Ensure Proper Administration Without Breaking the Budget
New York Fire District Officers’ Guide tells you how to remain in compliance while performing all your management duties. With more than 260 forms and resolutions, this helpful guide gives you quick answers to your day-to-day operating and legal questions.
OSHA requirements … Bond issuance regulations … Reserve fund rules … Election procedures and forms … Audits of fixed asset inventory … Random drug testing … Reimbursement of expenses … Budget preparation — any one of these requirements could cause you legal trouble. But who can afford to consult an attorney every time a legal question arises?
Here is a less expensive solution. New York Fire District Officers’ Guide tells you how to remain in compliance while performing all your management duties:
- Organization
- Election
- Functions & Duties
- Operation
- Alcohol & Drugs
- Service Awards
- Budget Preparation
- Bond Issues
- Public Bidding
- ADA Compliance
- Contracts
- Claims & Vouchers
- Record Keeping
- Volunteer Membership
- Motivation & Management
- Constitution & Bylaws
- Emergency Rescue & Relief
- Ambulance Service
- Public Relations
- Labor Relations
- Discipline
- Insurance
- Volunteers’ Benefits
- Paid Firefighters
- Fire Protection Districts
You may refer to this helpful guide for: (1) quick answers to your day-to-day operating and legal questions, and (2) forms and resolutions. Why incur high hourly legal billing rates? Turn to Fire District Officers’ Guide when you need help with:
- Officers’ functions and duties. Expenditure of funds, financial reporting, investment policy, duties of chief, code of ethics, financial disclosure.
- Formation and operation. Media notification, organizational meetings, election requirements, annual meeting conduct, executive sessions, conventions and conference attendance, disaster preparedness, training, mutual aid plan, SEQRA compliance, public relations, insurance, creation of districts.
- Personnel. Substance abuse policy, privacy considerations, ADA compliance, membership committee, hiring considerations, personnel records, union organizing, disciplinary procedures, benefits, Fair Labor Standards Act compliance, military leave.
- Financial. Spending limitation, exceptions, bond issues, bond anticipation notes, capital and other reserve funds, record keeping, audits.
- Contracts. Bidding requirements, installment purchase requirements, procurement policies and procedures, contract cancellation.
Save legal fees with more than 260 forms–all of which are easily accessible via an emailed zip file. Some forms include:
- Oaths of Office, Resolution for Defense and Indemnification of Fire District Officers, Sample Code of Ethics, Acknowledgment of Receipt of Code of Ethics, Annual Financial Disclosure
- Notification to Media of Organizational Meeting, Organizational Meeting Checklist, Notice of Annual Election, Resolution for the Use of Absentee Ballots, Notice of Permissive Referendum, Absentee Ballot, Application for Absentee Ballot
- Sample Investment Policy, Notice of Regular Meetings, Sample Rules and Regulations, Resolution for the Chief to Investigate, Resolution Authorizing Participation in Funerals
- Drug Policy Checklist, Sample Drug Policy, Reasonable Suspicion Testing
- Expenditures Worksheet, Estimated Revenues Worksheet, Summary of Expenditures, Summary of Estimated Revenues, Worksheet for Exception to Spending Limitations
- Resolution to Establish a Capital Reserve Fund for a Specific Object or Purpose, Suggested Resolution to Establish a Capital Reserve Fund for a Type of Equipment or Improvement
- Resolution Dealing with Procurement Policies, Second Sample of Procurement Policy Resolution, Notice to Bidders – Public Improvement, Notice to Bidders – Fire Apparatus, Quotations Register, Abstract of Audited Vouchers
- Public Access to Records, Application for Public Access to Records, Notice of Intention to Examine Public Employment Records, Itemized Voucher for Audit or Allowance of Claim Against District
- Resolution to Employ Paid Firefighters, Paid Officers, and a Paid Chief, Notice of Public Hearing
Administering a fire district continues to grow more difficult. This guide leads you step-by-step through the administrative pitfalls, and will help your fire district run efficiently, solve management problems, and meet its legal obligations.
REVISION 22 HIGHLIGHTS
With this 2019 edition of Employment Evidence, we are pleased to welcome new author, David W. Neel. Building on the strong foundation established by Eugene K. Hollander (author of the first edition and multiple supplements), Mr. Neel has expanded and updated the coverage of the governing law, added dozens of new case summaries throughout the book, and provided 11 new forms. Highlights include:
Summary Judgment
- Expanded discussion of Pleading Standards, Causation Standards and Methods of Proof
- New Form: Brief in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment—ADA-Direct-Threat Defense
Plaintiff’s Prior Acts
- Expanded discussion of the law governing after-acquired evidence, including tactics for admitting and excluding this evidence, supported by new case summaries
- New Form: Plaintiff’s Motion in Limine to Exclude Evidence of Plaintiff’s Alleged Drug Use Including as it Relates to the for her Termination
Statistical Evidence
- Updated and greatly expanded discussion of the law governing the use of statistics in disparate treatment cases, plus more than 20 new case summaries admitting and excluding this evidence
Testimonial Evidence
- New case summaries covering the admissibility of evidence re: discriminatory remarks as circumstantial evidence of discrimination; stray remarks; hearsay; prior consistent statements
- New Form: Cat’s Paw – Disability Discrimination — Plaintiff’s Brief
Financial Evidence
- Updated discussion of the law governing evidence of defendant’s net worth, plus more than 10 new cases admitting and excluding this evidence
- New Form: Motion to Bifurcate Punitive Damages From Liability and Compensatory Damages at Trial
Plaintiff’s Medical and Psychological Evidence
- New Form: Medical Release
- New Form: Interrogatories Regarding Medical and Psychological Information
- New Form: Medicare Warranties for Settlement Agreement
Employer Responses
- New Form: Brief in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment on Business Judgment Rule
- New Form: Brief in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss—Judicial Estoppel, Related Issues
- New Form: Trustee’s Application to Intervene
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In addition to authoring New York Fire District Officers’ Guide updates, Mr. DiRaddo practices municipal law in Western and Central New York and represents numerous fire districts and fire departments. These districts oversee full-paid, combination and all-volunteer fire departments.
Mr. DiRaddo is the monitor and a speaker at the Western New York Fire District Officers’ Association Mini Conference. As monitor and speaker at this conference for Fire District Commissioners in the Western New York area, timely legal and legislative issues affecting fire districts in New York State are discussed. He also speaks at the annual meeting of the Association of Fire District of the State of New York and is an instructor for the mandatory six-hour training for fire district commissioners.
Mr. DiRaddo is the former Town Attorney for the Town of Greece, a town of over 90,000 people where he oversaw a staff of three attorneys and several outside law firms representing the town. He was responsible, like fire attorneys, for the legal representation of the town in all contract, litigation, and compliance matters.
Mr. DiRaddo is also a former Monroe County Legislator who represented an area comprising the northern part of the City of Rochester and the eastern part of the Town of Greece, and has also served eight years as Town of Greece Councilman.
In addition, Mr. DiRaddo is a former Town Justice. There he was responsible for the administration of justice within the town of Greece on all matters within the jurisdiction of the New York Town Courts. This included arraignment and preliminary hearing jurisdiction of all original felony matters, and trial jurisdiction of all misdemeanors, traffic violations, small claims, and local ordinance violations occurring within the town of Greece. He was also the Vice-President of the Monroe County Magistrates Association.
Mr. DiRaddo received his Juris Doctorate at the St. Louis University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics from the Saint John Fisher College in Rochester, New York.
