MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING OF THE NORTH FORK AMBULANCE HEALTH SERVICE DISTRICT

The Regular Monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of the North Fork Ambulance Health Service District located in the Counties of Delta, Montrose and Gunnison, Colorado, was held at 110 E. Hotchkiss Ave, Hotchkiss, Colorado, on Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 11:00 am.
ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: Dan would like to add an item under unfinished business – setting a date for the HR committee work session.
ROLL CALL: Board members present – Dan Miller, Marcus Roeder, Dave Kreutz, Bonnie Eisenberg and Peter Pruett.
Others present include: Kathy Steckel, Diane Perry, Tanya Applegate, Steve Simpson, and Marie Stucker.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE: No conflict of interest.
PUBLIC COMMENT: No Public Comment.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes from the May 11, 2023 Regular Monthly Meeting were reviewed. Marcus Roeder made a motion that the minutes be approved as written. The motion was seconded. All were in favor.
REPORTS:
FINANCE REPORT: Financials for May were presented and reviewed. Diane will look into the negative number on the balance sheet in the “Due from other government” category.
APPROVAL OF APPROPRIATIONS: Marcus Roeder made a motion to approve the appropriations for May as presented. The motion was seconded. All were in favor.
DISTRICT CHIEF REPORT: Kathy Steckel gave an overview of her report (see attached).
Administration: Kathy and Diane are starting to work on the CMS Data Collection requirements. We will report 2023 data next year between the months of January and May.
Finance: Audit is complete and will be submitted to DOLA by the end of the month. The ambulance is still on hold. Kathy applied for yet another extension, but hasn’t heard anything from the state.
HR: CEGR has sent suggested changes for Kathy’s contract and the HR committee will arrange a time to meet later in the meeting under unfinished business.
Mid-Year COLA will be discussed under new business.
Operations: Kathy and other supervisors have been attending coordination calls with CDOT to discuss the Highway 133 closure. They are hoping to have it done by mid-June. Steve informed everyone that the Stevens Gulch Road has been opened and is serving as an alternate route for some traffic.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: - Schedule an HR Committee work session. Peter, Kathy, Bonnie and possibly Dan agree to meet on Monday June 12, 2023 at 9:00 am for the purpose of discussing changes to the District Chief contract and PTO policy in the HR manual.
NEW BUSINESS: COLA wage increase for the second half of the year. Marcus has done some market research. Last year the SSA gave a 8.5% COLA increase and this year they are predicting a 4.2-4.5% increase. This lead to a discussion about the purpose and timing of a COLA increase. After much discussion, Dave Kreutz made a motion to set the COLA increase to 4.5%. This will take effect starting June 26, 2023. The motion was seconded. All were in favor.
Steve wanted the board to know that approval for the Paonia station remodel has worked its way through the system again. Plans are going to the building department. The remodel should be done by the end of the year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Next Regular Meeting is Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 11 am.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further matters before the board, Dan Miller made a motion to adjourn. All were in favor. Meeting was adjourned at 11:45 pm.