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The Dewey City Council held off on revising the rules and format on conduct for city council meetings. The point of interest came after the agenda item to amend the rules and conduct format for city council meetings.

A couple weeks ago, people heavily criticized the Dewey Fire Department in the public comment section of the meeting. In a packed City Hall on Monday night, no one said a word. The council then moved into the staff report where City Manager Kevin Trease read an email from Dewey Fire Chief Chad Schueler. Here's what Schueler had to say in his letter:

"We have been pretty busy at the FD trying to organize and get everything together to stay in compliance. As you already know, we are having to recreate all the documents needed for the health department and all of the documents we have used in times past (i.e. hydrant checks).

This however is not holding us back from our vision and where we are taking the department. Last week the guys voted Cody Meade as Assistant Chief and Mike Bolinger as Lieutenant.

Cody, Mike, Shane Hunter and myself have been pretty busy on organizing the department and delegating tasks. Shane is now in charge of our driver training. Cody is in charge of inventory and spreadsheets. Bolinger and I are working in putting a new hire class together. The class will consist of basic firefighting skills, department rules and SOG's.

We are also spreading the word for recruitment. I have addressed all officers and asked them to lead by example and not by telling or pointing fingers. This will help in productivity and keeping guys engaged."

Schueler in the email also asked for pay raises for the fire department. Trease says that it has been a few years since the fire department has received a pay raise. While now amounts have been mentioned, Trease says the council will discuss this and possibly take action on it later.