Thursday, February 21, 2008

 

(Audio Replays of the meeting are available upon request)

A special-called meeting of the Wake County Fire Commission was held on Thursday, February 21, 2008, 6:30 p.m., in the Wake County EMS Training Facility, Carya Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina.

CALL MEETING TO ORDER

Ms. Ann Suggs called the meeting to order.

The following members were present: Ms. Ann Suggs, Mr. Billy Myrick, Chief Mike Cooper, Chief Mark Haraway, Mr. Bryan Lane, Mr. Bill Gatewood, Chief Scott McCollum, Mr. Michael Fletcher and Chief Rodney Privette.

Members absent were: Chief Cecil Parker, Chief Tom Vaughan, Chief Tony Mauldin, Chief Chris Wilson, Senator Vernon Malone, Mr. Lucius Jones and Commissioner Paul Coble.

Mr. Myrick gave an invocation.

Ms. Suggs welcomed Deputy County Manager Joe Durham, who was in attendance.

DISCUSSION AND WORK ON LONG-RANGE BUSINESS PLAN

Fire/Rescue Services Director Ray Echevarria gave a recap of the discussion at the last Fire Commission meeting regarding the long-range business plan and the purpose of this evening’s work session.

Chief Haraway, representing the staffing committee, provided an overview of the committee’s work towards development of the plan. In support of the commission’s adopted priority of staffing, Chief Haraway requested that the Fire Commission consider a motion to accept the long-range business plan and forward it to the County Commissioners.

Chief Sidney Perry, representing the budget committee, provided a report from the committee. The budget committee recommends that the Fire Commission endorse the long-range plan. Chief Perry presented documentation that every Fire Chief in Wake County supports the adoption of the long-range plan.

Budget and Management Analyst Jason Horton provided an updated Fire Tax Model with three options of funding the Long-Range Business Plan. The updated models used a revenue-neutral fire tax rate as the base. Mr. Horton explained the options provided in the handout.

Fire Commission members discussed the financial models and implementation options. The discussion included the impact on the tax rate of the service tax district.

Chief McCollum made a motion to accept the plan as presented and forward it to the County Commissioners. The motion was seconded by Chief Cooper. After discussion, the motion passed on a unanimous vote.

Chief Cooper recommended that another work session be scheduled to prioritize the new elements included in the Long-Range Business Plan using a forced-choice matrix. This work session was scheduled for March 6, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.

Adjournment

The next meeting of the Wake County Fire Commission is a work session scheduled for Thursday, March 6, 2008.