MINUTES OF THE SPIRIT LAKE
FIRE COMMISSIONERS
FINANCIAL MEETING
—————————April 6, 2011
——————————
32182 N. 6thAvenue,
Spirit Lake, Idaho at 4:00 PM (PST)
CALL
TO ORDER:
COMMISSIONER MILLER called meeting to order at 4:00 PM
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Commissioner Hodge & Commissioner Russell
OTHERS
PRESENT: Fire
Chief John DeBernardi, Fire Marshal Wayne Nowacki, and Bookkeeper Brandy
Browning
PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIENCE: Was led by COMMISSIONER
MILLER
1. Financials (4:00
PM):
Checks
were signed. The Commission and the Bookkeeper discussed the F1 for Help
invoices; from now on all new equipment bids must include ALL setup fees.
COMMISSIONER
MILLER reviewed and
initialed the bank statements for March.
2. Impact Fees (4:30 PM):
COMMISSIONER MILLER will present the District’s request for
the collection
of Impact Fees to the City of Spirit Lake’s City Council on April 12,
2011. The City’s lawyer, Nancy Strickland, had a few concerns so; COMMISSIONER MILLER will request that
the City Council agree to collect Impact Fees for the District
with the condition that the City
and District can address those concerns in an Impact Fee Collection Agreement
between the City and District.
3. Chief Updates (4:45 PM):
Chief
DeBernardi reported that:
·
Current
Proficiency Skills Testing has been done on Incident Reporting and SCBA Drills.
·
Paging
equipment at Station #2 has not yet been installed by Day Wireless. An
appointment to install the equipment had been made however, Day Wireless cancelled
the appointment due to an emergency. Chief will contact Kootenai County 9-1-1
to see when a new appointment will be scheduled.
·
The
gateway that was installed at Station #1 is working great. The Commissioners
asked if the gateway would be purchased by the District and then Kootenai
County would reimburse us with grant funds. Chief DeBernardi explained that the
gateway belonged to us but Kootenai County would pay the vendor directly for
the purchase of the gateway.
·
The
Commissioners asked Chief DeBernardi if any of the Volunteers were currently
eligible to be included on a hiring list at this time. Chief DeBernardi stated
that none of the District’s Volunteers are eligible at this time. Commissioner
Miller stated that in order to be proactive, the District should have an active
hiring list at all times and that the list should allow for preference of the
District’s Current Volunteers that are in good standing and eligible. Chief was
concerned that such a list may not be cost effective. Commissioner Hodge
questioned how expensive testing is? Chief responded that the cost would be
under $500.00 for testing only. Commissioner Hodge wants to have a screening
list of applicants that would take a physical agility test each year. The
Commissioners and Chief all agreed that we need a plan to make the hiring list
a reality, and that waiting is not an option. The discussion was tabled with
the agreement that it would be discussed at the next meeting on 4/20/11.
·
Commissioner
Hodge and Chief DeBernardi explained to the rest of the Commission that the
Brush Truck Committee was having a difficult time finding a Brush Truck for
$18,000.00. Commissioner Hodge reported that he had contacted Nick Brunelle of
Mountain West Bank regarding the possibility of a lease on a Brush Truck. The
truck lease could include the skid unit and be up to 5 years old. Commissioner
Hodge suggested paying off the current boat lease and targeting a lease that
would have yearly payments that are right around the same amount as the boat
lease ($5,300.00) which would mean the vehicle would need a price point around
$25,000.00. Commissioner Miller thought this was a great idea and that we
should research this option more and discuss options at the next meeting on
4/20/11.
·
New
decals have been installed on the Raffle Truck. Chief DeBernardi is trying to
locate a replacement 200 gallon tank for the truck.
·
Chief
and the Fire Marshal will be working together to clean their office space and
would like to purchase shelves to reorganize their space.
·
Chief
felt that it is good public relations to allow outside organizations to use the
training room at Station #1 for meetings. The Commission agreed but in order
for it to be good public relations the training room needs to be open to
everyone not just select groups. After a brief discussion, it was agreed that
no community meetings will be held at the Station unless the meeting is
sponsored by the Spirit Lake Fire Protection District, such as: Commissioner
Meetings, Tuesday Night Training, etc. Commissioner Miller will also encourage
the Spirit Lake Property Owners Association to meet at Timberlake High School
this year.
·
Chief
stated that he had other options for training room furniture and that he would
pass these ideas onto Firefighter Hill for future budgeting consideration
4. FEMA Grant (6:15 PM):
Fire Marshal Nowacki reported that the Spirit
Lake Fire Protection District was awarded
a Communications Grant from FEMA. The award amount was $111,637.00 with a matching amount of $5,875.00 from the District.
The Fire Marshal stated that the
grant will allow for the District to be fully outfitted with 700MHz equipment and that the package will be
turn key with installation included.
COMMISSIONER
MILLER motioned to move forward with grant process, seconded by COMMISSIONER
HODGE and a vote of aye by all.
Motion carried.
5. Equipment Sales (6:20 PM):
Commissioner Hodge reported that the
Spirit Lake Fire Protection District was now
able to buy and sell on EBay and also has a PayPal account that is tied to his district credit card.
Fire Marshal Nowacki has 5 wideband
handheld ratios and 6 wideband mobile radios
that are surplus at this time. He needs to research out the value of these items.
COMMISSIONER
MILLER motioned to auction the 11 wideband radios along with the chargers on EBay, seconded by COMMISSIONER RUSSEL and a vote of aye by all.
Motion carried.
6. Station 3 (6:40 PM):
Commissioner Miller reported that he has
made one contact regarding donation of
one acre of land to build a new Station #3 on. The property fronts onto Spirit Lake Cutoff Road and
would be a prime spot for the Station.
He is still researching other possibilities and will continue to keep the other Commissioners updated on his
progress.
7. Raffle Update (6:50 PM):
$915.00 has been made in raffle ticket
sales. An eye catching banner with contact and
sales information for the raffle truck was donated by Trademarc Displays. The District presented a Certificate
of Appreciation to Trademarc Displays as a gratitude
for all of their help.
8. Executive Session- Idaho Code §§ 67-2345 Sub
Sections A-F (7:00 PM):
COMMISSIONER HODGE motioned
to enter executive session pursuant to provisions of Idaho Code 67-2345,
subsection 1(b), seconded by
COMMISSIONER MILLER.
Executive Session entered at 7:00 PM.
COMMISSIONER
MILLER made a motion to exit the Executive Session and return to the Regular
Meeting, seconded by COMMISSIONER RUSELL.
Motion carried.
Executive session
ended at 8:00 PM.
8. ADJOURNMENT (8:00PM):
There being no further business to be brought before the Board,
the Regular Meeting was adjourned upon the motion of COMMISSIONER HODGE
and as seconded by COMMISSIONER RUSSELL at 8:00 PM.
COMMISSIONER MILLER called for the vote and all were in agreement to the motion.
Motion carried.
_________________________________________
Spirit Lake Fire Protection District, Fire Commissioners
Attest:
_________________________________________
Brandy Browning,
Bookkeeper