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2 Montana Fire Trustees Conference 2017

WELCOME!

Welcome to the 2017 Montana Fire Trustees Association conference. Fire de-partments are struggling for funds to operate with, volunteer numbers are trending downward, and the cost of doing business is going up, so the board wanted to explore alternative ways of doing business.

Consolidation is not a four letter word, and can be a viable tool for success. This year we are bringing in Sheldon Gilbert, CEO of Emergency Services Con-sulting International (ESCI), to share his national experiences, along with a few statewide board members for a panel discussion.

Scott Harkin from VFIS insurance home office will share issues from a claims department perspective and how to deal with personnel issues and other business related topics.

Since it is important for fire trustees to be knowledgeable about laws and re-sponsibilities pertaining to fire districts/fire service areas, our legal advisors will update and advise about solutions and ideas for problems unique to fire trustees.

The MFTA would like to thank the attendees for taking time out of their busy schedules to take part in this conference. We hope it will help you become a more knowledgeable, effective, and successful fire trustee.

Jim Dusenberry, President

Montana Fire Trustees Association


4 Conference Schedule

7 Speaker Biographies

10 MFTA Board Members

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Time Event Location

11:00-1:00 Registration Hallway near

Ponderosa

1:00 - 3:30 Panel Discussion - Consolidation, Personnel, Finances,

Recruitment - Bruce Suenram, Bob Drake, Scott

Waldron and Robert Godlin of Hebgen Basin RFD, Dave

Kraft of Hyalite RFD

Ponderosa

4:00 - 5:30 Legal Issues for Trustees: Presentation includes an

overview of legal pitfalls Trustees may encounter

through their governance of Fire Districts/Service Areas

and how those issues may be addressed and managed.

- Kate Dinwiddie, Brown and Dinwiddie PLLC.

Ponderosa

5:30 - 7:00 Hospitality Hour - No host Bar w/snacks

Dinner on your own

Patio - weather

permitting

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

DAY 1 Friday, September 29


CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Time Event Location

7:00 - 8:00 Registration Hallway near

Ponderosa

8:00 - 9:30 Welcome, District Finance and Budgets, Annual Reports,

Accounting Procedures - Bob Drake, Tri-Lakes FSA Chief

and CPA

Ponderosa

10:00 - 12:00 Consolidation and Annexation, Joint Operations,

Municipal Contracts. Sheldon Gilbert, ESCI

Ponderosa

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch - provided Sapphire

1:00 - 2:00 Implementation of Cooperative Services - Sheldon

Gilbert, ESCI

Ponderosa

2:00 - 3:30 Insurance Claims, Wrongful Discharge Lawsuits, and

Other Personnel Issues - Scott Harkins, Glatfelter

Insurance Group

Ponderosa

3:45 - 5:30 Q & A for Legal Staff - Kate Dinwiddie and Rich

Gebhartd

Ponderosa

6:30 - 8:30

Banquet

Sapphire

DAY 2 Saturday, September 30


CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

DAY 3 Sunday, October 1

Time Event Location

7:00 - 9:30 Breakfast Buffet - Speaker Richard Gebhardt, Fire

District/Fire Service Area Personnel Issues.

Sapphire

9:30 - 10:00 Summary and Annual Meeting, Election of Directors Ponderosa

MFTA Data as of Oct. 12, 2016:

195 Rural Fire Districts

37 Fire Service Areas

Thank you for attending the 2017 MFTA Conference. We hope you found the sessions

interesting and informative. If you would like more information on a topic or would like

to suggest a topic for our next conference, please contact us at:

[email protected]


CONFERENCE SPEAKERS Sheldon Gilbert, ESCI Chief

Executive Officer

Sheldon Gilbert currently serves

as the Chief Executive Officer for Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI), the

consulting arm of the International Association of Fire

Chiefs (IAFC). Sheldon began his distinguished fire service career in 1984 as a Firefighter with the Fairview Fire Protection

District. In 1986, he was hired with the Eden Consolidated Fire Protection District. On July

1, 1993, he joined the newly formed Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) where he ultimately promoted to the rank of

Fire Chief.

Sheldon Gilbert received his Paramedic

training from Stanford University Hospital/Foothill College, and obtained a Bachelor of

Science Degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. He is a certified Executive Fire Officer from the

National Fire Academy and is a graduate of the Senior Executives in State and Local

Government Program at Harvard University’s

John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Sheldon Gilbert served as a Governor-

Appointee and Chair of the California EMS Commission as well as co-chair to the Blue

Ribbon Task Force following the Southern California Fire sieges. Chief Gilbert served as a County Fire Department Representative on

the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors and served for six years as President and immediate Past

-President of the California Fire Chiefs Association. Chief Gilbert is the recipient of the California Fire Chiefs Association 2011

Fire Chief of the Year Award. In addition, Sheldon received a California Emergency

Medical Services Authority Distinguished

Service Medal in 2012.

Scott Harkins, CSP, CPCU,

ARM

Scott Harkins is Senior Vice

President of risk control services at Glatfelter Insurance Group. Glatfelter Insurance Group

Includes the VFIS program, the largest provider of insurance,

education and consulting services to emergency service organizations. For 37 years, Scott has provided safety, health and

fire protection services to a wide variety of public and private clients, including fire

districts and other emergency service organizations. He has over 40 years of experience as a firefighter and EMT, having

served as the Fire Chief in two different

volunteer departments.

Scott is located in York, PA and may be

contacted at [email protected]

Robert Godwin, Trustee, Hebgen Basin

RFD

Robert Godwin was born in a small town in Oklahoma. He grew up on a farm and

graduated from Lindsay High School in 1973. He then attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman Oklahoma. After getting his BA,

he worked as a logging engineer for an oil company in his home town until 1986.

Robert chose to follow his love of the mountains and moved to West Yellowstone, Montana to become the general manager of

the Westmart Building Center and has continued in that capacity for 31 years.

During that time, he married his current wife, Dawn Godwin and they continue to reside in the area. His accomplishments are State of

Oklahoma High School debate champion in 1973, graduating college Cum Laude, serving

as chairman of numerous home owners associations, and a volunteer firefighter from 1996 until 2015. From 1997 until 2015

Robert was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the now Hebgen Basin Fire

District. During that time Robert was


CONFERENCE SPEAKERS privileged to assist the District in expanding

the Rural District to include half of the Basin that had no fire protection and then annexing

the Town of West Yellowstone to consolidate the entire region under one organization. The result has been a better staffed and better

equipped Fire District and Robert is very privileged to have been able to participate in

that development.

Dave Kraft, Trustee

Farmer Rancher south of Bozeman his entire life. Started as a board member of the Sour

dough fire district in 1991, became president 16 years ago and over saw the Consolidation of Ray fire service area and Sourdough fire

district. He is currently the board President.

Fire Chief Jason Rivisky, Chief of Hyalite Rural Fire District. Worked

for Big Sky Fire District starting in 1994 and became a paramedic in 2003. In 2011 he joined the Rae Rural Fire District and the

Sourdough Fire Sevive Area as Fire Chief and worked through the Consolidation process of

the two fire departments. Chief Rivisky is married and has 3 childeren

M. Richard (Rich) Gebhardt is an

attorney at law in the State of Montana

with over 40 years of experience in State

and local fire law. He has served the

client needs of various rural fire districts

and fire service areas. He has involved

himself in the drafting and passage of

numerous statutes relating to the health

and welfare of firefighters. He has

assisted various community groups in the

creation of non-profits, such as

auxiliaries, volunteer associations, and

fire districts.

Catherine“Kate” Dinwiddie, one of the

original partners of Brown & Dinwiddie, PLLC, has

been practicing law for over 16 years. Her legal career has included

working for Montana Legal Services in the domestic

violence unit practicing family law and 6 years at the Gallatin County

Attorney’s Office as a civil deputy county attorney. At the County Attorney’s office,

Kate represented the State in child abuse and neglect actions and was responsible for providing legal advice representation to the

County Commission, Board of Health, fire districts/service areas and other various

county departments. Her practice now encompasses various areas of law with an

emphasis on fire department and political subdivision representation. Kate also handles projects related to contracts, non-profit

entities, and homeowners’ associations. Kate’s workshop and teaching experience

includes presentations for the MSU Fire Services Training School, the Montana State Fire Chiefs’ Assoc., the Montana Fire Alliance,

and Fire Councils. She is admitted to practice in Montana and the U.S. District Court,

District of Montana. She was raised in the central California farming community of Porterville and after graduating high school

she spent a year studying in Tenerife, Spain as a Rotary foreign exchange student. Kate

graduated from Occidental College, Los Angeles, earning a degree in English and Comparative Literary Studies with a minor in

Physical Anthropology. She moved to Missoula to attend U of M School of Law

where she earned her J.D. Kate lives with her daughter in Bozeman.


CONFERENCE SPEAKERS Bruce Suenram has

worked in the field of

fire protection and

prevention since 1969.

He is currently a

Deputy Chief of the

Fire & Aviation Bureau

of MT Department of Natural Resources and

Conservation. He administers the preparedness

activities of the Bureau such as training, fire

prevention, fire investigation, GIS,

assessments, information technology, and

equipment development. Bruce served as

Montana’s State Fire Marshal (1992-1997), as

chief of the Missoula Rural Fire District (1980-

1992), and as the chief of the Kelseyville, CA,

Fire Protection District (1974-1980). Bruce

was on the original code development

committee for the Wildland/Urban Interface

Code and on the International Fire Chief’s

Association Wildland/Urban Interface

Committee. He acted as the liaison for the

National Association of State Fire Marshals to

the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s

Urban/Wi ld land Inter face Adv isory

Committee. In addition, Bruce has taught

courses for the National Fire Academy, the

Northern Rockies Training Center, the Montana

Fire Services Training School and the Montana

L a w E n f o r c e m e n t A c a d e m y .

He served as an Incident Commander for a

Type II Incident Management Team for 8

years. Bruce is the Assistant Area

Commander, Plans on Area Command

Team 4. Bruce received a bachelor's

degree in biological sciences from

California State College Stanislaus in 1973.

In his spare time, he serves as the Chair of

the Board of Trustees of Hamilton Rural

Fire District.

Bob Drake graduated with a

BS in Accounting from Montana

State University in Bozeman in

1984. After graduation, he

went to work for KPMG Peat

Marwick as a CPA in Midland,

Texas. He spent ten years with

KPMG in their headquarters and

their Midland, TX and

Columbus, OH offices. Bob moved back to

Helena in 1995 and became the CFO for Bison

Engineering, Inc. where he helped manage the

30 person firm for the next 10 years. Bob

started as a firefighter with Lakeside Volunteer

Fire Department in 1995 and then became a

Trustee in 1996. He served as a Trustee on the

Board of Lakeside Fires Service Area until he

was appointed Fire Chief of Lakeside in 2001.

In 2005, Bob became the Fire Chief of Tri-

Lakes Fire Service Area when it was formed by

combining Lakeside Fire Service Area with

Canyon Ferry Fire Service Area. In 2006, Tri-

Lakes hired Bob as its fulltime Administrator

where he currently serves. Bob’s private

business and public service experiences

provide him with a valuable perspective on

how to help Montana Fire Districts and Fire

Service Areas function effectively.


2017 MFTA Board Members

Jim Dusenberry, President - Term Expires 2017

West Helena Valley RFD

[email protected]

(406) 459-3645

Bill Wegner, Vice President - Term Expires 2018

East Helena Valley RFD

[email protected]

(406) 431-2451

Bruce Suenram, Sec./Treasurer - Term Expires 2019

Hamilton RFD

[email protected]

(406) 459-3302

Ted Liss, Trustee - Term Expires 2019

Madison Valley RFD

[email protected]

(406) 682-3614

Bonnie Jones, Trustee - Term Expires 2018

Tri-Lakes FSA

[email protected]

(406) 431-6853

Montana Fire Trustees Association

PO Box 6583

Helena, MT 59604

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




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