Board of County Commissioners for the fire district to order on Tuesday, June 2nd at 10 a.m.

And if I could get a roll call, please.

Cheri Andriola here.

Vice Chair Garcia.

Here.

Commissioner Hill.

Here.

Commissioner Clark.

Present.

Commissioner Herman is absent.

Fire Chief Edwards.

Here.

Deputy District Attorney Gustafson.

Present.

And I'm Yvonne Strickland, Deputy Clerk.

Madam Chair, you have a quorum.

Thank you.

And I'll move to item one back up to one.

And I'm gonna have Chief Catchering each time, sir.

If you'll get to do the salute to the flag.

And then ask tough questions later.

Underground indivisible good liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Move to public comment.

We have nobody signed in.

Thank you.

We'll move now to Commissioners and Fire Chiefs announcements.

Chief Edwards.

Yes, uh, good morning, madam chair.

I would like uh to take this moment to uh introduce a new employee to the board.

Um, if I could have Deputy Chief Lewis come up to the podium.

Uh Deputy Chief Lewis is our new uh deputy chief of operations.

He comes to us by way of Tennessee and California, and he's had uh a long storied uh career in the fire service.

Uh he spent over 30 years with the city of Stockton, ending there as a deputy chief of operations as well.

And we're happy to have him here and look forward to working with them and give them a chance to say something.

All right, thank you.

Um Chair Andriola and the Commissioners, Chief Edwards.

Thank you for the warm welcome and this opportunity.

Um I'm honored and humbled to take on this position as deputy fire chief of operations for Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District.

I want to thank all of you for the confidence you've placed in me for this position.

Throughout my career, I've been fortunate to work alongside dedicated firefighters, members of public safety, the community, and uh I've always wanted to reinforce the servant leadership mindset.

I've always been a team team member and believe in public service.

Um as I begin my new role, my commitment is simple support the firefighters, support the employees, provide exceptional service to the community, and work collaboratively with the board, labor groups, our partner agencies, and to continue building upon the strong foundation already in place.

I recognize that this organization is has a proud history and an outstanding reputation.

My goal is to listen, learn, and build relationships and contribute in a way that helps move the district forward while honoring the values that made it as successful as it is.

Uh, thank you again for this opportunity, and I'm excited to be here.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Chief Edwards, do you have anything else?

I do not.

Thank you.

Commissioner Clark, do you have anything?

Not this morning, thank you.

All right, we'll go ahead and close item four, move to consent items.

Do we have any public comment?

We have nobody signed in.

Thank you.

Um, does anybody have any questions?

Madam Chair, I'd just like to make a quick disclosure on consent item C5C.

Um, it is this is regarding an agreement between TM and the University of Nevada Arena.

I'm just want to put it on the record that I am an employee of the university, and I'll be voting on this item.

I do not have any peculiar interest or um it won't prohibit me from voting.

So just wanted to say that.

Thank you.

Great.

Any other comments?

I'll move for a motion then to accept the consent items.

So moved.

I have a second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hill, a second by Vice Chair Garcia.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, I'll call for the vote.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you.

We'll move now to item six.

Representative from 2487.

Morning, Commissioners.

Um, thanks for having me again.

I just have two quick comments today.

Um you state your name for the record.

I apologize.

That's okay.

My name is Mark Thyer.

I'm the president of IFF Local 2047, Truckey Meadows Firefighters.

Uh, two quick comments today.

I just wanted to address the elephant in the room, and uh, that is the uh non-supervisory contract was not ratified by our body.

Um, but we're willing and able to go back with open and honest negotiations with the district, and that that is our plan moving forward to find uh an amenable contract that can be passed by the body.

Um moving on.

Um we're standing on the verge of the wildland season.

Um not Nostradamus, but I can kind of see a little bit into the future and say with wildland seasoning, the opening of station 35.

We're looking at a pretty busy summer that's gonna stress our guys a little bit.

So we're looking to that with um you know caution and concern.

Um, but we are there for the community and we'll continue to serve.

So that's really all I have to say.

Thank you very much for the time.

Thank you.

We'll move now to item seven.

Chief Edwards.

Thank you.

Uh I do have a brief summary of the Chiefs report that I provided to each of you in the agenda packet.

Uh, our new type one engines are nearing completion, and we look forward to placing those into service uh later this summer.

Fire station 35 is also nearing completion.

Uh we're awaiting the installation of internet service, which was currently estimated at about 60 days right now.

So we're looking at maybe early August uh to be able to open that firehouse and place firefighters up there.

Um we're also waiting on a decision from the state infrastructure bank uh to transfer some money from the project at the station 37 uh renovation um so that we can use that surplus money uh to purchase the furniture for fire station 35 as well.

Um regional dispatch continues to be a high priority uh for my office.

Octave uh implementation has been pushed out, sadly, um till probably the end of 26 at best case, um, if not the early beginning of 2027.

Um alongside in parallel paths right now, we're also talking about regional dispatch and how we uh can leverage current technologies and workspace uh so that we can come together to provide a better dispatch service.

Um, dispatch managers are currently evaluating the workspace over at the spectrum location to see if there is enough space if we could all combine into one building, um which is the first step towards that moving towards a consolidated regional dispatch.

Um so once they can have that figured out this workspace, um, that's also going to go into more of a long-term plan if they need additional workspace.

How do they uh bring in the architects to do that uh to expand that building to meet the needs uh for dispatch?

But we're having meaningful conversations right now with City of Reno, uh RemSA and City of Sparks for the fire and EMS side.

So probably aligns well with what's also going on uh on the law enforcement side, where they're also uh looking at a regional model as well.

So exciting things to come, hopefully, in the in the near future there.

Uh we've also received a $600,000 uh fuels grant from the U.S.

Forest Service.

Uh, this is gonna help to continue our partnership and assisting the Forest Service with prescribed burning.

Um so that'll kick up uh start up again in the winter.

Um and then we also received a $13,000 grant uh from the Nevada Division of Forestry for some fuels work in the Galena Forest area as well, so helping to reduce that that fire risk up there in April.

Uh just some call statistics.

Uh Reno arrived at Trucky Meadows incidents 87 times.

Uh Trucky Meadows arrived at Reno incidents 261 times.

And Sparks arrived at a Trucky Meadows incident 24 times, and we arrived at a Sparks incident 37 times.

So much closer in parity there.

And our fire prevention bureau continues to stay very steady.

Uh they conducted 35 business inspections in April, six fire investigations, and 51 new construction inspections.

So we're moving in the right direction there.

And that concludes my update.

Thank you.

Any questions for Chief Edwards?

I do, Chief.

Um, back to your comment about the regional dispatch.

Who's doing the evaluation of the space and um workload capacities?

Um the city of Reno is working on that right now with uh Cody Schadel, the dispatch manager over there, and that's kind of under the new organizational leadership in that facility.

So they're looking at that very closely of what the additional workspace would require.

Um, and if they have the capacity today within the footprint to add additional workstations.

Okay, and that information will come back to the chiefs and so on to the business.

And then I'll provide that update next month.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

Um, any comments by any of the commissioners?

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, madam chair.

Just a quick math.

Uh we're responding uh 261 times to Reno, and they're responding 87 times to us.

That's exactly three times 87 ends up being that uh that number 261.

Uh how is this gonna wash out in the future?

How do you see this playing out when we're responding uh 300 percent more than than uh than they are to our calls?

Yeah, I think that's a great question.

Um, I think that this actually gets um becomes more efficient in the way we dispatch resources.

Uh that's gonna continue into the future, but it'll just be more with boundary drops.

Um, and so today, while we dispatch two resources to an incident, we uh cancel one of those when they figure out which one's the closest.

But I think because of the strategic location of our firehouses and the city of Reno or Sparks resources, it's just ensuring that the community gets the closest resource available.

And so, because of the locations, uh this disparity, if you will, will probably continue.

Um, but it's to the benefit of the community, making sure they get the closest resource.

Sure, sure.

And I understand that.

And that's what the public is interested in as soon as we can get to uh someone to answer the call.

But at the end of the day, it's it's about money as well.

And that's also the same thing that we've talked about in the past, where the city of Reno wants to continue to try and annex some of our county, which would also diminish the income that we have.

So we're kind of getting squeezed both ways.

Uh extra responses and uh possible uh loss of revenue.

So I think that's something that we should all be keeping our eye on.

Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you.

Anything else?

All right.

Hearing none, we'll close item seven and move to item eight.

Chief Edwards.

All right, item eight is a recommendation to adopt Truck Eadows Fire Protection District Resolutions TM02 2026 to amend the district's fiscal year 2025-2026 budget for their emergency medical services fund in the amount of eight thousand seven hundred and fourteen dollars and one cent.

TM032026 to amend the district's fiscal year 2025-2026 budget for the capital fund for fleet special apparatus and the amount of 3,213, 727 dollars and TM04-2026 to amend the district's fiscal year 2025-2026 budget for general fund in the amount of 39,120.

And if approved, direct the district to make the appropriate budget adjustments, and this is for possible action.

And we do have CFO sublet here if there's any questions.

Thank you.

Are there any questions?

I don't think we have any questions.

I think this is a pretty straightforward item to be honest, but I don't want to deprive you of the hard work in terms of you preparing if there's anything that you'd like to offer.

Okay, great.

You know, um, I'll go ahead then and ask if there are any public comment.

There's nobody signed in.

Great.

I'll entertain a motion.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the amendments as presented.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you.

We'll close item eight and move now to item nine.

So queued up.

Chief Edward.

All right, item nine is a financial presentation on the status of the fiscal year 2025-2026, general fund and capital project funds as of April 30th, 2026.

And we have CFO subblett to give us a presentation.

Thank you.

It's always fun when you have to move the microphone down because you're so short.

Good morning, commissioners.

Um, Crystal Seplett, Chief Fiscal Officer of Trekkie Medismire Protection District for the record.

Uh just presenting the April financials.

So for the general fund.

Um currently, uh, as of April 30th, revenues are approximately 83.9% of the budget.

Property taxes remain the primary revenue source source with all four major payments received to date.

Um property tax collections are total at this point in time, 29 million.

The district has also received eight consolidated tax payments for 8.1 million.

And then the general fund expenditures, the majority of the expenditures are size, wages and benefits, which represent 79% of the total budget.

As of April 30th, total expenditures are approximately 71% of annual budget.

Salaries, wages, and employee benefit benefits make up the largest portion, totaling 33.9 million.

This amount represents 58.4% of the total annual budget and 81.3% of year to date expenses.

I guess I should have removed that since it's passed, but that was submitted.

Everything was submitted to the Department of Taxation, just waiting for their final certification letter.

Oh, I skipped the capital fund.

The Capital Projects Fund, both funds received property taxes via transfers from the general fund at approximately 95.8%.

And other revenues such as reimbursements and grants are recorded based on project specific milestones.

The districts received $8 million in reimbursements from Apple Station and $3.2 million from the Pennington grant.

Expenditures total 68.3% in the Capital Projects Fund and 6.7% in the extraordinary repairs and maintenance fund.

Questions?

Thank you.

Any questions?

Thank you.

Don't have any questions.

Thank you.

This is not an action item, so we'll close item nine and move to item 10.

Chief Edwards.

All right.

Item 10 is a recommendation to conduct the 2025-2026 annual performance evaluation of Fire Chief Richard Edwards, including a discussion of the 2025-2026 annual performance feedback survey results completed by various evaluators and the adoption of the 2026-2027 priorities and expectations pursuant to paragraph seven of the employment agreement executed on June 3rd, 2025.

And this is for possible action.

And we have our HR manager, Carla.

And I will butcher your last name, I'm sorry.

Good morning for the record, Carla Ribiaga, HR manager for Trekkie Meadows Fire.

I'm gonna present.

Wow, that feels really loud.

I'm going to present uh Chief Edwards leadership and performance review information.

Um the survey was distributed to 41 individuals across four different stakeholder groups.

That included the fire commissioners, the external stakeholders, direct reports, and the division and battalion chiefs.

We added battalion chiefs at the last meeting, so that group became a little larger.

Of that 41, 26 responded.

So we had a 63% overall response rate to the performance uh feedback.

Uh the overall performance question at the end: 48% of the respondents said he exceeds expectations, 40% said he meets expectations, and 12% said he had areas for growth.

Overall, the feedback reflected a predominantly positive assessment of Chief Edwards' performance.

Uh some of the common strengths that were identified were his leadership and his integrity, his transparency, communication and responsiveness, his strategic leadership, and building trust, respect, and cooperation within the group that evaluated him.

Some examples were that he's the visibility engagement with personnel, uh, station visits and employee interactions, the transparency with the budget, collaborative leadership style, his consistent follow-through, and his implementation of board direction.

Um areas that were identified for continued focus for him for improvement were uh communication and information sharing, employee recognition and development, strategic plan alignment and clarity, and organizational and leadership development.

So they kind of clash a little there, but that's what the survey showed.

Um the ratings and the information is in your packet for your review.

Thank you.

Any questions.

Okay, so Chief Edwards is gonna go over his um previous accomplishment accomplishments and then his priorities and expectations for next year.

Chief.

All right, thank you for that.

Um the accomplishments for 2025-26.

Uh, I think it's important to note that while I provided some of the motivation, the vision uh for these accomplishments, it was truly a team effort uh to accomplish each of these tasks.

Um I first came into the organization.

I started with a district-wide listening uh tour, really to understand what was going on in the organization and the needs and the wants of our members.

And from that, I developed and implemented a 180-day plan that really focused on three core areas: one being our finances, two being dispatch, and three being communications.

Um under the finances, um, we really went back and evaluated the overall fiscal health of the district.

Um, from that, we implemented some changes.

So the monthly financial reports and the presentations to kind of understand where we're at.

Um, we negotiated an MOU with all three bargaining groups from local 2487.

Uh, the biggest item from that um was the 1.4 million that we did not put into OPEB because the OPEB was funded at 92%.

Um, and I think that's a key component of our fiscal health today.

Because when I first came into the organization, we didn't know if we were going to have enough cash on hand to pay bills at the end of August, which was very scary.

And so being able to make those immediate changes was huge because we were able to pay most of our bills through that dry period of funding until we got our property tax disbursement at the end of August.

So that was a huge team effort to make that happen.

We also adopted uh new policies, including a fund balance policy.

Um, so that we a goal to strive for that 17 to 20 percent.

Um, and then we also adopted a project funding policy hearing the um concerns of our residents in Washoe Valley and the Washoe Valley Consolidated Fire Station, knowing that that project was brought forward, but there was never funding allocated to that project to bring it to fruition.

And so that new policy helps to ensure that when we bring something to all of you, that we're also bringing a funding mechanism with it so that there's the expectation that we'll deliver uh that project.

Um we also, as part of this year's fiscal budget, we created a five-year fiscal uh forecast or financial forecast model to really help us see further into the future so that we can make good decisions based on future needs of the organization as well, so that we can hopefully avoid having similar situations in the future where we come into short uh cash shortages and so forth.

Um, we also evaluate the current dispatch services and processes.

Um, we conducted or I conducted an internal dispatch workshop to identify priorities and where we should be and what we expect from a dispatch center.

Um, and then we also looked at how do we expedite regional dispatch and get those conversations going, knowing that we had had three studies prior to my arrival that all pointed us towards the need for regional dispatch.

So I think the the big component of that is relationships and bringing our partner agencies together from Reno and Sparks to have those honest conversations and trying to evaluate how do we do things more efficiently, more cost effectively, and so forth.

And I think that's really gained a lot of traction in the last six months, obviously, with the uh the movement that we're seeing up at the Spectrum Dispatch Center is looking at regional dispatch and so forth.

So optimistic that we continue that work uh moving forward as well.

Um, and then we also improved an internal uh organizational communication.

So when I arrived, uh, the only way to know uh information that was shared was an email.

And when you start on one day, that's the history that you have for the information within the organization.

So we adopted uh new policies for administrative and informational communication bulletins.

So then when key information comes out within the organization, that information is also archived on SharePoint so that we can go back and look at it.

So things that we're doing now for our fiscal health of the organization, if we ever experience financial downturns in the future, we can look back to this to see what the organization do in the past to overcome some of these challenges.

So it kind of gives us a roadmap as well and a historical perspective for the organization as a whole.

And this really came out of the listing tour from the firehouses about the need uh for information or the want for information about what's going on within the different divisions and relationship building.

The easiest way to do that is for our chief officers to actually visit the firehouses, share what they're doing, and establish those relationships.

I think it's been productive for the most part, and I think the organization is better informed because of the time and effort, not just from myself, but my uh executive staff and the chief officers from being able to get into the firehouse and share what they're working on and their priorities within their divisions.

Um, over the last year, we've also hired a new CFO, uh new fire marshal, and a deputy chief of operations.

There's been significant turnover.

Um, and so we're rebuilding a leadership team at the same time as we're addressing all these organizational challenges.

Um I've attended a quite a few community meetings to address the delay in the construction of the Washoe Valley uh consolidated fire station.

I know that's very important to our the Washoe Valley community, um, and we've committed to providing updates as frequently as we can with our capital project updates as we get any leverage and traction there from donors or other funding opportunities to pay for that firehouse because what was a five or six million dollar fire station is now ballooned to somewhere between 16 million dollars if we could build it today, more likely closer to 20 million because of the time that's gonna take to generate that revenue or have the funds to build the fire station.

I've also supported uh regional fire protection efforts.

So we meet regularly with our partner agencies uh to identify an implementation plan for regional dispatch services.

Um and this is independent of the hexagon or octave implementation.

We we knew or were we were told that that was gonna be the solution for us.

Um and sadly that that continues to be delayed.

So we cannot wait for that implementation uh to build that efficiency and dispatch and those regional partnerships.

We've also adopted standard operating policies, and I think this aligns closely with that in the regional dispatch so that we are working as one agency on fire ground.

And you know, big thanks to Chief Shum and the operations group for that to generate and develop those those policies and implement training around those so that we do function as one unit on the on the fire ground for firefighter safety and overall benefit to the community.

Um we've also built upon that by hosting and attending multi-agency trainings, including a live fire training that we had up in Spanish Springs this winter that really reinforced those policies as well.

Uh, also an active participant in the regional fire services study.

Um so we attended a community meeting.

We've held regular monthly check-in meetings with the consultant team to make sure they're getting the information they need.

Um, we've also hosted a volunteer firefighter meeting uh for the TM because we're the only agency in the valley that has volunteer firefighters.

Um very important, I think, for the consultants to hear from them and their history and how they've come to be uh within Washoe County.

And then we've also provided a significant amount of data to the consultants as well, so they can put together this study.

Um beyond that, we've had some pretty significant organizational accomplishments as well.

Um we completed the renovation of fire station 37 in November.

Uh we're gonna complete the construction of fire station 35.

Uh that'll complete in July.

And as I mentioned, we'll probably open that in August soon as the internet and the furniture is delivered there.

Um we're successful in receiving $5.4 million in grants for fuel mitigation projects.

And this is primary, this is the primary funding for our wildland division.

Uh so big thanks to Chief Eisenheigen and his team for the work they've done to secure that grant funding.

Uh, we've also been able to increase the staffing in the wildland division by six uh seasonal firefighters, and this is you know, bringing us back to full staffing so that we can accomplish that that work of those grants that were awarded.

And then we also increased open burning uh this past year from two months to six months.

And this was a big change.

This really allowed the community a much uh broader window uh to burn uh their fuels if they lived on a parcel that was an acre in size or larger.

Um, in the past when we only had two months, you had a month in the the fall, a month in the spring, and depending on weather conditions or so forth, there may be just a very small window when people actually had the opportunity to burn their fuels.

Um so by opening this up, it actually helps to make our community safer and give our community or citizens more of an opportunity to reduce their fuels on their properties.

We've also implemented first watch software, and this is software that runs in the background to help collect our dispatch and emergency incident data so that we can make more data-informed decisions as an organization.

Um we've re-integrated uh the Gurlach Volunteer Fire Department back into Trucking Meadows.

Um, and excited that we've increased the volunteers out there from two to six.

So we're already seeing those improvements and we're making uh meaningful improvements along the way.

Um, a big accomplishment for the entire organization received a $3.2 million Pennington Foundation grant last year.

This was huge.

This is probably one of the largest grants we've ever received as an organization.

Um, and that that funding went towards the purchase of those new fire engines, the communications equipment, loose equipment and technology for the district.

So helping us keep pace uh with technology as well.

We also completed construction of the state-of-the-art uh personnel protective equipment washroom at our headquarters.

And this is this is huge because before uh the firefighters would bring their their soil turnouts after a fire to uh one of two different fire stations, they would have them washed there by the crews.

Now we bring all that into our headquarters station where we have people that are trained in that do this regularly that can actually make sure those those turnouts are clean, dried, uh inspected, put back together, and then redelivered back to the firehouses.

So a much more efficient process that also helps to ensure that our firefighters have the cleanest gear possible to reduce any of those the harm from contamination or the cancers that are hidden in the the smoke and the materials that we are exposed to at different fires.

And then this year we've hosted the third annual wildland fire command and control training for our regional partners in Northern Nevada, helping make sure that we're all prepared for wildfire season before it gets here.

And that concludes my accomplishments.

I'd like to transition now and talk a little bit about my 2026-2027 priorities and expectations.

And I'm also open to amending this list.

If any of you would like to add a priority or an additional expectation to it.

Some of the things that I really want to focus on this coming year, finalizing the regional fire service study with our emergent global solutions.

So this looks at exploring expanded revenue streams, looking at EMS and wildland as a potential opportunities there.

And then continuing to pursue grant opportunities, some of the largest being our FEMA AFG and SAFER grants if possible.

I look to develop and implement a succession planning handbook as we're going to have more turnover in the upper ranks of the organization.

This would also include training, mentorship, and stretch assignments to make sure that we have people prepared to step into leadership roles well into the future for us.

I want to continue to expand our fire and EMS regionalization regionalization efforts.

Continue to support regional practices.

So continue to build upon the standard operating guideline development and training opportunities with our regional partners.

And in the future, when we have fire academies, really look towards conducting those academies in coordination and partnership with the City of Reno and the City of Sparks, as these are the agencies that we respond most closely with most frequently as well.

Also looking forward to the implementation of Octave.

And I know our teams are doing a lot of work on that on the back end to have that programming once it's up and functional and ready for implementation, that we also have all the bugs worked out on our end and how we deploy resources most effectively to make sure that the community gets that closest emergency unit regardless of what it says on the side of the fire engine or ambulance.

And then we're also working simultaneously on the regional dispatch as I think there's a tremendous amount of efficiency and probably cost savings for us as well, being able to leverage economy of scale with our regional partners as well there.

I look forward to expanding our employee wellness programs.

And we brought an item to you last month for the facility dog program.

So we're just waiting pens and needles for the phone call that they have the dog for us, and we look forward to implementing that program.

And fire prevention, I know our fire marshal Williamson is working hard to identify all of our business inspections and evaluate the annual workload because there may be some funding opportunities there as well to make sure that we have a fire safe community by conducting the number of or the required annual inspections that we should be every year.

Also looking to explore opportunities to expand our green waste program.

For those that live on a parcel that's smaller than an acre in size, they don't have the ability to burn their fuels.

By also increasing opportunities for our community members to dispose of their green wastes.

Also want to continue to explore funding opportunities for Fire Station 30, the consolidated fire station in Washaw Valley.

I know this is a big project.

I've heard from our community and that firehouse that we have out there now is Fire Station 32.

It's it doesn't have many more years left in it.

So we really need to figure out how we can move towards that consolidated fire station and identify the funding to do so.

Also want to see us increase our high-risk, low frequency training to include live fire exercises.

This is the type of training that it's the incidents that we don't go to frequently, but they're the they're the ones that could get us hurt or our community members hurt.

So making sure that we're performing at our highest level to be able to mitigate those type of emergencies.

Conducting monthly check-in meetings, making sure that we have captains assigned to each of the different uh priorities so that we can get those accomplished as well.

And then one of the last two of the big items that I really uh look forward to.

And then one of the last two of the big items that I really look forward to and speaking with the chair, I think it'd be very informational and advantageous to lead a Board of Fire Commission workshop with my leadership team to provide an overview of the district and specific functions of each one of our divisions.

And I hope to do this by the end of this calendar year really to give you an insight of what our amazing firefighters do day in, day out, what our divisions are responsible for so that you have a better understanding of everything they do.

Because you we only see a snippet of it with projects that are brought forward or in our social media and so forth.

But there's a tremendous amount of work that goes in day to day to be able to provide a high performing organization and service to the community.

And then this the last item is I'd really look forward to leading a district district priority goal setting workshop with all of you in January of 2027.

And this would be an advance of our budget preparation to make sure that your priorities are reflected in our upcoming budget as well and I think that's super important.

And so that concludes um my priorities and expectations for this coming year.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments Vice Chair Garcia thank you, madam chair.

I was hoping to add one if the board agrees um I would really like to add uh uh having a partnership with Chucky Meadows Community College.

They've got some exciting things happening in district two with the proposed EMS and fire training centers.

I think there's a lot of opportunity for workforce development opportunities and even um helping with some supplementing some of our existing operational they had mentioned that and I don't know if this is true but some of the TMCC students had assisted on the Davis fire if they meet certain credentials and and those are just extra bodies and hands and they can do so safely and and really help alleviate uh and provide that mutual aid when we need it.

So I would like to add TMCC if it's okay to the rest of the board.

Thank you.

Commissioner Hill Thank you, madam chair first of all you have such a hard job because not only do you have to make us happy and be out in the community and also we have so many regional efforts right now.

So you're forced to really take a lead in those regional efforts and they're uncomfortable conversations and they're hard conversations and you're new to the region and coming in and having to push our agenda.

So thank you so much.

And I think uh that honestly uh it's amazing what you've been able to do in this very short amount of time and I'm really excited about um the district priority goal setting workshop I think that will be great and I think it'll be great for your team too because I think your team what I saw from the review was they want more time with you and you're it's hard you you are having to be in the community and also run this department.

And so I think that's really tough and you've got new people as well but also people who are used to a different regime and so that's going to be uh an exciting opportunity for leadership you know and I think that to the team that did the review I think that now that Chief Edwards is really um in the weeds on all of these different issues that we are facing as a region I think that the opportunities for leadership building and team building are going to be there for this next following year you know so um I but I I hear the that feedback and I read that feedback I also saw feedback from outside person who was like they're just jealous of you anyway so uh but I I appreciate you taking it all with stride and you know consuming it and seeing how you can continue to build that that team and do that.

And I know you can so I'm not even worried about it.

The one thing I would add to continuing to explore opportunities to strengthen our financial position is and we don't have any money to do this and I'm not sure how we do this but um sometimes in different departments that don't have any money they send a staff person to engage at the legislature a little bit and there may be opportunity to grow a staff person to into leadership opportunities to send them to the legislature on occasion to engage with revenue discussions and I think we should do that.

I'm not saying we need to hire a lobbyist and I think that person could work closely with Cadence on the county side because she's very well versed on you know our priorities as a board but I think that could be an option to look at for this next session and seeing ways that we can engage in that process.

So that would be the only thing I would add.

It's you've got a big uh to-do list for 26-27.

And just let us know how we can support you.

And thank you for doing such a great job of leading in regional conversations.

I feel so much less anxiety knowing that you are at the helm having these conversations clear headed, uh, really not like no baggage is from old times of the divorce.

You're not having to carry that into these conversations.

I'm I'm just excited that you're you're leading us into this new time.

And so that that those are my only comments and congratulations and thank you for wanting to stick around with us.

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And uh thank you, Chief Edwards, for uh a good year with us.

I think you're doing a great job.

I see at so many different events, community forums, public workshops, got cab meetings, and you're out and about, and and you're you've got a good face for the the whole department out in the community.

The community appreciates your your reports and just seeing you and putting a name in a face, and uh they feel like they know you out there now.

So I think that's that's all good.

Um I'm I'm happy with the the green waste.

Uh as you said, it's expensive, but uh it saves it's worth it in the long run.

The green waste, the public appreciates that people need to you know trim back their shrubberies and bushes or trees and and as they prune things, they they need to help with that.

The the green waste, also the the green waste uh days that you have for different parts of the county, uh big help.

Uh extra burn days, again, another another great innovation rather than you know, having a month here and a month there, and and nine of those days are windy and the other two it's snowy or whatever it is.

There's always some some weather issues around here.

So having that extended time gives people an opportunity to plan for a safe day and a safe time to burn.

And um uh the wildland uh group uh doing a great job.

Uh people are appreciating that, and and uh again, it's all about preventing fire by by taking the fuel away.

So doing a good job all along there.

Um the hexagon, uh whatever they're called now.

It's uh you know, you you kind of inherited that.

And uh now you're you're you're watching that, you know, just linger on and linger on.

We don't know if the we're guinea pigs, and I think at the end of the day we've talked about this.

Uh they haven't delivered this service anywhere else on the planet, is my understanding.

And now we're the guinea pig, and uh we're we're kind of paying the price for that.

So thanks for for sticking in there and uh and keeping us updated with that.

And then I'd like to hear more about uh, you know, we talk about uh TMCC and what they're doing, you know, the county has a regional training facility as well.

Um, and I want to see how how TMCC TMCC could work with the county, and you know, we already have the facility, and and so when we duplicate services and they're building a training facility, and we already have a training facility and the the history of Sparks and Reno and Fire and Law enforcement and everybody was supposed to use this our academy, and it's uh that's not the case at this point in time.

And I like to focus on how we can utilize better utilize existing facilities that we have and help the sheriff with with uh generating some renewable revenue in that uh particular space.

So I think you're doing a great job.

It's it's nice to meet with you on a regular basis.

It's great to see you on the public.

And uh, and I think the uh the rank and file folks would be remiss not to talk about them.

I think the rank and file folks are appreciating what you're doing.

And that's the key with this is morale and make sure that the folks who actually doing the work are happy with where they're working.

And I think that you're bringing a lot to that.

So thank you.

Thanks for the report.

Thank you.

Um, I too would like to thank you for jumping in and just hitting the ground running.

Um, I think your experience shows.

I think when you have someone that has the experience and really understands not only how to lead, but how important the entire organization is, not just one person, the entire organization.

And I think you've um demonstrated that.

I do think the fact that um you really recognize the importance of succession, it's really critical because even though there are some folks that are leaving and will be leaving, that is the reality.

But having a succession plan ensures stability and ensures that uh there's a plan and that everyone knows that.

And so I really want to commend you.

I think the hiring and you attacking, if you will, financials and really peeling back the layers that really had a lot of different layers really shows the presentation and really even categorizing different you know, GL accounts so that you have a better picture and not have to necessarily dig or or watch where some pockets may be just because it is more transparent.

So I do think your commitment to transparency is evident.

I do think that I would like to add uh a couple things, even though I've met with you, but um I do think the importance of reviewing all of the comments, and I too read uh the comments, and I do think having um, you know, you and I spoke about this, you know, it's almost like when you take a test.

You always remember what you failed.

You never necessarily remember the questions you all got right.

And I think part of growth in terms of the evaluation included um some additional strength that could be behind communications.

And I think the strategic alignment piece may actually be a bullet that you might want to add on the strategic plan.

So I know you're conducting the monthly check-in meetings, but I thought about it when you were sharing about bulletins, and I wonder if they're, and it's not to add an additional layer of capacity uh work on anyone, but I do think sometimes having a reference point is also helpful, so that if someone's talking about something that they have a SharePoint that they could look at, and then having the a communications plan to actually roll that out, I think would be really important.

I really am glad everyone likes the workshop.

It seems that everyone likes that workshop idea, and I I'm really excited too to have that workshop.

I do think um it might be helpful just to share the one of the reasons the discussion for the workshop came up was because as you all know, you do a lot, and we only are here for a short period of time and understanding the depth to what you do and all of the hard work and all of the different um areas that you touch, I think are important for policymakers as you come to us for various things or giving reports.

I think it connects us in terms of a communication way in a deeper way, so that we can be the best we can be in supporting the community through your efforts.

And so, having said that, I wonder if there isn't also an opportunity.

You know, surveys sometimes they're a pulse check at that time.

And I think um it would be great if we had an opportunity, if you felt it appropriate to include a pulse read, not every minute, but at certain intervals.

So, for instance, in looking at that goal setting workshop, there might be some opportunities to survey and allow everyone to have a voice and what those areas are.

Some may be realistic, some may not.

There may be additional information that some folks may not have that also can be a great learning experience as well.

So I just think getting um as much feedback from everyone is important because it helps on the communication side and on both sides, so that everyone understands that everyone's busy and everyone's working really hard, but sometimes you have to stop for a moment and share what those um barriers are, challenges, accomplishments, and I think that would be helpful.

I think it would be helpful to share what that feedback is.

So I just really want to thank you again and thank everyone for all the hard work that you do.

Look, financial, I keep on hoping that there's a leprechaun somewhere can show us the pot of gold.

It's not there.

And the reality is is that we all have to think about things differently and really be able to have a higher level of how we can use this continuous process improvement, how how we can look at how we can do things differently.

And I think that comes from leadership.

And um, and I think we need to be able to build leadership throughout the entire organization.

It's not just the folks that are in those leadership positions, it's the entire organization as a whole.

And I think that um your leadership has shown even your commitment right out of the gate to go meet with everyone that you possibly could.

And it has already been stated, everyone wants a lot of your time, and I think that's a good thing.

How you divvy that up is not so easy.

But I do think it's important that we look at the organization as a whole.

And I really appreciate you bringing even when you were going over your accomplishments, that it's not your accomplishments, it's the organization's accomplishments as a whole, because no one, no one can do everything by themselves at all.

And you recognize that, and I appreciate it.

So if there isn't any other comments or discussion, do you have any questions for us, Chief Edwards, in terms of the clarity of what we just shared?

I don't believe so.

Okay, great.

I also lastly want to thank you for meeting with every single commissioner individually and taking the time to do that.

I think that was really it was very important.

I learned a lot as well.

So I'm looking forward to that workshop and looking forward to the district priority goal setting workshop too, which might also incorporate some feedback that might be helpful for us.

So this is an action item.

Is there any public comment?

There is nobody signed in.

So if there is no public comment, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

So moved, madam chair.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hill.

Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a second by vice chair.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, I'll call for the vote.

All those in favor, you can press accordingly.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you so much.

We'll close item 10.

And thanks to everybody who did all the comments, too.

There was a few.

All right.

We're gonna close item 10 and move to item 11.

Chief Edwards.

All right.

Item 11 is a recommendation to approve a first amendment to the employment agreement between Trucking Meadows, Fire Protection District Board of Fire Commissioners, and Richard J.

Edwards Fire Chief to one, extend the Chief's current contract term from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2031.

Two, increase severance pay from three months to six months of base salary.

Three, establish parameters for merit-based salary increases and performance bonuses.

Four revised vacation accrual to provide a prorated 167 hours of earned vacation for the remainder of 2026 and 213 hours of annual vacation accrual beginning January 1st, 2027.

Five cleanup and clarification of existing language and six at a successorship provision in the event of agency consolidation.

And this is for possible action.

Thank you.

So I'm gonna pass this out.

I'm gonna put a little hold for a moment.

So I'd like to explain this if you can give me one moment.

Thank you.

Oh, I'll do it.

I think that's more free.

Sure.

Thank you now.

I think uh we should also, according to legal, make sure that the public is uh has a copy.

So I believe Mr.

Daly, you're you're here, and we certainly like to give you a copy, and then we're gonna have copies in the back for anyone else who's interested in looking at them uh or looking at this provision.

This provision is actually related to leave.

This provision is currently in the Washoe County Manager's contract.

And again, I had brought it up, but it was too late.

There is no cost impact to this at all.

It allows, especially when you're in a leadership position, it allows the opportunity for you to um, if you choose to convert in this case, up to 80 hours of accrued but unused vacation into a pretext employment contribution.

And again, this is no cost.

There's nothing that is going to impact any financial uh burden on um TM.

And so again, this is a provision that's currently in the Washoe County Manager's contract.

So if there aren't any questions, I I also want to say that really on the record to thank Chief Edwards for choosing not to take a pay increase.

And I don't know if everyone sees that, but if you don't, I'm going to share it that he is not taking a pay.

Given the financial condition, he is not taking a pay increase.

And he tied it to the fund balance, which means he puts a burden on himself to get the finances.

And if you remember, it's a 17% fund balance.

So he puts the burden on himself to actually get the health of the financial um organization to at the minimum the fund balance.

So I just want to make sure that's pointed out.

Um the rest of the um document is already outlined and uh Chief Edwards read it.

We have this in our staff report.

I don't know if anybody has any questions, but because this is an action item, I am going to call for public comment.

There's nobody signed in.

Great, madam chair.

Yes.

So are you asking for this to be added to no changes to section 12 except to add this correct an additional option for Chief Edwards?

That's what I meant.

That I'm fine with the change.

And um, I appreciate you working with the Chief to get the corrections, and I think that we need to support our chief to take time off as well, which is part of what this allows him to do.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, I I appreciate and respect the fact that you looked at other CEOs of other agencies and organizations in the um area.

And so this isn't going above and beyond, it's just you know, getting people adequate uh compensation for a very difficult job that you have.

Um for our legal, just because I think sometimes members of the public get confused if there's something posted and then there's a an addition made to an existing you know section.

Can you please talk to that point?

I've seen that in the past, so I just wanted to get that on the record.

Well, yes, um, you know, what's been presented is the amendments that were requested by Chief Edwards, but then the board does have discretion to modify those amendments or make any changes, and so that's what this is that's on the screen, and there are copies, of course, in the back for the public as well.

Um, so I'm not seeing any legal issues with that as far as yes, the board has discretion to make some amendments in real time at this meeting to the employment contract.

Thank you, Vice Chair, for actually confirming that.

I did confirm that before bringing it.

So just again to for the record twice, right?

That um this was not introduced without checking with legal and to ensure that we have the legal parameters to add this particular item into the contract.

And that will be added to the minutes, so correctly transparency there.

Yep.

Any other questions?

Sure.

So I understand it's not changing anything, and it's it's um used in other contracts.

I I just have a question why it was introduced, why was this brought up brought here today instead of before today's meeting?

What was the background on that?

Sure.

Because of the posting and because everything was going through by the time that I was able to reach everyone I needed to reach at me it it uh missed that deadline, and so I'd like to confirm that with legal.

I couldn't put it in.

That's why.

Does that answer your question?

Sort of.

What's missing?

Well, I'm just I'm wondering why uh you know we could have uh approved the way it is, and in the next fire meeting, uh have it with proper notice and an advance notice, not that anything's going wrong, but you know, it just uh it's like a whoopsie, it just shows up.

Uh it's not a whip.

Okay, it's actually I I'm gonna the way you explain it is it didn't get it in there in time.

That's all that's not a whoopsie.

Well, it's a whoopsie is that you didn't get in there in time.

That's all I'm saying.

Well, I guess we could define what whoopsie is.

I don't know what the legal definition of whoopsie is.

But I will say this it is up to the entire board to choose.

There's no cost impact, everyone's busy.

We did the best we could.

We had to meet legal requirements, we're allowed to add additional information in terms of an amendment, and again, this is already in another contract.

Um, I'm expecting that this may actually be something that we'll see in future contracts, but um, I'll you know, open up for any other comments or questions.

So hearing none, we have no public comment.

If I entertain move to approve with the proposed uh addendum for item 12.

Thank you.

Second, so we have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you so much.

We'll move now, close item 11 and we'll move now to item 12.

Commissioner Fire Chief's announcement.

Chief Edwards.

Thank you.

Um, I just want to say thank you.

I appreciate your feedback and the confidence you've placed in me to lead this incredible organization.

And while we have some challenges ahead of us, um, I think we have the right team in place to tackle these challenges and maintain um the high level of service that our community has come to expect, and we'll continue to work towards that with every uh ounce of our efforts uh to make that a reality.

Um, I also want to share um that tomorrow, June 3rd, Trucky Meadows Fire and Rescue is participating with the second judicial court of Nevada to honor the 250th birthday of America.

Uh the program's going to begin at 8 a.m.

on the steps of the Washoe County Courthouse, and we hope to see everyone out there tomorrow for this historical event.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll be there.

Any other comments?

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I wanted to go back to uh what you said earlier about the uh email records that you're keeping a uh kind of a database of all emails that are internal emails to all the uh anything when you said you first started it was day one, and you just uh you you had the only the correspondence you had that day.

You didn't have a historical basis for a lot of things.

So now with this, you're going to start the historical basis from that point on for every everyone at and is that available to all the employees of of the Trucking Meadows uh fire district.

Uh how's that work?

It sounds like it's almost like public records for for folks that can go look up what was said at a meeting, what was said in an email.

That's a historical record from from the day that you started to all forward.

Is it is is my understanding that correctly?

Sort of.

So when we send out special information to the district, it used to only go out in email.

So as a member of the district, read that email and deleted it, it was gone.

We didn't have any real record of that other than if we went back and did a record search of that that person's email or something to find it.

So under this new model, uh the administrative and uh informational uh communications, they actually have their own template and then they're actually archived by year, so they can go back and look at this item.

This was this uh the topic of the information that went out, whether that be a specialized training, whether that be some type of community function or something that we're looking for volunteers or you know policy change or something of that nature, then it's also attached um to um a table of contents by year, and it's listed by a number so that we can go back and reference those items.

It's not everyone's individual emails and so forth, but uh bigger information uh items that affect the entire organization.

So it'd be directives and courses that were offered and uh communication that you want the want the troops to get.

And so you're gonna have a catalog and and and it'll be uh something that people historical record that that folks can look at.

And yes, and I think that's a great idea because that way things don't fall through the cracks, people get notified.

Oh, I didn't get it.

Well, here it is, and and you can uh have a have a good uh handle on what's being shared with with the uh staff and and the rest of the organization.

I think that's a great uh great thing that you're doing.

Maybe other uh uh departments in the organization could do look at that in the future and see if that makes sense for other other uh departments in the county.

So thank you for doing that.

Commissioner Hill Vice Chair Garcia.

Well, we're gonna go ahead and close item 12 and move to item 13 public comment.

Some item 13 is public comment, it's a non-action item.

Comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the board of fire commissioners agenda.

Comments are to be made to the Board of Fire Commissioners as a whole.

We have no public comment.

Thank you.

And we're gonna go ahead and close item 13.

We're gonna have a closed session.

We are going to be upstairs.

Um, DA Guses and would you like to actually just clarify if anybody has any public comment during that before the meeting is technically adjourned?

Sure thing.

Um, yes, so the closed session will be upstairs in the caucus room for anyone that is interested in providing public comment.

We will be having a closed meeting, but at the end of that meeting, um, we will be opening up for public comment.

So if anyone's interested in waiting around and providing public comment upstairs directly from this meeting in the caucus room.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So we're going to go ahead and close this meeting and go into the closed session at 11 06.

Thank you.