By: ELIZABETH WEST
Associate Editor
At Tuesday night’s Ville Platte Fire District No. 2 meeting the board was presented with more information on the new training officer position that Fire Chief Chris Harrison requested to be created to help alleviate some of the in office duties that the chief has been burdened with.
Harrison first mentioned the idea of creating this new position at the district’s February meeting because office work was having to be pushed aside for the chief to respond to calls.
The discussion on this topic continued to be tabled by the board until they could receive more information regarding the necessary steps that would need to be taken to create a new position within the department.
Harrison said, “To create the training officer position we have to recognize funding, and then the appointing authority has to fill the position with an interim training officer. I will have to fill out a survey of what I want the training officer to do. The civil service board will come up with qualifications for who wants to apply, and then a test will have to be taken by the applicants.”
The fire chief also informed the board that 26 percent of the training officer’s salary, which would be paid by they district, will amount to $278.67 a month. The remaining 74 percent of the salary will be paid by the City of Ville Platte.
The board decided to begin moving forward with the creation of the training officer position.
At the district’s April meeting, the board also spent time reviewing the recent 911 contract that was presented to them last week.
The district and the City of Ville Platte had a contract drawn up that would determine how much each entity would pay for 911 dispatching services. It was decided that the city would pay half of the cost to 911, while the district would pay the other half using general funds.
The 911 services will cost the fire district a little over $500.00 a month.
A new position and 911 dispatching were not the only changes discussed at Tuesday’s meeting however.
New board member Shawn Devillier asked the board to consider adding LED lights to the front and rear bumpers of the four smaller trucks at the Chataignier fire station.
Devillier said, “Adding these lights to our small trucks would allow us to see better at night, especially in fields. This would be a good investment for us.”
Although all board members are in favor of this, the board asked Chief Harrison to begin looking into what it would cost to have LED lights installed on Chataignier’s trucks before any decision is made.
Other items approved at the meeting were:
•A 3 percent raise for Ville Platte firemen.
•Ted Demoruelle and Shawn Devillier elected to serve on the billing committee.