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 Thursday, April 24, 2008.

 

Present:            Chief Stuart Pearson; Moderator - Raymond Fogarty, Jr.;

Treasurer - Sandra Owens; Clerk - Ann Dahlquist;

            Tax Collector - Kimberly Barber; Attorney - Fred Mason, Jr.;

            Board Members - Louise Michaels, James Richards & Milton Huston

                         

Absent:             Board Member - George Kain

 

 

I. – Meeting Called to Order:  7:29 pm by Moderator Fogarty. 

 

II. - Approval of the minutes from the March 20th meeting. 

Moderator Fogarty asked the board if there were any discrepancies to note on the minutes from the March 20th meeting.  If not, he would like to call for a motion to accept them. 

 

Milton made a motion to accept the minutes.  Louise seconded the motion.  The motion carried.

 

III. - Treasurer’s Report:

Sandy presented her report for the month of February.  Beginning balance February 1st $275,722.79 and the ending balance February 29th $268,576.86.  There was a car tax payment received from the state for $8,379.88.  There were no expenses out of the ordinary to report.

 

Next she presented her report for the month of March.  Beginning balance March 1st $268,576.86 and the ending balance March 31st $262,069.10.  Again there were no expenses out of the ordinary to report.

 

Louise brought up the subject of the Phase Out of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax.  Sandy asked Kim to look into legislation regarding this issue and find out if the payments from the state will continue next year.

 

There were also a couple of line items that she asked Kim to look into in regards to reclassifying them within the general ledger.

 

Sandy also mentioned that revenue from third party billing is much higher than in the past.  The Chief accredited it to the new computer reports being transferred directly to third party billing, resulting in more accurate billing and revenue collection.

 

Louise made a motion to accept the February and March treasurer’s reports.  Jim seconded it. 

The motion carried.

 

 

IV. - Tax Collector’s Report:

Taxes receivable balance is $68,235.81 as of today’s date.  Taxes collected in the month of

March were $7,119.05.  Third party billing monies collected in the month of March totaled $10,579.71. 

 

Past due tax bills were mailed out on March 31st.  This generated a lot of phone calls, mostly regarding properties that had been sold. 

 

Kim also presented a list to the board of tax amounts she was requesting to write off.  It only totaled $35.12, owed for approximately 18 bills.  She asked what the rule for writing off is.  Ray suggested she present the list to the board annually.  Louise suggested a motion be made to allow Kim to have the authority to write off amounts under $5.00.  Ray asked that a policy be drafted regarding this issue for the board vote on. 

 

She also presented board members with samples of the RI Ethics Commission’s “Yearly Financial Statement” forms.  She stated that these forms need to be filed every year in April, explained the procedure for filing and provided them with the RI Ethics Commission’s website address if they had further questions.  The actual forms will be mailed to each member directly from the Ethics Commission.  She stated she would be available to notarize the forms for the members as required.

 

Jim made a motion to accept the tax collector’s report.  Milton seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

V. - Chief’s Report:

A student named Alexander Schlageter from LaSalle Academy came in to do a documentary on the Harmony Fire Department.  His focus was on volunteer vs. paid fire departments.  He interviewed members and took some photos, it was quite interesting.

 

Our Zodiac boat has been repaired under its warranty.

 

The cleaning contract with Jani-King has been terminated and we have hired Jani-Tech as a replacement.  We have already noticed a great improvement in the quality of work performed.

 

The Chief attended the Congressional Fire Services Institute in Washington DC.  He gained a letter of support from Congressman Langevin for the grant we recently submitted to the Department of Homeland Security.  This grant would be used to purchase a new brush truck.

 

BKB Construction came in to repair the apparatus room portion of the roof.

 

The broken flag pole out in front of the building was replaced with the help of Deputy Segee and Capt.Brackett.

 

H.J. Astle Company has started work on the stove hood and Northland Fire and Safety has started work on the stove exhaust hood.

 

The fire alarm system at the station is now under contract to be tested on a quarterly basis.

 

The Ham and Bean Supper on April 19th put on by the department was a great success.

 

On April 20th the three Glocester Fire Chiefs attended the opening day festivities for the Glocester Little League and threw out the first pitch.  They were invited in appreciation for the donation made for the AED’s.

 

An upcoming event is the Tri-State Firemen’s League Meet in Brooklyn, CT.

 

Also board member George Kain is in the hospital.  The Chief is keeping in close contact with his wife Stephanie to monitor his condition.

 

Some discussion followed about the upcoming Northern RI Firemen’s League Memorial Service and Parade being hosted by the Harmony Fire Department this year.  The board was very enthusiastic about the event and encouraged publicizing it as much as possible.

 

Milton made a motion to accept the chief’s report.  Louise seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

VI. - Committee Reports:

a.)     Building Committee –  none

 

b.)    Strategic Planning Committee – Final draft of the Strategic Plan was presented by John Visich.  Some discussion followed about the addition of photos, as well as printing and binding the completed report.  The report will be presented to the public at the HFD annual meeting.

 

c.)    Budget Committee – A worksheet was presented to the board to review line items for the upcoming budget.  Discussion followed, with many suggestions made.  A final draft will be presented at next month’s meeting.

 

VII. - Old Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

VIII. - New Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

IX. - Public Input:  No comments made.

 

X. – Executive Session: 

The Board then announced it would be going into executive session on a matter of personnel of which the individual has been notified in writing pursuant to RIGL 42-46-5(a)(1).

A motion was made by Louise to go into executive session.  Milton seconded it. 

Executive session began at 8:12 pm and ended at 8:38 pm. 

 

 

 

XI. – Adjournment: 

Milton made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Louise seconded it.  The motion carried. 

The April meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at 9:12 pm.

 

The next meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board

is the Annual Meeting which is scheduled for 10:00 am, Saturday, June 7, 2008

at the Harmony Fire Department.

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

C:\Documents and Settings\Kim\My Documents\MY SCANS\Signature - Kimberly S. Barber.jpg

 

Kimberly S. Barber

Tax Collector/Secretary