Pay raises approved

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Fire District Board approved a $8,500 salary increase for Fire Chief Dave Lane at their Sept. 10 meeting. This was around half of what the Chief requested on the basis of the state average for fire chiefs, what he has accomplished since becoming the chief mid-April 2018 and his qualifications.

Lane’s annual salary was $55,000. In Montana, the average entry chief position is paid $50,000 and a senior chief is $88,000. Fire department paramedics make between $70,000-$110,000.

Lane was given a $5,000 raise at six months. He presented the board with two full pages of ongoing projects and accomplishments to date including $94,500 in grants he had written and received for the department. He said he is an active paramedic running 65 percent of the calls.

Secretary Rita Rossi made a motion to raise the Chief’s wage to $70,000. No one would second.

Rossi, who is also a volunteer EMT, said the Chief is on almost on every call and works six or seven days a week when needed. He has received several grants and found ways to bill properly so the department is compensated for the service provided.

Chair Scott Kennedy said that he has reviewed all of Lane’s accomplishments and knows how much he is doing.

Vice Chair Gary Lewis said that is a huge raise in one year and he was opposed. Trustee Connie Clark agreed.

Kennedy felt this was more of a pay adjustment, not a raise, for services rendered.

Clark said one of her biggest concerns is recruitment. Because they don’t have many volunteers, the Chief can’t get a break. While she said she didn’t feel the chief can be held accountable for recruitment, surrounding departments are all volunteer and are larger than Seeley Lake.

Following the meeting the Pathfinder contacted Greenough/Potomac Volunteer Fire Department, Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department and Swan Valley Emergency Services. None of the surrounding departments have paid staff.

Seeley Lake ran 332 calls in 2017, 261 calls in 2018 and as of the end of August, 2019 are up to 222 calls. They currently have 17 volunteers on their roster, 16 are considered active. This is more than double the calls for surrounding departments with similar staffing levels.

Lincoln averages 130 calls. They currently have 23 on their roster with 17 active volunteers.

GPVFD runs between 75-95 calls annually with 2003 being an exception year with 120 calls. They currently have 22 volunteers on their roster with 13 active volunteers.

SVES ran 67 calls in 2018 and are up to 42 as of Sept. 7. They currently have 22 volunteers and they are all active.

Lane pointed out that Seeley Lake is a small community and doesn’t have an influx of new people. Volunteerism, as a whole, has also decreased across the country.

Rossi said that having less people hasn’t affected their responding.

Kennedy and Clark agreed but, “you can’t run a skeleton crew and expect everyone to remain fresh,” said Clark.

Kennedy said it is the board’s responsibility to ensure that staffing stays in place and that is why he would like to see the salary adjustment.

Clark said the board approved a $5,000 raise at six months even though when he was hired they weren’t going to consider a raise until he had worked for a year.

Rossi said in the past, the Department often would hand off to MESI. Now Lane is ensuring they are taking the patients all the way in since he is an ALS provider. This increases the District’s revenue.

Kennedy said that they have billed $15,000 in the last two weeks. Lane estimated that with the new billing company, the District can expect to bill around $120,000-$150,000 per year. The call volume has also increased 30 percent.

Lane said that once the salary is adjusted he would not ask for another raise other than the yearly cost of living.

Rossi revised her motioned to $68,000 and Kennedy seconded it. Lewis and Clark opposed.

Lewis countered with a motion for $60,000 that died without a second.

Kennedy motioned for $65,000 which Rossi seconded. Lewis and Clark abstained.

District Administrator Lynn Richards highlighted the Chief’s accomplishments saying what he accomplished in a year and half was more than the past chief accomplished in three years and he was paid $50,000.

“You hired an interim chief before I came. You paid him $40,000 for six months,” said Lane. “He didn’t accomplish anything that I’ve accomplished.”

Lane acknowledge that he knew what his wage would be when he started.

“I thought that if I did an outstanding job, I would be compensated properly for it,” said Lane.

To break the stalemate, Kennedy asked Captain Michael Richards for comment. Richards said he thinks the board is caught up in a small town mentality.

“We finally have an honest, productive, efficient, hard-working chief that is really here,” said Richards. “I would hope that you guys could come together and make an agreement with the chief or do something and he can prove himself with this budget period. I don’t think the number is out of sight.”

Clark said that there are people in Seeley Lake that live on the amount of money that the chief is asking for in a raise.

“It is a critical infrastructure,” said Kennedy.

Lewis motioned they go to $62,000 for this budget year. Clark seconded and said they could revisit in the future. Kennedy and Rossi opposed. Rossi said she thought he is worth more than that.

“We aren’t saying he’s not worth more than that. We just don’t think it should be all in one jump,” said Lewis. “Until we find out how it works.”

“I’m with Gary. I also don’t want to discount the service and I think he is doing a great job. I do appreciate all that,” said Clark.

Rossi proposed $63,500 with Kennedy seconding. Lewis agreed and Clark reluctantly agreed.

Kennedy said the salary increase to $70,000 would be covered in the budget with slight adjustments since there is good capital in the reserves.

Discussion was minimal when discussing Richards annual raise. The board unanimously approved a five percent raise, 2.7 percent higher than the county’s cost of living increase. She currently makes $16.34 per hour and will now make $17.15.

During public comment, the board was asked if they contacted a seasoned firefighter that recently resigned from the department. She felt this was important to make sure there weren’t underlying issues that weren’t being addressed.

Kennedy, Lewis and Rossi all said they spoke with the volunteer who resigned. Clark was unaware of the resignation at the meeting. Kennedy said visiting with volunteers who leave is common practice for board members unless the reason they have left is obvious.

In other business:

• The Department of Emergency Management received a grant for active assailant, new terminology for active shooter. This includes paying for training and equipment to respond to the active assailant situation. The Department received two sets of ballistic protective equipment, about $1,000 each. They have another set coming and they will be placed on the ambulance. The helmet will stop a 357 magnum.

• The Department also received at AFG grant (see article in the Sept. 19 Pathfinder). This $75,000 grant will install a new exhaust system at Station 1 to help mitigate the diesel fumes when the vehicles are started and run inside.

The next fire board meeting is Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Fire Hall. For more information, minutes and agendas visit seeleyfire.org.