Chambana Sun

City of Danville Board of Fire and Police Commissioners met Aug. 1

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Members Present: Amy Hoose, Dr Stephen Nacco, George Dowell, Larry Fredericks and Beth Hager by phone 

Members Absent:

Staff Members Present: Police Chief Chris Yates, and Fire Chief Aaron Marcott

Others Present: 

Chairperson Hoose called the Board Meeting to order at 5:04 P.M. Roll call was taken.

THE MINUTES: Commissioner Nacco motioned to approved minutes of the regular meeting held May 2nd. 2023, seconded by Commissioner Fredericks.

On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays: the motion was so ordered.

THE AGENDA: Commissioner Nacco motioned to approve the agenda, seconded by Commissioner Dowell. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays: the motion was so ordered.

AUDIENCE COMMENTS: 

MAYOR'S COMMENTS: 

CHAIRPERSON COMMENTS: 

Discussed moving the meeting time to 4:00 P.M. It was decided to stay at 5:00 P.M. meeting time. Advised she will follow up with Phil Wilson and Taylor Courson on the Badges and IDs for the Commissioners. Will check with James Simon reference the liability of the recording of the interviews of the candidates in a closed session.

CORPORATION COUNSEL:

CLOSED SESSION: N/A

RETURN TO OPEN SESSION: 

Discussion brought up by Commissioner Fredericks for listening to the interviews to refresh their memories prior to their decisions. Commissioner Fredericks suggested the list of questions be numbered and everyone review the questions prior to the interviews. All agreed to reply to "all" when selecting their questions.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY 

After reviewing the candidates on the Probationary Firefighters list, and after a discussion, Commissioner Fredericks motioned to approve to hire probationary firefighter Clayton Bell, seconded by Commissioner Nacco. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays: the motion was so ordered.

Chief Marcott: Advised Assistant Chief Brian Smith will be retiring this September and Cpt McMahon is out possibly until the start of September. Chief was approved by Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. to hire (1) one probationary Firefighter. Advised there are (2) two candidates in the top (5) five of the list that have all their requirements. If he successfully passes all medical and psychological tests, he can be brought to the department with little disruption and reduce overtime. Advised the (2) two probationary firefighters will be on their own next week. Stated there may be (6) six retirements in the next few years. There are (6) spots held at the academy.

Chief Yates: Stated the City is short Sergeants. There is a shortage of officers that are qualified to test for Sergeant. The majority of his officers have less than (4) four years on. Asked the Commissioners if it would be beneficial to research and modify the qualifications for the Sergeants test. The Board all agreed with Chief Yates to go ahead with the research. He advised he will do research and present it to the board. Chief stated he will send out reminders to the Commissioners for the officers out of the academy on August 24th in Urbana and for the swearing in on August 30th. Discussed the recording of the interviews of the candidates in a closed session. Commissioner Hager advised for the board purposes, the interviews should not be publicly available and suggested the question be brought up to James Simon. Chief notified the board of an internal affairs investigation on one of his officers, a (17) seventeen-year veteran for moral and unethical concerns. This could be a huge liability within the court system. The officer chose to file a grievance instead of taking it to the Fire and Police Board. It could lead to arbitration.

There being no further items to discuss, there was a motion by Commissioner Fredericks to adjourn the regular meeting at 5:57 PM, seconded by Commissioner Dowell. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays: the motion was so ordered.

https://www.cityofdanville.org/home/showpublisheddocument/3986/638296768403014154