation and labor complaints, ended in December 2019 when the two sides inked a seven-year contract that expires next April 30. McDermott was well aware of that history when he decided to take the job, saying both the mayor and village administrator assured him that battle was over.
thanks Dennis
Dec 17
From the North Riverside Firefighters Union-Local 2714 Facebook page:
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from the North Riverside Firefighters Union-Local 2714 Facebook page
thanks Danny
Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:
On Nov. 18, even though the company’s proposal was the more expensive option, a majority of the North Riverside village board said they would vote in favor of extending a contract for another five years for paramedic services with Paramedic Services of Illinois (PSI), which has provided paramedic services for the village for more than three decades.
But that extension was conditioned on the village administration pledging to explore the North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714 proposal to hire full-time and part-time paramedics in order to wean the village from its reliance on a private company.
Two of the paramedic proposals submitted to the village on Aug. 16 were from private firms, PSI and Metro Paramedic Services. Each submitted a proposal for a five-year contract, with Metro’s price coming in at $2,415,441, compared to PSI’s $2,530,200.
North Riverside Firefighters Union 2714 also submitted a proposal to staff the village ambulances with part-time paramedics, but the proposal didn’t meet the requirements of the village’s request.
A quick calculation performed by the village’s fire chief, but not submitted to the administration prior to Nov. 18, indicated such a proposal could cost an estimated $2.1 million over five years, but the finance director said she couldn’t vouch for the figures.
The union’s proposal was inspired by the Village of Bensenville’s solution for paramedic staffing, employing in-house full- and part-time paramedics. Two trustees said that option was worth exploring after visiting the Bensenville Fire Department to get more information.
With only three paramedics assigned full time by PSI to North Riverside, and with PSI’s contract extension twisting in the wind, Fire Chief John Kiser said it was becoming difficult to convince contract paramedics to commit to being assigned permanently to North Riverside. While the village’s ambulance is fully staffed each shift, the turnover in personnel on those shifts is enormous. He also suggested extending PSI’s contract at this time to avoid a change that could result in an all-new crew of paramedics being assigned to North Riverside.
Two trustees opposed extending PSI’s contract, with one proposing to throw out the proposals the village accepted in August and seek new ones, even though PSI’s latest proposal represents a decrease in the fee the village now pays. He said that by rejecting the proposals and seeking new ones, the companies would get the message that they need to be more competitive. In fiscal year 2019-20, North Riverside budgeted $523,000 for paramedic services. Over five years, such a fee would equate to $2,615,000.
The village board will formally vote to extend the contract with PSI at its meeting on Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. in the council chamber of the Village Commons, 2401 Desplaines Ave.
Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:
About 70 police officers, firefighters, paramedics, high school and mall security personnel, and emergency dispatchers from North Riverside, Brookfield, Riverside, and Brookfield Zoo got a crash course in handling incidents involving people on the autism spectrum last week during special training sessions.
Three two-hour training sessions were taught by an autism specialist from EasterSeals Chicago. This training costs $750 an hour, and when factoring in multiple shifts, the cost can drive smaller agencies away. A $5,000 grant from Autism Speaks is helping to defray the cost.
North Riverside paramedics in the past year have responded to a couple of incidents involving people who appeared to be behaving unusually, but had no identifiable medical issues. It wasn’t immediately apparent to the paramedics that the individuals were autistic. In one instance they were called to the mall after security observed an adult sitting in the same spot for several hours. Unsure what to do, they called paramedics.
The inability of
first respondersemergency personnel to communicate with someone on the spectrum or identify that they are autistic can lead to potentially dangerous situations. Family members at times express fear that police or paramedics will misinterpret the actions of someone with autism when someone reports an adult acting strangely.One of the takeaways from the training is a toolkit with items to help emergency personnel communicate with someone on the spectrum. The items include cards, that can assist police and paramedics understand the problem they’re confronting – whether someone is in pain or needs to take their medication – or to obtain information like the phone number of a relative. If the person needs to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance or in a police vehicle, picture cards explaining the process of what’s about to happen or dry-erase cards where that process can be written out can help reassure them. The toolkit also contain items to keep a person occupied during times of stress. Individuals with autism have complex sensory needs oftentimes, so being able to provide them something to keep their hands occupied or to focus on something other than the situation at hand can help ease that anxiety and keep them calm. There’s also a business card-sized reminder card to provide a quick reference of how to approach situations that may involve someone with autism – to approach in a non-threatening way, understanding sensory needs, talking in calm tone, keeping instructions simple, etc.
Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:
The North Riverside mayor announced on Aug. 27 that he’s hired a new permanent fire chief, following heated criticism both online and in person at last week’s village board meeting regarding his choice for interim chief.
The new chief will take over from Scott Boman, who has served as the North Riverside Fire Department’s interim chief since July 13, when the mayor abruptly terminated Chief Tom Gaertner and Deputy Chief Pat Schey after just seven months. Boman had been slated to be sworn in at the North Riverside Village Board’s Aug. 13 meeting, but it didn’t happen.
John Kiser, who for the past two years has served as chief of operations for the Cook County Department of Homeland Security, will start in his new post on Sept. 1. He will be sworn in at the village’s board’s Sept. 4 meeting. A Forest View resident, Kiser was hired as regional coordinator for the Cook County Department of Homeland Security in 2014 and was promoted to chief of operations two years later. Since 2002, he has been a commander for the Forest View Fire Department, serving part time in that capacity since 2014, when Forest View dissolved their full-time department.
Kiser has also served as a water rescue course coordinator and fire, rescue and HAZMAT instructor at the Romeoville Fire Academy. He got his start in the fire service in 1994 as a paid-on-call firefighter in Riverside, where he was also employed as a contract paramedic firefighter through the village’s private paramedic service, PSSI, now known as PSI.
Kiser said he’s aware of the labor situation, but said he was up for the challenge. “I’m excited for the opportunity and look forward to the challenge in front of us,” Kiser said. “No fire department job out there is perfect. All organizations have their challenges. … We’ll take the challenges head on and let the chips fall where they may.”
thanks Dan
Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:
Members of a local progressive political group, along with many North Riverside residents, packed the Aug. 13 meeting of the village board to protest the hiring of an interim fire chief, with the mayor stating that a search for a permanent replacement is ongoing.
Typically routine affairs that last 20 or 30 minutes at most, the board meeting featured calls for a new chief and pleas to female elected officials to take seriously the sexual harassment allegations in a lawsuit, settled in 2009 by the village of Oak Lawn, against Interim Fire Chief Scott Boman.
Meanwhile, others, including former North Riverside Mayor Richard Scheck and his wife, Judith, defended Boman, claiming he was innocent of the allegations and the target of a smear campaign launched against him by a disgruntled female employee.
At the time Boman’s appointment was announced a month ago, Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. announced that Boman would be formally sworn in Aug. 13. That, however, did not happen, though he was present at the meeting. Asked following the meeting when or if Boman would be sworn in, the mayor said he was “interim until he’s not interim” and that he was still interviewing candidates.
Regarding the search process, Hermanek said he was tapping the resources of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association and accepting resumes from individuals who have expressed interest in the job.
Members of Indivisible West Suburban Action League organized a protest of the swearing-in, and its members — predominantly women from Riverside and North Riverside — jammed the council chamber in North Riverside Village Commons and loudly applauded the handful of women who stepped up to ask that Hermanek find another candidate for fire chief.
thanks Dan
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
