Beach Fire to hold meetings without attorney
Citing it as a cost-cutting measure, the Fort Myers Beach Board of Fire Commissioners will be without a general attorney presence at its two monthly meetings for the time being.
Commission Chairperson Carol Morris stated the idea of having Attorney Richard Pringle not attend meetings came during a discussion with new Labor Attorney Andrew Salzman of Unice Salzman Jensen, PA.
“I think it became obvious that maybe we didn’t have to have attorneys at our board meetings,” she said. “There may be times we have to have one, or it may be we have to have an attorney on the telephone.”
Another factor in the decision was stated to be recent attorney fee invoices with large dollar amounts of billed time. Morris said a recent invoice, including many research hours, discussions with other attorneys as well as meeting preparation and attendance, was “scary” when she saw the overall total.
“We need to look at every possible way to cut our costs,” she said.
The Beach Fire chairperson said she sent an email to Pringle that stated there were no items on last week’s meeting agenda that needed review or input. After hearing that, he decided not to attend the meeting.
Fire commissioners are expected to review policy on the matter at an upcoming workshop. Before any official change happens, Morris and administration staff will determine if future meetings need counsel presence until a potential policy change occurs.
“I try to go over the agenda, work with staff and we try to decide if there is anything (that needs) legal (attention). If there is then we are going to try to contact whatever attorney it happens to be and try to make sure it is covered,” she said. “In most cases, I don’t see a reason to have the attorney at the meeting.
“If something comes up and we think it is questionable, we will hold off on that -there aren’t that many things that we do that are an absolute rush- and then we’ll go get a legal opinion and bring it back to the next meeting.”
Commissioner Ted Schindler agreed with the approach.
“If everybody feels (the agenda item) needs an attorney, we will just table it and contact the attorney,” he said.
Commissioner Larry Wood believes the problem lies in the process.
“I think we need to set up a process that limits the amount of money that we spend, just as we said they don’t need to be at a meeting,” he said. “I think if you give any lawyer an opportunity to bill, they will do that.”
Another issue within invoices was said to be improper itemization, where the list of of how bills were derived was either incomplete or confusing to understand.
“We need to come up with some way to reign in those exorbitant costs,” Wood said.
Morris did have a conversation with Attorney Salzman on the topic.
“He said, ‘before I do any research for you that is going to go over a half hour or an hour, I am going to tell you up front what that is going to be.’ I try to do that, but sometimes it doesn’t seem to happen,” she said.
Two fire rank and file are promoted
Two members of the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District received promotions and two others will be compensated for military duty time away from the island.
Effective Nov. 2, Fire Fighter Dave Beers will be promoted to engineer, while Eng. Dan Miller will be promoted to captain.
The staffing rank change within a list of promotions was due to Capt. Dave Reno’s retirement official on Nov. 2. It created a captain and engineer vacancy.
Beach Fire has 60 days to fill the vacancy. Since Interim Fire Chief Tom May is not allowed to hire, fire or promote, he made a recommendation to go off the top of the list.
“I am asking the board approval to go ahead and go forward with the selection process,” said May.
Battalion Chief Pete Micelli is due to retire in May and more promotions are expected at that time.
Military leave approved
The Fire Board changed language in policy within its standard operating procedures regarding military duty leave. In so, the fire commissioners settled an outstanding grievance.
Capt. Joe Reed and Eng. Paul Russell are eligible for military leave and compensation of $7,187 for time when they were in training that counted toward additional hours and overtime in the District.
Under current procedures language, any District employee who is also a member of the National Guard or a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the U.S. may be granted leave of absence from their respective duty to enter active duty status, the first 30 days of any such leave will be with full pay. Employees are authorized 240 hours during an annual calendar year for military training. Any absence in excess of 240 hours may be covered by accrued and available personal paid leave or by an excused absence without pay.
Beach Fire administration staff will meet with union personnel to amend policy and bring it back to the commissioners’ attention in the near future.
“We are willing to settle the grievance with the way it is written right now,” said Union 1826 Vice President Troy Messick
Commissioner Carol Morris was worried about a national emergency taking fire fighters that are on active military duty away from the District and leaving the department short-handed.
“I don’t know how many active (military) people could be on our (tax) roll at some point and all of a sudden you have some national emergency and here go all of my people off to military training,” she said.
May explained the SOP policy change “resolves an area of conflict” and was much needed.
“This in effect has been something that has been laboring for years,” he said.