March 9, 2017 Minutes

Fire District Commissioner Meeting

Opening Prayer: Roger called the meeting to order at 8:06. The opening prayer was offered by Jim Duel. Present are commissioners Mike Miller, Jim Duel, Roger Anderson, Gordon Ball, and Dallin Gambles.   Fire Chief Bryan Grover and Assistant Fire Chief Carl Anderson along with Battalion Chiefs Blaine Ker, Jim Kelly, and Mitch Bingham were present. Acting as Battalion Chief and present at the meeting was Corey Albertson. Melanie Sullivan kept the minutes.

Agenda Approval: Mike moved to accept the agenda. Jim seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.

Minutes: The minutes from the Feb 9th meeting were reviewed previously by the commissioners. Jim moved to accept the minutes. Gordon seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.

Budget Review: Melanie discussed that there are categories, namely supplies and repairs where we are higher than we would expect to be at this point in the fiscal year.  Dallin moved to accept the budget as outlined. Gordon seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.

Approval of Expenditures: Dallin reviews the expenditures and moved to accept the expenditures. Jim seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.

Patron Input: Jim congratulated Michael Riel for being named fire fighter of the year. There was no other patron input.

OLD BUSINESS:

1. Menan Library district: Dennis Wilkinson was not present to bring the paperwork. The donation of land owned by Central Fire to the Menan library district has already been approved.  The land being donated has been owned by the Menan Fire Station for several years, before it joined Central Fire. The land the new fire station will be built on that sits next to the current fire station has been donated to the fire district by Valley Wide Co-Op, leaving the already owned land that is not adjacent to the fire station unused. The commissioners thought it would be fitting to deed the unused land owned by the fire district to the Menan Library District.
2. Shay Hartwell Senior Project-Fire Cadet program: The insurance is okay with having 16 and 17 year olds going through a Fire Cadet program as long as they comply with the restrictions such as not driving the vehicles, fighting forest fires, use a hoisting apparatus, not use power tools, or get on roofs. There are many things they would be able to do.   Carl talked with workman’s compensation and said they would look at the program when it is written up. Roger asked if there is a program that they can look at. Bryan found a junior firefighter program that can help them get started. Bryan will look further into finding a program that is already in use. Shay will come back next month to report on what she has learned from the school board and workmans compensation. The commissioners are excited about the good that could come to the community by having potential firefighters start training in high school.
3. Lewisville land discussion: They are still doing the research on the deed for the property. This is pertaining to Lewisville transferring the land that the City of Lewisville owns to the fire district. Central Fire owns the building that is on the land but has been leasing the land from Lewisville. The Fire District is not purchasing the land, it is being donated. There is no plan of building a new building in Lewisville.
4. Conceptual Designs for Menan building: The commissioners are looking to get some prices so they have an idea of the budget needed. The fire district has saved the money already to build this building and will not raise the levy to build this building.
5. AED battery issue follow up: Physio Control has said that there have been rare instances when their top-of-the-line AED units have lost power due to intermittent connections between the battery and the unit. This occurs when the units are subjected to vibrations such as traveling in a truck. Carl reported that they are doing as instructed by the Visio Control by checking the batteries weekly. Carl has created an accountability procedure for the weekly battery check. Carl says there is little to no risk to the general public that these AEDs will fail. This is a rare problem, they have backup AEDs in accompanying vehicles, and the batteries are being checked weekly to prevent a problem.
6. Number of concurrent calls: Lisa Owens (station secretary) reported that there were 4 times in February when a station has had a call while already on a call. The reason for this is to determine if there is a need to have paid personnel on call at the station to make sure that all the calls can be answered. This is not what they want to have happen, but the commissioners will continue to monitor this situation to make sure the patrons of the district are covered.

Carl reported that the average overall response time is 6 minutes.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Sue Kenny-Jefferson County Fair kids day: Sue reported that the fair runs close to the eclipse so they are expecting the fair attendance to double. Sue is asking Central Fire to donate toward a grand prize. Sue asks that if a truck is available at that time to bring it to the fair for the kids to see.   Last year Central Fire district donated an ipad mini. Jim moved to support the kids day at the fair by purchasing a telescope under $300. Mike seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
2. May commissioner meeting date: The normal meeting day will be May 11th but several people will be gone for a leadership training with the National Fire Academy. After a discussion, they decided to move the meeting to Tuesday, May 9th. Mike moved to accept the change. Dallin seconded.   The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
3. Flashlights for SCBA packs: Bryan reported that the current flashlights are getting old and starting to fail.   He asked that they get a flashlight for every SCBA pack they have plus recharging stations. He estimates that this cost will be under $5000. Jim reminded everyone that they owe it to the volunteers and their safety to have working equipment. Jim moved that they buy the lights, but only as many as is needed.   Dallin seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
4. New tower sites/interoperability box: Bryan said that there are some communication dead spots, and when the eclipse tourists comes, there will be a lot more radio traffic. Bryan is asking install more radio equipment on current towers and put in a tower in Ririe, where there is a large communications dead spot. Roger asked if the cost can split with others who will also use the equipment. The discussion will be tabled until they can get some hard numbers and can talk with other districts that will use it about splitting the cost. There is already money set aside for communication needs, but using it will require opening up the budget. Melanie will contact Nile to find out if there is already a plan for the saved communication money and about opening up the budget.
5. Chassis for Brush 1: Bryan reported that the repair cost was $2100 and it still is having issues. They would like to put a chassis under it. That would cost about $45,000. This truck gets used a lot for brush fire calls but has broken down multiple times on fire calls, putting the volunteers at risk. They will table this until next month.
6. State insurance fund: There was a larger injury under workman’s comp that brought the EMOD score from .82 to 1.25. This makes the workman’s comp premium jump to about $16000 from about $11200.
7. Demolition bids for Menan property: Dome Technology-$158,000, Jerome Bowen Construction-$24,179, DL Beck Incorporated- $205,500, Roadhouse Construction-$17,590. Mike moved to accept the bid from Roadhouse construction as long as it meets all the requirements.   Jim seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous.
8. Discussion regarding architect for Menan station: The Commissioners met with two architects. They will not make a decision tonight on the architects so that they can do some cost analysis and get an idea of a budget.

Mike read a letter from the Mayor of Menan in support of the new fire station.

Fire Chief report: Bryan reported that things have been going along well. Morale is good. All of the expenses have been turned in for the Henry’s Creek Fire.

Asst. Chief Report: Carl reported that they had a meeting with the manager of the Idaho Division of Building Safety, public works manager. Carl said that in the past, the fire district has not been invited to training and that there is no handbook. The manager would come to do training when requested and Roger has also asked to be part of the next class. There will be more on that.

B.C. Reports

Station 1. Jim Kelly: EMS calls-47, 1 Fire call

Station 2. Blaine Ker: 12 EMS calls, 3 Fire calls

Station 3. Corey Albertson: 7 EMS, no fire calls. They have a lot of new guys going through training.

Station 4. Mitch Bingham: 5 EMS calls, 1 car fire. Morale is good. They will be doing some burns on Saturday at the old Co-op building.

Commissioner Report:

Roger reported that they will be meeting with Terry Blessing for training in June.

Jim said thanks to the volunteers for giving of their time and safety for others.

Gordon moved to adjourn. Jim seconded. The vote by Jim, Mike, Dallin, Roger, and Gordon was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 9:35.

Roger-EMS & Training/Gordon-Equipment/ Dallin-Facilities/ Jim- Budget/ Mike-PR