February 22,2001 The Fire Committee and "Rural Fire Board met in session on Wednesday evening, February 21, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. The following persons were present: Mayor Harold L. Ludwig, City Attorney Russell Kruse, Fire Chief Heindselman, Asst, Fire Chief Ellison, Firemen Mark Tanner, Mike Lowe. Henry Gunsauls, Monte Tanner, Council members Rossiter and Sherwood, Rural Board members Dwayne Frieden and Danny Logsdon. Fire Chief Heindselman presented a typed report to the committee and members regarding his findings from the trip to Caruthersville. Mayor Ludwig asked City Attorney Kruse if he had spoken to Steve Johnson. Kruse stated he had been in contact with Clarence Greeno, and their main concern regarding the Fire Dept., is rescuing people, health needs, and human life factor. Discussion was also held on mutual aid agreements with other Fire Dept's. Fire Chief Heindselman stated some of those concerns are addressed in this typed report. According to the report given, questions asked and answered where on did Fire call increase at Caruthersville once the Casino was open. According to Fire Chief Charlie Jones, the year before the Casino they had 120 calls and last year they responded to 114 calls. The breakdown of calls were 30 structure, 35 car fires, 6 grass, 12 rescues and the rest were misc calls. When asked why the calls were down, Jones stated he felt is was the fire prevention programs, general clean up and BOCA codes enforced. When asked if rescues increased, they were told they remained the same. Jones was asked if any unusual circumstances were present after the Casino was open. They were told no. According to Jones they have only had two calls to the Casino and in both cases the fire was out upon the fire dept., arriving. The fire dept's budget did not increase because of the Casino. Their present budget is $235,000 plus capital expenses. There dept., has a ISO rating of class 5, with one full time Chief and Engineer who is assigned to be in the Fire House 24/7, with a total of five full time employees and 17 volunteers. The Fire Chief leads fire inspections for the Casino as welt as other businesses. All of the BOCA permits and inspections for the City are handled by the Fire Chief. All of their Fire trucks are equipped with LDH (large diameter hose) which enables a larger flow of water to the scene. Fire Chief Heindselman stated in his report that he had asked Jones for any recommendation for the City's Fire dept. Jones stated a computer is a must for record keeping, purchasing a complete set of NFPA manuals, and high the list of recommendations is getting the City to adopt the BOCA International codes, because this increases the safety of all new construction.

Fire Chief Heindselman stated one item necessary for their dept., to have prior to the Casino opening would be a Thermal Imaging Camera, due to the mass of the Casino building and the ceiling construction. Mayor Ludwig spoke to Frieden and Logsdon stating the Gaming Commission had requested the City to put together a list of justified items for both the Police and Fire Dept. This list would be items that should be purchased before the Casino is open and have ready. This list will be submitted to Mark Twain Casino. Mayor Ludwig stated any items on the list from the Fire Dept., would not be a responsibility of the Rural to try and pay for half. According to Fire Chief Heindselman stated he was told by the Gaming Commission they would like to see automatic mutual aid agreements in place to compliment our protection. They are also asking for a list of the Fire Dept's up coming training. Discussion was held and a list of the following items for the Fire Dept.. Thermal Imaging Camera cost between $12.000 to $17,000, computer refurbished $450, programs cost between $1500 to $3000, printer cost around $650, training and training materials would cost around $3000. Connection to the internet, separate phone tine for the internet. The City Attorney will add these items along with the Police Dept., items.

Other items discussed by the Fire Chief Heindselman to help with the City's ISO rating.

According to Heindselman the water dept., needs to have the flow check on the following hydrants at main and pierce, front and pierce (across the railroad tracks), #2 well and pierce, 2nd and pierce, 2nd and polk and main and green and main and Lewis. They also will be doing function checks on hydrants in March and tagging the ones that fail as out of service. According to the ISO report received the Fire dept., only needs 1.75 points to get a 6 rating. Adding the items being sent to the Casino, along with adding a service truck with a pickup topper will add 5 points to the total if done correctly. Also capital improvements, the life expectancy of a fire truck is 30 years. The current fleet is a 1962 Howe 500 gal pumper, 1974 Bean 750 gal pumper and a 1989 Grumman 1000 gal pumper. Fire Chief Heindselman stated the dept., needs to look into upgrading every 10 years. Air packs upgrade needs to be looked into. The cost of new units would be $2000 a piece and they would need 16. The new packs come with a built in PASS device and will help alert other firemen that someone is in trouble. Adding LDH to each truck would allow pumping from better hydrants. The cost would be $11,000 per truck. The dept should also consider adding another tanker. According to Fire Chief Heindselman stated the Gaming Commission told him fire inspections will have to be done semi-annually on the Casino. To be qualified to do this the dept needs to send one or two people to Springfield, MO for two classes, lasting three days each. The only cost would be for one room for six nights and fuel for two trips down and back. There is only one class being offered this year.

Fire Chief Heindselman stated in the November council meeting the Fire Dept., asked about being reimbursed for two purchases the firemen made. One was for a mobile radio at $361 and four air packs at $470. Fire Chief Heindselman also gave the committee and board an up date on the E911. Discussion was held about billing the Thunderbird Farms. City Clerk Spindler stated she had spoken to Mr. Cory and he had stated they were not members. Fire Chief Heindselman stated as an improvement for the fire fighter's and adding to our training capabilities we would like to check into VFIS insurance for the fire dept. Fire Chief Heindselman stated there is a need to look into increasing pay, because he is spending more than 40+ hours on fire dept business. Fire Chief Heindselman stated during an inspection on the Casino this week he had noticed there was no fire station pulls on all the exits. This was discussed with the job superintendent and he was told the architects and ABS had approved only having one pull station. Fire Chief Heindselman stated he was basically told to look into the matter. A call was placed to the Fire Marshall's office, and they said yes they have to have a fire station pull at each exit. Rossiter stated he would be the first to pat the firemen on their backs for all they have done to up grade the dept., but the main concern tonight was to get a list compiled and given to the Casino for items needed. The Casino is not even up and running and a line has to be drawn somewhere. Gunsauls stated with the rural being on a fixed income, and the future not looking better some type of agreement is going to be needed. Because with money supposedly going to be received for safety there is no way they will be able to match. City Clerk Spindler stated any money received from the Casino for safety spent on the Fire dept., would not have to be matched by the Rural since the money was not an out of pocket expense to the City. There will be a section set up in the accounting to show exactly where this money is spent and on which dept. Mayor Ludwig stated he agreed with Gunsauls, there would have to be an agreement drawn up. Fire Chief Heindselman asked about the automatic mutual aid. Logsdon stated he was never in favor of an automatic mutual aid. Fire Chief Heindselman asked about looking into cost of adding a service truck. Logsdon stated he did not care what he looked into, because each year your list keeps getting longer and last year you really hurt the Rural. We are having to work with the City carrying the Rural on part of their payment on the new fire truck and yearly expenses. Logsdon stated when there is a fire you call every dept in the County to the fire. If the structure is full fire, there is no need to get everyone out there, and adding alt of this equipment hasn't made it any better. Lowe stated the dept is responsible to the surrounding buildings. Fire Chief Heindselman stated Mark Tanner had checked into the cost of repainting the door on the new truck. One cost was from Bill Signs for $200 and from Signs and Time the cost was $500. Further discussion was held on the list of items going to be submitted to Mark Twain from the Fire dept. Kruse asked if the camera could also be used by the Police dept. Fire Chief Heindselman stated yes, they could use this to look for someone in the dark. Fire Chief Heindselman stated he would get a mutual aid agreement signed with Labelle. Sherwood asked the rural board members if they would agree to reimburse the firemen for their purchases. Both Frieden and Logsdon stated they did not have a problem. City Attorney Kruse is going to be having a meeting with Clarence Greeno and he would ask about including the training. Discussion was also held on having a town meeting and having the Gaming commission present Kruse stated he would check with Greeno. Having nothing further before the Committees the meeting was adjourned.