BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 24, 2009
1. Call to order.
The Board meeting was called to order at 6:05 pm.
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Roll Call of the Board Members.
Board Members Present:
Dan Atkinson Gary Selig Rick Parker
William Dunlap Sr Randy James
Board Members Absent:
None
4. Approval of the Minutes: February 18, 2009
There was a motion by Rick Parker to approve the minutes of the regular Board Meeting of February 18, 2009. There was a second by Gary Selig and the vote was unanimous.
5. REPORTS
a. Financial Report
The Financial Reports were presented by Tina Dillahunty. Tina went over the financial reports. We have received a payment from the State and Tina has billed on several accidents on the highways.
b. Administration Report
The Administration Report was given by Tina Dillahunty. Tina stated that she will be going on vacation for three weeks. Chief Howard stated that Tina’s son, daughter in law and grandchild are here from Germany.
c. Auxiliary Report
The Auxiliary Report was given by Tina Dillahunty. The Auxiliary is helping with the Easter Egg Hunt and Ice Cream Social on April 11th from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The ladies will be filling the Easter eggs with candy on
Wednesday, March 25th at Station 33. Gary Selig has volunteered to help cook the hot dogs on the grill. The Auxiliary is selling Coffee mugs for $5.00. They have sold about 80 so far and have not really advertised yet but will
put an article in the Summit Siren Newsletter. Don Howard stated that we have changed the annual BBQ from October to May 23rd. It will tie in with the Bike Rodeo that the Sheriff’s Department is putting on and it will be at
Station 32.
d. Local 1505 Report
The Local 1505 Report was given by Chris Fennell. Chris stated that they will have the Car Show on June 12th and 13th. It should be a good show. They appreciate all the support from Administration and the Board in allowing
them the training at the Wildfire Academy. Garrett Hall graduated from Paramedic Class on Friday. Chris thanked the Board for their support of the Paramedic Program.
e. Firefighter’s Association Report
There was no Firefighter Association report.
6. CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Bill Dunlap stated that he would like to recognize the visitors. Members from Boy Scout Troup 328 introduced themselves. They explained the merit badges they are working on. The Board welcomed them. Don discussed
public meetings with the Boy Scout.
7. PURCHASE REQUESTS
a. Extractor purchase
Chief Howard made a request to use purchase an extractor for cleaning turnout gear. The cost is $7500.00. Bill Dunlap asked what the department share would be for this purchase. Don stated that this is a 90/10 grant and our
share would be $750.00. Don discussed how this extractor would clean hazardous material from the turnout gear. We were awarded the Rural Fire Assistance Grant for this purchase. There was a discussion of how this would
help extend the life of the turnout gear. Gary Selig asked if there is any special training on this. Don stated that he does not think it is that complicated. There is a control panel that allows for different speeds and cycles. Sam
Whitted stated that Rich Jamison is the head of the PPE Program and has attended a class recently. We will get some training on the machine itself. There was a discussion of the location for the machine. Don stated that it needs
a 3” drain. We don’t have that available to put it in service for in a short period of time. There was further discussion of the unit. Rick Parker discussed the extractor that the City of Flagstaff has in service. Rick stated that it is a
good addition. Don discussed that we may need to bring a power line where we want to put it. Bill Dunlap asked if this was in the current budget. Randy James stated that the Chief has the authority for purchases under $5,000.
Don stated that he has this on the agenda because the purchase is $7500 even though it is grant funded. Don stated that this is not in the budget. It was just awarded. Don stated that we have held back our safety equipment so
we do have the funding. There was a motion by Gary Selig to approve the purchase of the extractor for $7500.00 and a second by Rick Parker. The vote in favor was unanimous.
8. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
a. Run Report
The run report was given by Chief Don Howard. There were 70 calls to service for the month of February. Don stated that this is our lowest count for quite some time. We had some interesting calls in March as the snow storm
moved in on Sunday. There was a discussion of a wildland call.
b. Captain’s Promotional Testing in April
Chief Howard stated that we are moving forward with the Captain’s test in April. Mike Boehm stated that we have thirteen candidates that will test. There will be a written test, an oral presentation, a windshield exercise, a
Firehouse in box and a sand table exercise. There was a discussion of the schedule for the tests. Sam Whitted stated that we have help from outside agencies such as Guardian Medical Transport, Flagstaff Fire, the Park Service
and Highlands. Don stated that we don’t have enough acting Captains and we will look forward to having more qualified actors. Chris Fennell stated that this is going to be a good process and we have changed some things. It
will be a challenging test.
c. Alternative Energy Options
Deputy Chief Sam Whitted stated that we have two vendors looking at alternative energy options for the department. They are developing options for the three Summit stations and the two Fort Valley stations. We are looking at
wind and solar power. We should see some results and proposals in the next couple of weeks. It provides leadership as a fire district. Sam stated that it is a national issue that is getting publicity. We are looking forward to
getting proposals. Sam stated that both vendors say that we are on the very edge for wind. Gary Selig asked why all the stations are not on natural gas. Sam stated that it is not available to all the stations.
d. Verizon Acquiring Conditional Use Permit for the Tower at Station 32
Deputy Chief Sam Whitted stated that we are still in the process that has been ongoing for almost a year. They held the public meeting that had two people attend. Planning and Zoning is scheduled for March 31st and the next
meeting is April 21st. We are still on track and hopefully the County will approve it and they can start construction. With the merger of Alltel and Verizon we do not see any short term changes and Mike Campbell does not
anticipate any long term changes. Sam discussed his efforts to market the other stations as sites.
e. Summit Fire Server Installed and Working Out all Final Implementation Details
Chief Howard stated that the Summit Fire server is installed and we are working out all the final implementation details. We are very excited about it and there will be some good changes. Don stated that Northern Arizona IT
Solutions is the vendor we are using and they have served us well. They work very hard and have a good attitude and approach.
Don Howard gave an update on how his son Dylan Howard is doing. Don thanked everyone for their support and concern when Dylan was sick.
9. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There was no unfinished business.
10. NEW BUSINESS
a. Budget Advisory Sub Committee.
Chief Howard stated that we held a short organizational meeting on March 12th. Randy James stated that we formed the Committee with two Board Members, Two staff members, Tina assisting, two firefighters and two citizens.
Randy stated that he feels we will have two more meetings. There is a meeting tomorrow, March 25th. The purpose of the Committee is to give options and recommendations to the Board and for transparency. There is concern
about the next few years. Don stated that some of the things that play into it is the pending legislations. There are negotiations with the AZ Tax Research Association. Don discussed FDAT. Originally they wanted to limit the max
to $300,000 if districts merge and now they are looking at the possibility of taking a three year average. This brings thing back into a more favorable outlook in terms of funding. The second aspect is the limit of our increase in the
tax levy to 2%. They are looking favorable on an 8% limitation and if it is not used it could be banked to use at a future date. They would allow for an override and they included a second override. Don discussed how the
overrides would work. Don stated that we should get more information next week. We will try to bring the Board some options. This could include a minority report. Don stated that we don’t expect everyone to agree but we
will get some good solid options and recommendations. We do need to build a budget. We have been asked for paperwork and past information that we have provided. Don discussed the many variables that we have to tie
into. We are all on board with this and Don is looking forward to the meeting tomorrow. Don asked if the Board has anything else they would like for us to look at. There was no response. Don stated that everyone on the
Committee has a copy of the initial draft worksheet that is not complete.
11. ACTION ITEMS
a. Higher Education Policy
Don stated that two Board Meetings ago there was a discussion of this policy. Don stated that he is trying to get some basis of understanding of where we want to go with this. It sounds like there was some active discussion at
the last Board meeting. Rick Parker stated that his opinion is known. Rick stated that he thinks now is not a good time to do this considering what is going on and we are trying to save money. Rick stated that he feels we should
help pay for classes but not reward in the end with a salary increase. Rick stated that with the education they will hopefully get the promotions they are vying for. Rick feels it would be better across the board. Don stated that we
found a number of departments that have these two different approaches. A number of departments give a percentage above salary for a degree. Don stated that there are two questions. Is Summit going to support higher
education and if so how are we going to support it? This was a more straight forward approach. There was a discussion of some of the classes we pay for. Gary Selig stated that he feels we need to put this on hold. There was a
discussion of the cost of $26,000 this would cost and some of the current costs. There was further discussion of if it would be beneficial to have a policy like this. Don stated that he feels there is great support for continuing
education. There was further discussion of this issue. Randy James stated that at the last meeting they asked for more information and he is still waiting for more information. Randy stated that he would like to see some options
and some numbers. Randy stated that he would like to adopt something and give it a two year run. Sam Whitted stated that we did say we would come back with more information to compute a cost. It has been difficult to find
the time to get hard figures. We all have a feeling that his policy would cost us less. Rick Parker asked the Chief how long it would take to come up with something. Don stated that we could probably have it at the May meeting.
We have been tied up with budget, merging issues and legislative issues. The Budget Sub Committee will be going through the budget and coming up with recommendations. Randy James suggested that the $26,000 be put in the
budget so it is available if we adopt it and we won’t spend it if we don’t adopt the policy. Randy stated that he has no doubt a policy is needed. There was further discussion of the policy. Don stated that at some point there may
be an educational requirement for specific promotions. There was a discussion of the difficulty figuring the cost and time it takes for recalls on department approved leave. There was further discussion of costs. Dan Atkinson
stated that one of the budget options is to freeze wages. If we do something like this some of the personnel would get a raise and it could cause problems. That may be a good reason to wait. Don stated that we will try to
capture accurate costs and bring them to the May Board meeting. There was a motion by Rick Parker to table this discussion until the May meeting and a second by Gary Selig. The vote in favor was unanimous.
b. Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant
Chief Howard stated that he would like to have a formal action by the Board to make the submittal for the Assistance to Firefighter Grant. We need to upgrade the communication system. Don stated that we will be submitting
one for Fort Valley as well. The cost to Summit would be $10,500. There was a discussion of how it would be in the budget. Don stated that the Federal Government likes to have a formal motion in the minutes that the Board
supports the grant submittal. There was a discussion of how the grant works. It is a 95/5 split. There as a motion by Randy James to authorize Chief Howard to submit for the Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant and a second by
Gary Selig. The vote in favor was unanimous.
Randy James stated that he attended a neighborhood block watch meeting at Cromer School. He saw C shift there and the crew was introduced to the people attending the meeting. Randy stated that he was pleased to see them
there. Bill Dunlap stated that it is a good idea. Mike Boehm stated that we also attended some homeowner’s association meetings. It lets them know we are here for them.
12. CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Deb Wolf asked the Board how they would feel about having a special meeting of Summit and Fort Valley Boards. Deb stated that it might be a good idea to get together and talk about how budget decisions might or might not
affect the merger. Don stated that we would need to meet the second or third week in April. Rick Parker stated that he will willing meet but he is unavailable the last half of April. Don stated that he feels it would be better if the
full Board meets. We have significant issues. Don stated that for the public it would be better for information flow in the same room at the same time. There was further discussion. Chief Howard will provide a list of discussion
items. There was a discussion of when the meeting should take place. Deb stated that she will approach the Fort Valley Board about a joint meeting and possible dates. Rick stated that we need to get those dates to Joann.
13. ADJOURNMENT
There was a motion to adjourn by Rick Parker and a second by Gary Selig. The vote was unanimous and the meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tina Dillahunty
