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MAY 14, 2025 4 <br /> <br />I. REGULAR MEETING <br />The Fire Merit Commission met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 with Commissioners <br />John Pinter, Dan Jones, and Kenneth Marks present. Also, Fire Chief Carl Buchanon, Assistant <br />City Attorney Adam Taylor, Assistant City Attorney Kylie Connell and Commission Clerk <br />Theresa Heffner were present. The meeting was held at the Central Fire Station, 1222 Michigan <br />St., Classroom #1, South Bend, Indiana and virtually via Microsoft Teams at the following link: <br />https://tinyurl.com/FireMerit51425 <br /> <br />Commission Attorney Connell asked if there were any additions or corrections to the agenda <br />before turning it over the President Jones. <br /> <br /> <br />A. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS <br />President Jones called roll and confirmed the presence of the Commissioners. <br /> <br />B. APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING <br /> John Pinter noted that his last name was misspelled a couple of times in the minutes, so they <br />approved subject to his name being corrected in the minutes. <br /> <br />Upon a motion by John Pinter, seconded by Kenneth Marks carried by roll call, the Board <br />approved the Minutes of the April 2, 2025, regular meeting subject to the correction to the <br />minutes. <br /> <br />C. APPROVE ELECTRONIC MEETING RESOLUTION <br />Upon a motion by Kenneth Marks, seconded by John Pinter carried by roll call, the Board <br />approved the electronic meeting resolution. <br /> <br />D. PROPOSED BYLAWS <br />John Pinter notes that the completion date would need to be changed to today’s date if they <br />are going to approve the bylaws today. <br /> <br />Attorney Connell confirmed that she would be changing May 2, 2024, on page 3 to May 14, <br />2025. <br /> <br />Upon a motion by John Pinter, seconded by Kenneth Marks carried by roll call, the Board <br />approved the electronic meeting resolution, subject to the correction in the date on page three <br />(3). <br /> <br /> <br />E. PUBLIC HEARING ON RULES <br />Attorney Adam Taylor explained that the proposed rules were based on similar policies <br />from other departments and aligned with statutory requirements, including the need for a <br />public hearing. He mentioned that he wouldn’t go through each section unless the <br />Commissioners requested it. However, he highlighted a key change in the promotional <br />process since the initial proposal—specifically, adjustments to how components are <br />weighted and how disciplinary records impact scores. Commissioner Pinter had previously <br />raised concerns about the weights not totaling 100%. Taylor then deferred to Chief <br />Buchanon to elaborate on discussions with the union regarding the weighting of the <br />process. <br />Chief Buchanon addressed issues with the promotion process, specifically that the previous <br />formula used did not total 100%. He acknowledged this discrepancy and clarified that he <br />revisited the process to align it with prior discussions with labor management. A new <br />formula was developed, and Chief Buchanon provided further explanation about it. The <br />hope is that the new documents now reflect the corrected process. He then turned it over to <br />Assistant Chief Roark. <br />Assistant Chief Roark noted that they caught another issue as well. They did not have the <br />performance evaluations represented which is required by statute, so that is where he met <br />with Union Vice President Buysse and went over the scoring those performance