Image provided by: Friends of the Sandy Public Library; Sandy, OR
About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1982)
B— SANO Y ( O r * ) POST Thvr» Sept » . 19B2 (Sec I) Meeting said not open Board considers ‘volunteer’ policy by M IC H A E L P. JONES Ho»t ( orrr»|M>nd<*nt A proposed policy to r e s t r ic t f u ll- t im e firefighters or part-tim e volunteers from serving on the board of the Hoodland R u ra l F ir e P ro tec tio n D is tric t touched off a heated discussion a week ago Tuesday Veria Rogers, fire board m em ber, said the new policy would not restrict a firefighter from becoming a member of the board, but said they would have to resign from that position before taking the oath of of fice Members of the board, for the first time in the d is trict's history, were sworn in earlier at the meeting Ixiwell Njust, attorney for the fire district, resear ched the legalities of being both a fire fig h te r and board member and said he could find nothing in the law to prohibit this. Olson eri taxed the wor ding of the proposed policy, which was d rafte d by Njust He said he feels the board is "opening up a can of worms" by calling a volunteer in the depart m ent a p a r t - t im e employee The reimbursement of >2 25 for seven hours of work, said Olson, would in terest the Department of L a b o r, th e In t e r n a l Revenue Service and "a whole bunch of other peo pie ” He said in the past no such policy had ever been passed for this reason. " I think i t ’s w rong, period.” said Olson N ju s t sa id by la w volunteers are designated part time employees. “ There is a law that says you can’t prevent someone from running as a member of the board of directors,” sa id N ju s t. " T h e r e ’s nothing to say you can’t do the contrary " Njust said the conflict of However he said there would be an inherent con f lic t of in t e r e s t " if firefighters were to serve in both capacities He said it appears to be in the best interest of the public and the fire department to have a policy preventing this With a firefighter holding a position on the board it would mean he would te c h n ic a lly be "an employee of the chief who is also the employer of the chief." Njust said Board Mem ber David Olson of Wemme, who works as a firefighter for the Redland Fire District as well as a volunteer for the Hoodland District, ob jected The adoption of the policy would force him to resign either his position as a volunteer or his seat on the board •‘We won’t dwell on the obvious, said Olson. " I'm opposed to this resolution I have problems with it get ting as far as it has .” interest, for a person to be both a firefighter and a board members, is com parable to "serving two masters.” " If a man had two wives, could he be loyal to both of them," asked Njust " I couldn't.” O lson sa id N ju s t ’ s analogy of serving two masters does not sit well with him He said he has only one m aster, "th e district S h ir le y Dueber of Brightwood said she has to agree with Olson, and couldn't see where the con flict of interest would be She sa id v o lu n te e r firefighters on the board could m a ke " a m o re educated vote than me. John Q. Citizen.” who does not understand the inner workings of the depart ment Neil Senger. a battalion Chief with the department, disagreed and said he feels it would be a conflict of in- terest because the deci sions made would not be what the public wants, rather what a firefighter wants “ Being on both sides of the fence I don t think you are getting a true, honest opinion," said Senger Dueber said the board is currently getting Gus by having Fire Chief Don A r mintrout "at the head of the table.” giving advice She said as a citizen she is not qualified to question any figures Arm introut may give, but volunteer firefighters would be. Karen Ligatich, who said she was speaking as both a volunteer and a citizen, urged the adoption of the policy. She said as board members, employees of the department could not offer good ideas The fire board will vote on the new policy at its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 5 at 7.30 p m at Zig Zag elected us to these positions, she said. “ I ’m under the opinion we did read by MICHAEL P. JONES H o » l C o r re s p o n d e n t Tension arose over the public reading and posting of policies of the Hoodland Rural Fire Protection District a week ago Tuesday evening at the monthly meeting of the fire board. The first hint of problems concerning the policies of the district was sparked by Board Member David Olson He ob jected to the board voting on polices without first reading them outloud to the audience Olson was less than complimentary toward fellow board members Veria Rogers. Peggy Hergert and Ray M iller for not reading the policies outloud. He said he felt the board was in violation of the state open meeting law last month when the policies were first presented, and would again be in violation if they weren’t read into the record. “To take a group of policies that af fect everyone in this district, and everyone in this department, and read them to ourselves, is not what the open meeting law intended,” charged Olson H ergert, the board chairperson, responded that it is the duty of the board to make the policies for the district. This the voters knew when they them ,” said Hergert "That's what we were elected for At this point in time I would say it would be a waste of tim e." John Larson, a volunteer firefighter who works out of the Government Camp station, objected to a policy pro posed at the August meeting That policy would have forbidden m ember ship on the board by volunteer firefighters in the department Hergert said that particular clause had been dropped with the revision of the proposed policy " If it <the policy* would have been read, I guess I would have known," responded [-arson The board voted 3-1 to accept the policies as written Olson cast the dissenting vote and explained he was voting no "because the policies should have been read in open session." A policy concerning job descriptions for volunteers was the next agenda item before the board and. this too. was not read Hergert explained that until the job description is formally adopted, it is not public information because the content might change Lowest prices in town on meat, Saver Shield Special BALL PARK KRAFT, 7% OZ. DINNERS FRANKS 0 0 0 0 thru 9/21/82 WITH ONE FILLED SAVER SHIELD CARO HYGRADE'S MEAT, BEEF 16 OZ. PKG. Saver Shield Special CHUCK.ROAST BLADE CUT FLEISCHMANN'S CORN OIL G 0 0 0 THRU 9/28,82 WITH ONE FILLED ¿AVER SHIELD CARO S p e c ia l AU PURP ' UNBL'CHD FLOUR V 0 0 0 0 THRU 9/28/82 5LB I BAG J with ONE FILLED ¿AVER SHIELD CARO _ J 3d Saver Shield Special FOSTER FARMS FINE WHITE I MEAT KRAFT NATURAL MIDGET LO N G HORN STYLE, EA WESTERN FAMILY 16 OUNCE CARTON 0 0 0 0 T hru 9/28/82 WITH ONE FILLED ¿AVER SHIELD CARO BEEF 2 LB. COLBY C 0 n . CHEESE Saver Shield Special USDA C H O IC E TROPICANA GOLDEN PURE 1 LB. S O R MARGARINE » F FOSTER FARMS ROAST OR STEAK USDA C H O I C E ^ K 4 1 BONELESS CROSS RIB 0 0 0 0 thru 9/21/82 WIT m ONE FILLED ¿AVER SHIELD CARO Saver Shield Special Shield Special TIDE, LAUNDRY POWDER KRAFT PHILADELPHIA, PLAIN 0 0 0 0 THRU9/28/82 WITH om fillio ¿A V E R IH K L 0 CARO Saver FRESH FRYER BREASTS BLUE BONNET IN REUSABLE PLASTIC BOWLS GRANULATED, WHITE BL «9 ■ " V PREMIUM, RED ROSE. HTY BURG CHAR BL., PK C H A I . RHINE. BURG., V. ROSE, CHIANTI 102 CUBE -d 6d GROUND* BEEF PORK STEAK PORK SAUSAGE TURBOT FILLETS FRESH DOMESTIC 58 USDA CHOICE CHUCK SEVEN ROAST SPARE RIBS STEW MEAT LEWIS BROS FRANKS^ •O N E ' 58 58 18 BONELESS PORK COUNTRY STYLE BONELESS BEEF PAPER TOWELS CELTA, WHITE. GIANT ROLL Hours 39180 Pioneer In Sandy. 668-7418 PILLSBURY, B'TR., B'TRMIIK, COUNTRY o a t ’/« PmCCS EFFECTIVE SEPT 22nd THRU 28th 1882 M C M .C R OF UNITCO OROCCRB, INC 1
