Lawrence Board defers officer elections, approves fire training affiliations and two policy changes

The Lawrence City Board of Public Works and Safety postponed its elections for board president and vice president and approved a series of fire-department training agreements and internal policy changes at a regular meeting.

Board members voted to delay election of board president and vice president until the full three-member board can attend the next meeting on Jan. 23, the chair said. The board also tabled approval of the Dec. 19, 2024 regular meeting minutes to the Jan. 23 meeting.

The board approved an academic affiliation agreement between the Lawrence Fire Department and Indiana University Health (IU Methodist Hospital) that will allow emergency medical technician students from Lawrence to complete required hospital hours. Chief Bob Wallace, Lawrence Fire Department, said the affiliation ‘‘has no effect on our budget so ever, cost $0’’ and that the agreement lets department trainees get ER time required for EMT certification.

The board also approved a training-site agreement to affiliate Lawrence with the Carmel Fire Department so Lawrence can operate under Carmel’s American Heart Association (AHA) training-site umbrella. Wallace said affiliation will let the department buy AHA cards directly ‘‘and provide them to our people as opposed to going through a third party that’s charging twice as much’’ and confirmed the affiliation carries ‘‘no effect on our budget.’'

Separately, the board approved two amendments to the Lawrence Fire Department General Orders. The first amendment revises the department’s 2.4 bid system to remove language that had preferred primary apparatus be staffed ‘‘with at least 1 firefighter or medic bid’’ and to give battalion leaders more discretion to move medics while safeguarding promotional fairness, the chief said. The second amendment (General Order 6.2) clarifies sick-leave administration by consolidating overlapping language so that the fire chief or the chief’s designee makes certain discretionary decisions; it also updates references to staffing software (replacing ‘‘CrewSense’’ with ‘‘First Due’’) and extends typical modified-duty review from 30 to 45 days to reflect common recovery times for musculoskeletal injuries.

Resident Daniel Rapp raised a budget question during citizen comments, asking whether the items had been funded in the city’s 2025 budget. Chief Wallace responded that the IU affiliation, the Carmel training affiliation and the other items ‘‘cost $0’’ to the department and would not affect the 2025 budget.

All motions were approved by voice vote. The board adjourned at the end of the meeting; the chair confirmed the next meeting date for Jan. 23, when the board intends to hold the postponed officer elections and consider the tabled minutes.