HARMONY FIRE DISTRICT
P.O. Box 360 – 194 Putnam
Pike
Harmony, R.I. 02829
The
regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive
Board was held at the Harmony Fire Station on Wednesday, April 25, 2007.
Present: Chief Stuart Pearson; Moderator - Raymond Fogarty, Jr.;
Treasurer - Sandra Owens; Tax Collector - Kimberly Barber;
Clerk
- Ann Dahlquist; Attorney - Fred Mason, Jr.;
Board
Members - Louise Michaels & James Richards
Retired Deputy Chief George
Kain
Absent: Board Members - Milton Huston & Steven Sette
Moderator
Fogarty called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM. He asked for approval of the minutes from the March 20th
meeting. Louise made a motion to accept
the minutes. Jim seconded the
motion. The motion carried.
The
board is in receipt of a letter of resignation from Steven Sette. (copies were
distributed to all in attendance)
Besides his obligation of being on the town council, Steve has been
traveling extensively and unable to attend meetings regularly. Jim made a motion to accept the
resignation. Louise seconded the
motion, with regrets. Ray requested
that a letter be sent from the board to Steve, thanking him for his years of
service to the district.
The board also received a letter of interest to join from Retired Deputy Chief George Kain. (copies were distributed to all in attendance) Since an executive session was not called, George was given the option to be present during the consideration of his appointment. He opted to stay. Ray felt George’s department history would be an asset to board. The combination of old and new faces on the board should make a good blend. The Chief stated that he and George have had a very good, professional working relationship over the past eight years. He looks forward to working together with him on many projects. Louise stated that she looks forward to having George on the board. It will be nice to have someone on the board with a different outlook, one from the fire service standpoint. She believes George will have a lot to offer. Jim stated he has no objection to the appointment. A discussion followed regarding if the appointment would require a special election. Ray said this would be an appointment by the board to fill the vacant seat for it’s remaining term. (Steve was elected June 2006 for a 3 year term) Louise made a motion to appoint George to fill Steve’s vacant seat on the executive board. Jim seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Treasurer’s
Report:
Sandy
presented reports for the months of February and March. Beginning balance February 1st
$210,905.41 and the ending balance March 31st $169,591.20. There were no expenses out of the ordinary
to report. A copy of the March expense
report had already been given to the Chief, so he could review what was left in
the budget for any upcoming expenses.
Cash
flow amounts for the third party billing revenue seem to be in line with
previous years. It seems to be
averaging about $4,600.00 per/month for the 9-month period of July 1, 2006
through February 28, 2007.
Also
the transition to QuickBooks accounting software is coming along good. There are a few small adjustments to make
here and there, but it is a step way beyond what we had been doing. Our auditor Jeff Malo should be very pleased
with the changes we have made. The
checks are automated now, which is a lot less time consuming and looks a lot
more professional. (An example was
shown to the board) Our chart of
accounts will look a little different with QuickBooks also. A consolidation of the training accounts was
made to avoid the confusion we had by having two (2) separate accounts in prior
years. Any revenue that comes in will
go there. (incident report/smoke detection/blue print fees)
Ray
asked if we have been receiving the state auto tax revenue as scheduled. Sandy stated that we have been getting it in
approximately October, February, May and August (4 times per/year). He asked if we have been tracking it? She said that we have a car tax figure
(revenue) of about $25,000.00, so there will be one more installment in May of
around $8,000. He asked if by looking
at our cash balance to date and the expenditures that we need for April, May
and June, does she think that we will be OK?
She thinks that with the remaining tax revenue to be collected we should
make it.
George
made a motion to accept both the February and March reports. Louise seconded it. The motion carried.
On
behalf of the board, Ray welcomed Kim to her first board meeting. He said he has heard nothing but good things
about her since she has started. The
Chief stated it has really been a pleasure with her coming on board, a nice fit. We have been getting along quite well,
bumping ideas and thoughts off of each other for the near future and the
upcoming 2007-2008 fiscal year. We can’t wait to get started on some of the
projects. She has some fantastic ideas
moving forward, to make things a little bit easier and more efficient. That is one thing we like to see, ways to
make everyone’s job easier and less stressful.
Ray
said that before we hear the Tax Collector’s report he would like to take the
time to thank Sandy. With Lynna
Williams having left the position of Tax Collector so quickly, she filled in at
that position for a long period of time.
He personally appreciated it to know the district was in good hands in
the interim. There was an ovation,
after which everyone agreed she definitely deserved more than a round of
applause for the work that she did.
Tax
Collector’s Report:
Kim
thanked everyone for all of the nice things they had said. She stated that she would also like to
personally thank Sandy for everything she did before she started. She could not
imagine what she would have done if Sandy had not stepped in. Sandy is a professional and it was sincerely
appreciated.
As
for her report, she stated that QuickBooks is up and running well. Accounts payable checks have been printing
fine and we have also started transferring the bank reconciliation’s to
QB. This will take a little bit of the
load off of Sandy. Sandy and I are
working on integrating some of the old procedures with the QB style. One thing in particular would be the Cash
Flow and how it is prepared. The way it
was done before was on an actual basis, where QB uses accounts payable and
things are put into the proper months where they are posted (dated)
Past
due tax bills were mailed at the beginning of April (4/10/07). They totaled approximately $24,000.00. The tax sale warning letters were sent
certified mail about a week after (4/19/07).
They totaled approximately $17,000.00.
Currently the balance left to collect, after people responded to the
letters and made payments, is $34,473.03.
Ray asked how many properties that figure represents. She stated she wasn’t sure of the exact
count, she thinks about 150 +/-, but she does have the print out with her if he
would like to see. He said it wasn’t
necessary. The other question he had
was when we would run our new bills.
Sandy stated she thought we had to have our tax sale before we do
that. She suggested that maybe in mid
June we could have the tax sale. Kim
said that she has found out that there has been legislation passed that you
have to give 90 days notice before a tax sale.
Therefore we need to contact Commonwealth Land and Title to find out
what we need to do. Sandy said she
wasn’t really sure and this is where Kim would be on her own to find out how a
tax sale is done. Sandy asked if we
needed to publish something in the paper 90 days in advance or if the certified
letters we sent in April was considered the 90 days notice. Kim said she didn’t know anything further,
these are just some things she picked up by speaking with Angela Taylor (West
Glocester District Tax Collector) today.
Ray asked Attorney Mason if he had any recollection about this. He did not.
Ray said this is just another example of why we need some sort of
written procedure manual for everything we do.
Sandy agreed that we really need it.
Louise asked Kim if the tax sale warning letters were sent registered or
certified. She said they were. Louise said then that should be considered
official notification. Sandy said the
tax sale would need to be in July then.
The Chief said that sounds more like the time they used to be done. Sandy said, and Louise agreed, that with the
change of the fiscal year and time of billing we should also change the time of
the tax sale to June for next year. Ray
said we can not stop our billing for the tax sale though. Everyone agreed that is not an option.
Ray
would also like to see a sampling of the new tax bills to compare to last years
and find out the dollar amount of change.
He thinks there should be a slight difference from last year, because of
new evaluations even though our tax rate has not changed. Kim stated that she learned through Angie
that Glocester does a “drive by” reevaluation at 5 years (2005) and a complete
reevaluation every 10 years (2010).
However the tax list that Harmony is billing from is dated 12/31/2005,
so we would not have the new information until next years billing. Harmony is actually 1 year behind the Town
of Glocester and the other 2 Fire Districts with the data we bill from. Since their bills go out in October, they
are able to get the 12/31/2006 tax list when it is ready in June or July. She thinks because she is billing from older
information (i.e. Billing 6/2007 for property owned in 12/2005), that’s
probably the reason why she gets so many returned bills in the mail and calls
that the property was sold and billed to the wrong person. But to just switch to the current tax list
we would lose a whole year of tax revenue.
Another option would be to shift the billing cycle a couple of months
each year until it is corrected. Ray
did not recommend to do either scenario, but look into it further because we
are trying to be as standard as possible with the other districts. Kim also mentioned that during her meeting
with Angie she learned that West Glocester does a tax sale like Harmony, but
Chepachet handles everything through Small Claims Court. She would like to schedule a meeting with
Pat Swenson, Chepachet Fire District Tax Collector, to learn more about this. It was agreed that this information was
important to know.
Kim
has also been working with Mike Recorvits via phone and e-mail to learn more
about his custom Access Database program, so she can get the new tax bills
prepared. She also plans to go to the
Glocester Town Hall and meeting with Vivian Valentine, Tax Assessor, and Jane
Steere, Tax Collector, to get further information about updated addresses and
sales of property. This information
will have to be looked up manually because the new tax list will not be ready
until July.
Ray
asked if we had ever done this before. The Chief replied that the tax list we had was just gone through
page by page and the properties identified.
Sandy said then we just used the old information.
In
closing her report Kim wanted to personally thank everyone for the floral
arrangement her and her family had received at the time of her grandmother
Edith Paquette’s passing last week. It
was sincerely appreciated and totally unexpected.
Sandy
stated that she would like to see a list of uncollectable accounts, trailers
for example with a very small bill of approximately $5.00 or businesses that
are no longer in operation. We do not
know how these things were handled in the past, but we do need to know. Ray stated that an official procedure will
need to be put in place to handle how recommendations for write-offs will be
dealt with.
George
asked about the trailers. Is there some way we could notify the registry they
are in arrears to prevent them from re-registering, like we used to do with
autos in the past? Kim replied that
these are believed to be, for the most part, trailers that are permanently
placed and not registered. He then
asked if there should possibly be minimum tax imposed. Sandy stated that we have to bill everything
at the tax rate of $1.20 per/thousand.
The Chief said that maybe after Kim is through researching everything at
the town hall and with the other district tax collectors, she will possibly
have more information for the board on how to address these subjects.
Ray
asked when Kim thought the tax bills would be ready to be mailed. She said they should be sent out
approximately mid-June, payable in July. Sandy agreed. Ray asked when the annual meeting would be
this year. Sandy said the first
Saturday in June (6/2/2007). The reason
he asked is he would like to have the information to present to the taxpayers
at the meeting to tell them how much their tax bills would increase. Sandy
said, perhaps we could test some of our own bills to make the comparison. Kim interjected to remind them that their
bills would not change, because we are billing from the tax list dated
12/31/2005 and our tax rate has stayed the same. Any changes in evaluation due to the “drive-by’ re-evaluation
will take place on the 12/31/2006 tax list.
Ray said his concern was setting the tax rate for next year at the
annual meeting. If the evaluations go
up say 23% on the 12/31/2006 tax list, that will affect how we set the tax
rate. Kim suggested when she contacts the
people at town hall she could ask for a couple of the new records, perhaps of
board members, so they can do the analysis.
Sandy stated that we have never reset the tax rate based on a
mid-evaluation. Ray said that they have
never had that procedure before, only the 10-year, that’s why. This has been
something that he has always wanted to do, to make it more precise as to why we
set the rate at what we do. Sandy said
that it has always been a lot of guesswork.
Ray said that is exactly what we are trying to eliminate.
Ray
also said that we have to talk about what Kim needs to do in May to prepare for
the annual meeting June 2nd.
Sandy said yes, the notices need to be posted and published. The Chief said that we have already looked
up the election information, regarding who on the board is up for election. We are prepared with the notice information
and we are looking into getting the sign for the roadside. Ray said we also need to review the voters
roll so many days before the meeting.
Kim will need to go back to the charter and look up the specific
requirements. She stated she would read
the minutes and notices from last years monthly and annual meetings to
hopefully get further direction. The
Chief said we also need to contact someone to come here and monitor the ballot
box Friday night and Saturday morning.
Louise stated they can not be related to people running or members of
the crew. He replied, the Gagnon’s have
done it the last 3 years and have done a great job. Ray said we also need to post the warrant, including the names of
the people running. Louise agreed saying
that there would be no by-law changes so there would be no further information
needed on the warrant. Ray stated that
we should also post the budget a week before the meeting, it is not part of the
charter to do so, but should be done as a courtesy. The Chief requested that we schedule a meeting to discuss the
budget next month. Ray suggested that
at our next monthly meeting, we should double our time. A discussion followed
to determine the date and it was decided to be on May 17th from
7-9:00 PM, which would allow an opportunity for a follow-up meeting, if
necessary, before the annual meeting.
Ray
and the Chief have also discussed the need to change the monthly meeting back
to the 3rd Thursday of the Month at 7:00 PM. It had been changed to Wednesday to
accommodate Steve whose Town Council meetings were also scheduled on Thursday
evenings. Since he is no longer on the board, the schedule should revert back
to eliminate the confusion it has caused, especially with the general public. Ray asked Kim to make up a calendar of
meetings for the next fiscal year July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008. Omitting December and August.
The
Chief has been working with Kim to get her health insurance established. Our
agent, Ted Larson of USI, has given us a breakdown of the different Blue Cross
policies and they have quoted the prices for her particular family. While waiting for the Blue Cross Group to be
established, Ted recommended a temporary policy to bridge the gap, effective
for 1 month, and the Chief has purchased that. The Chief’s recommendation of
coverage was for the top tier Blue Cross Healthmate Coast-to-Coast policy at
the quoted monthly billing rate of $1,002.42.
Louise asked if this was paid entirely by the District or if there was
an employee co-pay. Ray said it was
paid by the District and there is no co-pay at this time. George asked if this would be the permanent
rate, since there was a notation on the quote saying it could be adjusted. Everyone agreed that Blue Cross rates can
always fluctuate without much notice. The Chief stated that we had been paying
approximately $19,000.00 for the last employee, as a comparison. As for the dental portion of Kim’s health
insurance, which is a separate expense, the Delta Dental group was already
established, so it was just transferred from the old employee to the new. Jim
made a motion to accept the top tier Blue Cross Healthmate Coast to Coast
policy for Kim at $1,004.42 per/month.
It was seconded by Louise. The
motion carried.
Chief’s
Report:
Engine
22 is out for repair due to an oil leak in the front cover. This is a capital expense. Ray asked what the estimate for the repair
was. The Chief stated approximately
$3,500.00
The
phone service in Rescue 2 has been upgraded to from analog to digital.
Kim
and I have been working on what needs to upgraded in her office. One thing that we would like to do in the
very near future would be purchasing a new laserjet printer/scanner. Another thing we have been discussing is
calling Shred-it to come and dispose of old tax documents. Kim has been looking into retention
schedules to see what the requirements are.
Deputy
Chief Michael Segee started today at the Deputy State Fire Marshal’s
class. He will be attending the class 2
days per/week for 6 weeks.
Currently
our plan review fees for new construction are set at $30.00, as of July when
the legislation is passed they will increase to approximately $75.00.
The
crew has been doing live burns 2 nights per/week (Mondays and Wednesdays) at a
property donated to us on Pine Ledge Road.
It is a valuable tool for learning how to fight live fires, the best
training you can get.
We
have had 2 new applicants. One has just
started, Charles Tasca, from Philips Lane.
Another gentleman just came in, he is a Retired North Providence Police
Officer, from Austin Avenue and is already trained.
Ray
asked the Chief if the capital improvement item for the boiler room – clean air
would be complete by June 30th.
He said it would be. He has been
holding off on the capital improvements to the end of the budget, because that
was the way it had always been done in the past. But now that he knows the cash flow is not a problem, he is ready
to move forward with them. These
include the boiler room – clean air, aed’s (on order), and computerized
software (ready to go). Sandy stated
that if the money is not all spent before the end of the fiscal year, it does
carry over.
Ray
stated that an example of a capital expense he wants to address next year is
the message board in the break room that is not up to fire code. The board has talked about it before and he
feels it is something that needs to be acted on. He then asked the Chief to start considering what capital items
he will be interested in for the upcoming fiscal year. He also wants to develop a strategic plan to
follow, with a procedures manual as part of it. He thinks someone needs to be
put in charge of establishing it. They
would have to review how other departments do things and involve the officers,
crew and public as part of the process.
It also has to be made sure of, that it does not become cumbersome and a
burden to the staff that works here full-time.
At the end of the process a document should be produced that is useful
and applicable to our department. The
strategic plan may cost about $2,500.00 to facilitate over the course of the
next year. But he guarantees that we
will either save money or make more money through ideas that we will pick-up
from other places, like alternative revenue generators for non-profits and
public entities like ours. He thinks it
is going to become more and more critical, because any way we can create
additional revenue without taxing the people more is something we try to do,
but at the same time we want to keep up with the standards.
Old
Business: None
New
Business: Addressed throughout reports
Committee
Reports: None
George
made a motion to adjourn. The motion
was seconded by Jim. The motion
carried.
The
April meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at
8:15 pm.
The next meeting of the Executive Board will be Thursday May 17, 2007 at 7:00 pm at the fire station.