Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Joel Shilling (l) speaks with Warsaw Human Resources Director Denny Harlan (r) after the WWFT Board of Directors meeting Wednesday at City Hall. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Following votes by the Warsaw Common Council and the Board of Public Works and Safety, the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Board on Wednesday approved the resolution rejecting the merit commission system for the fire department.

In introducing the resolution, Mayor Jeff Grose said the Common Council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution to reject the merit board at an October meeting, with the Board of Works voting unanimously in favor of the resolution Friday.

Warsaw Human Resources Director Denny Harlan explained the council’s resolution to the fire grounds, as he did to the Common Council and Works Committee.

In 2023, he said, the Indiana House passed House Bill 1016, which was signed into law on May 4, 2023.

“Essentially what it did was overturn the merit board process. So any department that had 12 members and served a population of 20,000 is mandated to have a merit board, unless we pass a resolution rejecting that merit board, and then the members of the fire department will also have a blind vote to make it right, Harlan said.

If either party decides to have a merit panel, then the merit panel will take place regardless of the votes of the other three. Now that the Common Council, Works Council and Fire Territory Council have approved a decision to reject the merit board, the final decision rests with the members of the fire department. Harlan said the firefighter vote will come in three weeks.

“If they decide to reject it, we’ll continue with the way we’ve been operating with the Public Works and Safety Board. If they choose they want a merit board, then we’ll put one together and have one on Jan. 1, 2025,” Harlan said.

Looking at the merit boards and talking to Fire Chief Joel Shilling, Harlan said he feels a merit board is not in the best interest of the city, the territory or the chief, “especially now that he’s actually getting out there and getting a lot of traction. and change things.”

Harlan asked the fire range board to overrule the merit board by accepting the resolution.

Grose said that when he sat down with Chief Shilling months ago and asked him where he stood on the merit board, Shilling told him he thought it was in the department’s best interest not to have a merit board at this time. Grose said he took the mayoral position to support Chief Shilling.

As a voting member of the Board of Works and the fire grounds board, Grose said he voted both times to approve the resolution.

He explained that City Attorney Scott Reust had all three councils vote on the resolution because of state code and because they were all involved in the interlocal agreement that created the fire district in 2008.

Fire lands council attorney Andrew Grossnickle said he spoke with Reust about the resolution, and Grossnickle agreed it was appropriate for all three councils to entertain whether or not to accept the resolution.

Chief Shilling stated, “I don’t think it’s the best thing for our fire department, so I would also agree that we reject the merit system. Maybe it works in other departments, but I don’t think we need to go that way.”

Board member David Allbritten made the motion to accept the resolution, Wayne Township Trustee Jeanie Stackhouse seconded and it passed 3-0. Board members Gordon Nash and Councilman Mike Klondaris were absent.

In other business, the fire territory board:

• Approved Dive Master and Captain Drew Shilling’s request for a $57,428 grant from the K21 Health Foundation to purchase a Deep Trekker PIVOT Remote Underwater Vehicle. The Works and Safety Board approved the grant application on Friday.

Chief Shilling, speaking on behalf of Captain Shilling as he was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting, said, “We have a joint dive team with us and the Warsaw Police Department and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. So that’s also going to be an asset that we’re going to use across the county, not just for us, but we’re going to keep it.”

• Approved that Mikaela Bixler, CARES (Community Assistance, Resources, Emergency Services) Coordinator, apply for a $2,472.50 K21 Health Foundation grant to purchase training books from the QPR Institute. QPR is suicide prevention training. The Works Council approved the grant application on Friday.

• Approved two leases for two office spaces for CARES at The Gathering Place at Fellowship Missions for $400 per month for each office for 12 months. The Works Council approved the two leases on Friday.

• Approved operating and equipment replacement funds for September as presented by Chief Shilling.

In the equipment replacement fund, he highlighted two items.

The first was to replace the air conditioner at Station 17. Core Mechanical Services Inc. came in a few times to try to fix it but eventually had to be replaced due to age and parts not readily available. Cost to replace Flow Tech Plumbing & Heating Inc. it was $10,993.

The second item was the purchase of a 2024 Chevy Silverado utility truck for $46,970 from Kelley Chevrolet Inc. He said the expense is in the budget.

• Approved the annual contract with Pro Air to maintain the air tanks for the dive team. Maintenance fees are paid by each department, with the fire department paying $2,948 for their tanks and the Warsaw Police Department paying $1,430. The contract will go before the Works Council on November 15.

• Approved a resolution to transfer $28,856.23 from the FSSA CARES grant to Miscellaneous Revenue – Operating as requested by Chief Shilling. The grant reimburses the fire district for the CARES program. The Warsaw Common Council approved the transfer resolution in October.

• Heard the Lutheran EMS report for September from Alicia Mediano. She reported that they ended the month with a total of 502 calls.

• Heard the September WWFT monthly report from Chief Shilling. This month, the fire territory had 336 responses, of which 114 were overlapping (34%).

• Heard October’s CARES report from Bixler. She said they had 66 CARES interactions for the month, 46 of them in person and 19 new people they hadn’t met before.

The next fire area board meeting is at 4:00 p.m., Dec. 3, at City Hall.