Manitowoc County EMS Association Meeting Minutes 7-22-09
Host: Kiel Ambulance
The July 2009 meeting of the Manitowoc County EMS Association was called to order at 1900 by Vice President Knier. There was no educational portion of the meeting.
Roll call was taken. A quorum was present.
The secretary’s report was distributed and copies given. A motion to accept the secretary’s report as printed was made by St. Nazianz and seconded by Manitowoc. Report accepted.
The treasurer’s report was given and ending balances were given as follows:
Checking: $129.19 New CD Balance: $5043.91
Savings: $2454.29
Note: Outstanding dues remain for 2009 is Branch and Reedsville. A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by Manitowoc and seconded by Reedsville. Report accepted.
Old Business:
1. Website: Soon to be finalized. It is "manitowoccountyems.com" or "Manitowoccountyems.org". More help was imported to work on this.
2. EMS Trailer: Work is ongoing.
3. Tax ID #: Discussion between an EIN # and a tax ID number. More work needed.
4. Contact numbers: Again passed and some changes made.
5. Committee reports:
a. Dispatch: More discussion on the SEND cards and how to call via phone is ongoing.
b. Protocols: Ongoing.
c. Finance: Nothing new.
d. Disaster: See trailer above. Manis to get detailing done.
e. Education and training: EMS Seminar 10-3-09 at Holiday Inn and Bob Page will be at LTC in August. Flyers handed out for both.
f. Medical Director: nothing
g. Radio: Radio update given by Chief Manis who discusses where the county is, where county fire stands on the issues. There will be 700 and 800 frequency radios and maybe VHF radios but so far not a combination. 700 and 800 will be supported by the county through 2015 they promise. The sheriff’s department is not going to be on 700 or 800 but supposedly there is a patch that will allow us to talk to them when activated by dispatch. There are discussions on this gateway and who is funding it and will it have costs to us. Chief Manis knows that yes a letter was sent out to city of Two Rivers, Manitowoc, and Kiel that dissolves their previous relationship agreements with dispatch at the end of the year. There will be another county board meeting coming up and at the last meeting the issue was tabled for 30 days to inform all agencies and answer people’s questions. 700 and 800 cannot operate a paging system or sirens. So our options now are to go on record in favor of keeping the 700/800 system (which a lot of us have just gotten grants for radios under the previous assumption that was what we could use in the future) or the VHF frequency. Currently the pricing for mobiles with VHF is expensive with $2000 for 1 head and $3000 for two. Triband radios with VHF, UHF, and 700 & 800 are very expensive also at $4700 each. There is also discussion that the state of Wisconsin system operates might not work with ours. The hospitals will also have to do some frequency changing. So, after a long discussion with good points made and information shared the following multiple part motion was put into place by Manitowoc: 1. The Manitowoc County EMS Association goes on record as sup0porting a new dispatch center & infrastructure. Further more we want open lines of communication to all EMS providers during further discussions of this project. Secondly, the Manitowoc County EMS Association is also recommending that the Joint Dispatch Advisory Board be vitalized and put back in charge of the operations and policy setting of dispatch. More discussion followed and it was also recommended that someone from this association attend the next county board meeting and Todd Blaser from Mtwc. Volunteered to do this. The motion was seconded by St. Nazianz. A verbal count from each agency was done with all "ayes" and no "nays". Motion carried.
6. Common Terminology: ongoing.
7. Physician Advisory Updates: nothing.
8. EMS Rule Changes: Discussion on the new proposed fees for licenses for all EMS providers. There was discussion on this which led to a motion from Manitowoc to draft a letter from this Association to the state as follows: The Manitowoc County EMS Association is opposed to any license fees". Further discussion led to Todd Blaser from Manitowoc offering to attend the next open forum at the state level to personally deliver this letter and state our position. A second to the motion was made by Mishicot and the motion carried.
New Business
EMS Banner: Chief Manis to presented two design options for lettering as attached. Choice #2 the blue lettering version won with a vote. Reedsville made a motion to use the #2 option of blue lettering, size will be 6 x 2 ½ with grommets every foot. Second by Kiel. Motion carried. Chief Manis will try to have this at the next meeting. BC Signs is doing the work.
Manitowoc: Chief Manis introduced Deputy Chief Todd Blaser who is new to the department from the western part of the state. Todd stated he is excited to be in Manitowoc and shared his contact information with the group. Todd also states that Manitowoc has purchased a new rescue boat which is a big boat and will provide water rescue for the city and county if needed. It is on a trailer and other agencies can call to use as needed. This will also be included in the Mavis area.
Next Meeting: Sept. 23 in Manitowoc.
A motion to adjourn was made by St. Nazianz and Two Creeks seconded. Meeting adjourned.
Next meeting is Sept. 23, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at Manitowoc Fire Station.
Attendance: Cleveland, Collins, Kiel, Manitowoc, Mishicot, Newton, Reedsville, St. Nazianz, Two Creeks, Valders, Joint Dispatch
Absent: Branch, Francis Creek, Kellnersville, Silver Creek, Viking, Two Rivers
Submitted: D. Holschbach, secretary
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