HIGHLAND RESCUE TEAM AMBULANCE DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA
Highland Station – 317 South Lookout Mountain Road
January 13, 2014, 4pm
CALL TO ORDER- at 4:05
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Ed Daniels, Presiding, Wendy Henke, and Robb Gair via
conference call.
OTHERS PRESENT: Chief Sharon Jones, Barbara DeBoer, Christina Shea
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING were approved as written.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Billing Report- written report by Jill Ridenhour, presented by Christina Shea.
Financials– written report given by Christina Shea.
This is a preliminary report because of year end. The yearend numbers came in as expected
and in line with the amended budget.
Total revenue was above target and total expenses were significantly below target. Net
income of 83K, cash balance at month end is $405L (LOSAP $122k).
Ed Daniels- There is nothing really remarkable here. Do you expect changes?
Christina Shea – There will be a few accrued items. There should be only minor changes.
Write offs
Report presented by Barbara DeBoer.
There is concern that the amount that we write off has gone up quite a bit. In analyzing the
trends over the last 4 years disallowed revenue was higher in 2013 ( 25% of gross Rev) but it
tends to bounce up and down year to year with no clear trend. Disallowed income is our
contractual allowances- amounts we have no control over because Medicare and Medicaid
dictate what we have to write off. This number is not really a true annual number because
Jill works these cases over multiple years.
We have also seen a slight increasing trend in “various allowances” from 2% in 2010
trending up to 5% in 2013. These are hardship cases and uncollectable cases where there is
no address or DOA. We will continue to monitor these costs but are unable to really change
them.
Billing report- Report written by Jill Ridenhour, presented by Christina Shea.
December was not a huge month but it got us up to our yearly revenue.
Calls and transports were normal for this time of the year.
CHIEF’S REPORT- Written report given by Chief Jones
Current Active Staffing- 4 paid Paramedics, 10 volunteer paramedics, I volunteer
Intermediate, 32 EMT’s and 2 First Responders.
Exit Interview Form- John Zima has developed an exit interview form so we can better
understand why members leave. And is in use and it is a nice tool. No real surprises, some
good comments.
Jeffco/EVFD dispatch update. Evergreen has sent out the IGA, I am not ready to bring it to
the Board. It has to be worked on still. My feeling is the general trend will be towards
regional dispatch.
Wendy Henke- will we need new radios?
Chief Jones- not initially.
New Board Members: Chief Jones is in the process of getting self-nomination forms to Rob
Keating and Roxanne Lenny.
OLD BUSINESS
Amend Budget line item limits, Section 9.3.3 Rules and Regulations
Chief Jones- I would like to change the amount that I am able to change a line item by to an
amount rather than a % of a line item. I would like to change the 10% to $2500 and the
15% to $3000 leaving the rest of the section the same.
Robb Gair- My concern is you could really change the budget by changing $2500 in 12
different line items.
Ed Daniels- I would you like to see a 5K per month limit.
Robb Gair- I would like to see some kind of wording that if you make an aggregated change
of more than $5000 it would have to come before the Board.
Ed Daniels- from an operational perspective it might be difficult to have it that low.
Barb DeBoer- There are 2 separate issues here. Wendy is talking about exceeding a line
item; Robb Gair is talking more about moving the amount in line items from one to another.
Ed Daniels- Looking at the 2013 budget, there are examples of expense like insurance that
went up $2500 vs the budgeted $1600. We had no choice – we had to pay it.
Chief Jones- The propane bill is another example.
Robb Gair- Maybe we shouldn’t change this but give it a bit more thought.
Christina Shea- We really don’t have a provision for moving line items in our budget. Ray
used the projections line items to move money, but the actual budget does not change until
we do an amended budget towards the end of the year. We don’t have a formal way to
change the budget. We only did 1 or 2 changes last year and they were noted in the
minutes.
Robb Gair– Is there a way we can track it on a separate line item so there is some oversight
of it? It doesn’t have to be done ahead of time, but we should track it somehow.
Christina Shea- Yes it could be done. It is just one more level of detail.
Ed Daniels- we can just note in the minutes.
Chief Jones- I think we are making this too complicated. Every month the Board is seeing
every expense.
Robb Gair- I can see lots of problems with this. I don’t want to get too involved with
operations.
Chief Jones- Let’s go back to the original percentage, just make it larger.
Wendy Henke- 10% is a small amount unless it is a big item.
Ed Daniels- it seems to me we are still not comfortable with this. I know Jim will have
something more to say.
Robb- I am not opposed to changing this.
Chief Jones- The board members should send me what they would like to see.
Rob Gair- I would like to meet with Sharon and go over this.
NEW BUSINESS:
Chief Sharon Jones; The current Rules and Regs does not address marijuana usage.
Some EMS agencies are treated it like alcohol. The trouble with that is that marijuana stays
in your system for up to 6 weeks. I looked to see what Genesee did and I liked theirs very
much. It has a zero tolerance for all drugs.
Ed Daniels- Are you are suggesting we use Genesee’s policy.
Wendy Henke - Impaired by is not the same as having some level in your system.
Robb Gair- It seems reasonable to me.
Wendy Henke- I don’t have a problem with it, but I think you could argue that you are not
under the influence if it is in your hair months later. You want to say there can be no
amount in your system – no level. Someone could argue that you are not under the
influence or impaired.
Chief Jones- Maybe we should wait until the State comes up with their policy for driving.
Robb Gair- maybe we should just eliminate paragraph 1.2 so we can still have zero
tolerance.
Chief Jones- I think we should go back to 5.6.1 and just add majuanna to it. We can then
eliminate paragraph 5.6.2.
Ed Daniels– Wendy and Sharon and I are comfortable with this Robb Gair is comfortable
too.
Wendy Henke moves to amend Section 5.6.1 of the Rules and Regulations by adding
the work marijuana to …intoxication liquor, illegal drug, or controlled substance…Robb
Gair seconded it and the motion passed.
2013 Audit Proposals
Christina Shea- We received one from Masini and Company. They are 2 brothers Howard
and David. David is having health issues so Howard bid this on his own. Masini and
Company has done the tax return for the Foundation in the past. They also did the audit for
Genesee for several years. I have worked with them in the past. They feel their fee would
be between $4600-$4800.
Chief Jones- how much did and Barnes bid?
Christina Shea- a bit over $5000. I also received an informal bid form Zarlengo.
Zarlengo could not do it for under $5000 if we wanted it done in Feb. They would be able to
propose it for less if we would let them do the field work in May/June.
Christina Shea- A new auditor will have to do a deeper audit their first year. Wagner and
Barnes has done a good job for us in the past.
Ed Daniels- I am for switching it up.
Rob Gair would like to make a motion that we hire Masini to do our 2013 Audit. Wendy
Henke seconded it. All voted in favor of the motion.
Ed Daniels would like to send Wagner and Barnes a note saying they did a great job, but it is
time for a change.
Election Resolution
Christina Shea- This states that the designated election official Sharon Jones and she has the
right to cancel the election if there are no more than 2 candidates. It keeps us in
compliance. It outlines we will have a polling place vs a mailing ballot because it is usually
less expensive and easier.
Wendy Henke moved that we accept the Election Resolution. Ed Daniels seconded it, all
voted in favor.
Ed Daniels- Medical care is changing. Hospitals are making lots of changes- there are new
policies not to keep patients or readmit them within 30 days. I think it would be worth
spending an hour with the new Board and educating them on our procedures.
Robb Gair- We are going to see quite a few changes in EMS. I think there will be a move
toward community care.
ADJOURN 5:36
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