November 8, 2018 Minutes

Fire District Commissioner Meeting

Dallin called the meeting to order at 8 pm. The opening prayer was offered by Mike Miller. Those present were: Commissioners Mike Miller, Jim Deuel, Dallin Gambles, Gordon Ball, and Roger Anderson; Fire Chief Carl Anderson and Assistant Fire Chief Nic White; Battalion Chiefs Jim Kelly, Blaine Ker and Mitch Bingham with Corey Albertson representing station 3. Melanie Sullivan kept the minutes. There were four patrons present.

Approval of Agenda– ACTION ITEM: Jim moved to accept the agenda as posted. Roger seconded. The vote by Mike, Jim, Dallin, Gordon, and Roger was unanimous.

Approval of Minutes – ACTION ITEM: The minutes were reviewed by the commissioners previously. Mike moved to approve the minutes. Roger seconded. The vote by Mike, Jim, Dallin, Gordon, and Roger was unanimous.

Budget Review: Melanie reviewed the budget. We had a light expenditure month this month and since this is the first month of the budget year, we are looking pretty good. We did get one last bill for the new fire station.

Approval of Expenditures-ACTION ITEM Jim looked over the expenditures. He asked Carl what a bill for $2,688 from QWK.Net was for. This was a bill for a discontinuation of a contract with an internet service that happened back in April. Dennis Wilkinson, CFD attorney, negotiated the original bill to get a reduction of about 20% since the internet in Menan and Ririe was very poor and this was the reason for the switch. Jim moved to approve the expenditures for $10,921.61. This amount includes the bill for the demolition of the old Menan fire station but also includes an expense reimbursement amount that was received last month for $18,055. The total amount excluding the reimbursement is $28,976.61.

Patron Input (3 minute time limit): There was no patron input.

OLD BUSINESS:

  1. Moving of December meeting to Rigby Middle School – change of venue and time: The meeting for December will be at Rigby Middle School. The commissioner meeting will be at 6:30 with a Christmas party to follow at 7.

NEW BUSINESS:

  1. Business inspection worksheet discussion: Carl brought a worksheet for Jefferson County businesses to self-inspect their fire readiness and to help them know fire code. This will also help the district get to know the businesses better. Carl will bring this to the city commissioners, although he doesn’t expect that they will have a problem with it. Carl, Nic, and Jared are willing to help the businesses with the inspections if asked.
  2. Discussion of Christmas bonuses for volunteers – ACTION ITEM : Dallin said that Christmas bonuses are something that has been done in the past in lieu of raises. Jim Kelley said that for the volunteers in the stations that don’t get the call volume, they haven’t noticed the raise as much as those who go out on more calls. Jim Deuel said that he thinks that the responsibility to the tax payer is to not give bonuses when the volunteers just received pay raises. Roger says that since the pay raises didn’t go into effect until August, that it would be appropriate to give them at least part of a Christmas bonus. Jim moved that the bonus be reduced to $75 and given to everybody with the stipulation that it is for this year only. Roger seconded. The vote by Mike, Jim, Dallin, Gordon, and Roger was unanimous. Jim amended action to say that everyone except the elected officials will receive this bonus.  Roger seconded. The vote by Mike, Jim, Dallin, Gordon, and Roger was unanimous.

FIRE CHIEF REPORT: Carl reported on the rural readiness program in which the BLM is going to give away equipment. The paperwork has been submitted for this program.

He said that all of the EpiPen’s are outdated and that he went through Dr. Curtis, CFD medical advisor, to get a prescription. They have gone to every drug store in the Idaho Falls area and it is impossible to get EpiPen’s that are not expired. They have talked to doctors at EIRMC who said that as long as the EpiPen’s are not cloudy and contaminated, they are safe to use even if they are expired. These are very expensive but necessary for the fire district to have. Carl is continuing to try to find non-expired EpiPen’s

Rigby responded to a call where a person was in a bathtub and couldn’t get out because of MS and needed assistance. This couple is from California and donated $500 to the district as a thank you.

The leadership of the district discussed being ready to hire a volunteer training officer to train new volunteers. Jared and Nic have already come with task books for this. They will also be hiring a lieutenant for station 1.

Carl will be asking for bids for snow removal.

They have been servicing all the trucks. He has also been contacting other stations about how they have integrated new volunteers in preparation for forming a committee with Roger.

ASSISTANT CHIEF REPORT: Nic is working on the fire academy for new recruits, including task books.   He is also working on getting specs for a new brush truck. There are a couple of firefighters from Ammon who want to come to tech training.

BATALLION CHIEF STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS:

Station 1. Jim: They went from 102 calls last month to 66 this month and appreciate the needed reprieve. He is working on getting some new hires, including some who are already certified.

Station 2. Blaine: 15 EMS and 4 fire calls. Nothing too serious. They have one new applicant who is nationally registered.

Station 3. Corey: 7 EMS and 1 fire call which was a controlled burn, so the call was cancelled.

Station 4. Mitch. 10 EMS and 1 Fire. There are a lot of people from the community still showing interest in the new building.

COMMISSIONER REPORTS

Dallin called the meeting to a close at 8:35. Mike moved to close and Roger seconded.

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