The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order by President Maher at 7:06 p.m. at 9788 West 151^st Street, Orland Park, Illinois, for the purpose of conducting all regular business of the District, proper notice having been given.

CALL TO ORDER

Trustees Cacciato, Corcoran, Katsenes, McGill and Maher answered present.

Others present: Chief Donald Bettenhausen, Deputy Chief Arthur Granat, Battalion Chief Raymond Kay, Finance Director Kerry Sullivan, Communications Director Mark Sikorski, Battalion Chief Nick Cinquepalmi, Battalion Chief Bryant Krizik (arrived 7:45), Attorneys Karl Ottosen and Don Potts and Recording Secretary Mary Beth Bowdish.

ROLL CALL

There were no public comments.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Dan O’Halleran, George Cavelle and Bill Duggan were presented with Certificates on behalf of the District and Board of Trustees for their heroism on February 3, 2006.

On behalf of the Margaret J. Schofield Memorial Fire Service Fund, Lt. Mike Schofield and Mary Schofield Berardelli presented the District with a check for $5,000 for the Technical Rescue Team equipment.  Over the last four years, they have given over $50,000 in grant funds and $11,000 for educational scholarships. The Trustees were invited to participate in their annual golf outing fundraiser on June 29^th at Silver Lake Country Club.

Tom Lia, Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board, gave an educational and informational presentation on sprinklers.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION -

CITIZENS AWARDS

DONATION FROM THE MARGARET J. SCHOFIELD MEMORIAL FIRE SERVICE FUND

HAZ MAT RESCHEDULED

TOM LIA - SPRINKLERS

The Minutes of February 22, 2006, Closed Session, will be discussed in Closed Session.

The Minutes of the February 22, 2006, Regular Meeting, March 15, 2006 Closed Session and March 15, 2006 Special Meeting were presented for approval.

A motion was made by Trustee Corcoran to approve the Minutes of the February 22, 2006, Regular Meeting, March 15, 2006 Closed Session and March 15, 2006 Special Meeting, as presented.  Trustee Cacciato seconded and the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

2/2/06 Closed and Regular

3/15/06 Closed and Regular

The Treasurer’s Report will be approved under the Consent Agenda.  Property tax installments are coming in.  Staff is in the final steps of switching over the banking to National City.

Waiving the District’s fees for certain entities was discussed and will be discussed further.

The 2005 financial results were discussed.  The final audit report has not been received yet.  Overall, 2005 was positive.  Additional discussion will be necessary with regard to transfer of funds, etc.  Recommendations will be forthcoming.

The 2007 budget process will be different.  The same input will be needed, but some forms will change and some justifications will be added.  The goal is to improve the process.

TREASURER’S REPORT

An Outstanding Call letter was received from South Cook County Emergency Medical Services. Two citizens were involved by using an automatic defibrillator and they will be recognized by the Board in the near future.

COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS FROM THE BOARD

Policies:  Have determined the Goals and Objectives and will be moving forward with those.

Capital:   Nothing to report.

Finance Report – See Consent Agenda

Personnel/Special Events:  Friday night, Silver Lake Country Club, the Awards Event

Long Range Planning:  Have one item in Committee which will be brought to the Board in the future for review.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

The District has entered into the initial phase of settlement of the contract with Local 2754.  A tentative agreement has been reached which will be presented to the Union membership for ratification.

The Human Resources Director of the Village of Orland Park has evaluated the wages of the non-bargaining unit personnel and has submitted a report for consideration.  She is also reviewing a revised Evaluation form for the District’s use.

The Prayer Center contractor has been denied a request for reduced sprinkler coverage.  The contractor is in the process of researching alternatives.

Steps are being taken to prepare the tower ladder for disposal.  The Board will be asked to declare it surplus property at a later date.

The goal of the Awards Night is to show that the District does not take the employees for granted. It is to recognize the people who are providing the services on the streets.  The Committee has worked extremely hard to get this event together.

Negotiations continue with Local 134. 

Discussed the summarization of the anticipated steps for finalizing the contract with Local 2754.  There will be training on this contract so everyone understands how the contract works.

CHIEF’S REPORT

Recommends Closed Session Minutes be written in a more vague manner than in the past to avoid having to keep some 100 sets of Minutes Closed. If a Trustee wishes a specific comment to be shown, they will need to state so.  Also, if changes are requested to Minutes, they should be stated at the next meeting, which would be shown in the Minutes of that meeting.

The Secretary of the Board will review those Minutes to be released prior to Board approval and the item will be placed on the next Agenda.

An apology was extended to the Board for not having the Amendment to the Chief’s contract ready.  There was a problem in obtaining the electronic version of the document.  It has been found and the Amendment will be prepared for the next meeting.

The Battalion Chief representation case will be continued to probably in April.

A hearing on SB 1682 tomorrow may have an impact on the District.  It is a Tax Limitation Act which will reduce the number of years for phasing an increase to one year, unless the increase has already been passed, then it has four years.  This Bill is anticipated to pass.

There will be Trustee training in Lisle on April 8^th.  It will be filmed for those who will not be able to attend.  It is an excellent training session.  

ATTORNEY

Trustee Cacciato requested Item I be removed from the consent Agenda.

The Consent Agenda items were read:

*   Treasurer’s Report dated March 15, 2006 showing total disbursements of $1,117,822.91;

*   Authorization to enter into a contract with Peotone Fire Protection District which has been reviewed by the District’s Attorney, signed by Peotone Fire Protection District and includes an increase clause of up to 7% on January 1^st of each calendar. (RFBA 06-12)

*   Authorization to enter into a contract with Homer Township Fire Protection District which has been reviewed by the District’s Attorney, signed by Homer Township Fire Protection District and includes an increase clause of up to 7% on January 1^st of each calendar. (RFBA 06-13)

*   Authorization to enter into an updated Agreement with Illinois Public Risk Fund (RFBA 06-17)

*   Authorization to participate in the Western Illinois Internship Program with the recommendation to be silent on wages at this time. (RFBA 06-14)

*   Authorization to hire Assistant Communications Director as an at will employee, pending background check, at a salary of $50,000 per year.  This is a budgeted item. (RFBA 06-15)

*   Authorization to hold a Driver Competition Event in the Summer of 2006 at an approximate cost of $4,730. (RFBA 06-18)

*   Authorization to purchase Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management Systems from Tritech Software Systems (CAD) and FDM Software Ltd (RMS) in the amount not to exceed $500,000.  This is a budgeted item, but the project exceeds budget.  The station alerting system and related budged ($150,000) will be delayed to 2007 to allow for the CAD/RMS project in 2006 (RFBA 06-16)

Each of these items has been reviewed by the proper Committee, as well as the Finance Committee, and is recommended for approval. 

There being no further discussion, Trustee Cacciato moved to approve the Consent Agenda items listed above.  Motion Seconded by Trustee Katsenes and carried unanimously on roll call vote.

Trustee Cacciato moved to send the request for purchasing and outfitting two Ford Expeditions at a cost not to exceed $70,000 from Joe Rizza Ford in Orland Park to the Capital Committee for further review.  Motion seconded by Trustee Corcoran.  Motion carried unanimously on roll call vote.

CONSENT AGENDA

The Intergovernmental Agreements with Orland Hills and Orland Park will remain on the Agenda for the next meeting.

The Hiring of Additional Firefighters will remain on the Agenda for the next meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

RFBA #05-23 AND #05-24: Intergovernmental Agreements /Orland Hills and Orland Park

RFBA #05-44: HIRING OF ADDITIONAL FIREFIGHTERS

President Maher appointed Chief Bettenhausen and himself to the Pension Board as Members to act commencing April 17, 2006.

NEW BUSINESS

Trustee Cacciato moved to convene to Closed Session under the Open Meetings Act to discuss pending and probable litigation, compensation of one or more classes of employees and/or matters of collective bargaining,.  Seconded by Trustee Corcoran.  Motion passed unanimously on roll call vote at 8:55 P.M.

CLOSED SESSION

The Regular Meeting was reconvened at 10:36 p.m., on a motion duly made by Trustee McGill, seconded by Trustee Cacciato and unanimously carried on roll call vote.

RECONVENE

The Regular Meeting adjourned at 10:36 p.m., on a motion duly made by Trustee McGill and seconded by Trustee Cacciato. Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote.

ADJOURNMENT