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, May 22, 2008.

 

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 & Milton Huston

                         

Absent:             Board Members - James Richards & George Kain

 

I. – Meeting Called to Order:  7:00 pm by Moderator Fogarty. 

 

II. - Approval of the minutes from the April 24th meeting. 

Moderator Fogarty asked the board if there were any discrepancies to note on the minutes from the April 24th meeting.  If not, he would like to call for a motion to accept them. 

 

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

 

III. - Treasurer’s Report:

Sandy presented her report for the month of April.  Beginning balance April 1st $262,069.10 and the ending balance April 30th $235,934.81.  There were no expenses out of the ordinary to report.

 

All budget information was presented in a binder as requested by board member George Kain.

 

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

 

IV. - Tax Collector’s Report:

Taxes receivable balance is $62,549.95 as of today’s date.  Taxes collected in the month of

April were $5,631.03.  Third party billing monies collected in the month of April totaled $2,147.32.

 

Sandy inquired how much of the taxes receivable would Kim consider uncollectable?  Kim said no much at all.  A lot of this balance is made up of properties that have to be rebilled to new owners and the rest are just delinquent.  If they are two years delinquent then they will be considered for tax sale.

 

Certification of the 12/31/2007 Glocester Tax Roll has been delayed due to the Glocester Town Council reopening a review period for property owners who have questions about their property revaluations. Hopefully it will only be held up a couple of weeks, but the fire tax bills will not be mailed until at least mid-July.  This will delay the collection of revenue, but it is unavoidable.  Sandy said this delay will be OK, since our reserve balance is healthy. 

 

Ray asked Kim about the payroll transition from PayChex to her doing it through QuickBooks.  The fee for QuickBooks payroll module is approximately $300.00 annually.  That includes the annual QuickBooks Upgrade, the payroll module and support.  She stated that she would like to make the transition at the end of a quarter, preferably the 3rd Quarter (September 30th), since she would be just too busy at the end of the 2nd Quarter (June 30th).  The Board agreed this was a good idea.

 

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

 

V. - Chief’s Report:

The Glocester Fire District’s Annual Banquet held April 26th was a great success as usual.  A wonderful time was had by all who attended. 

 

Installation of the new stove hood and exhaust system in the kitchen is complete.

 

The new cleaning company is performing great work.  They have stripped and buffed all of the floors at the station.

 

Upcoming events to note are: district voting on June 6th and 7th, the Annual Meeting on June 7th at 10:00 am and the 83rd Annual Northern RI Firemen’s League Memorial Services and Parade hosted by us this year on June 8th  at 1:00 pm.  Flyers have been posted

 

Much painting and redecorating has been done at the station recently.  It is coming out very well, in most part due to the hard work of Andy and Linda Noonan. 

 

We have installed the new flat screen monitor in the radio room.  Kim is working with Matt Floor to learn how to program it.  It will be up and running before the Annual Meeting, so everyone can see it in action.

 

While on the subject of IT items the Chief wanted to mention all of the work that Matt Floor has been doing for us.  He also does all of the IT work for the town and the police.  The Chief would like to retain his services for all of our IT work.

 

A couple of donations were received and forwarded to the association.  $500 from a former transport patient that turned out to be a doctor from Alaska and was impressed with our work.  Another donation was received from a neighbor whom we helped and was very appreciative.

 

The Chief also thanked Kim and Sandy for all of the hard work they did on everything this month.

 

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

 

VI. - Committee Reports:

a.   Building Committee – Committee Chair Milton stated there was nothing new to report.

b.      Strategic Planning Committee – Committee Chair Louise stated that the plan was complete and ready to present at the annual meeting.

 

VII. - Old Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

VIII. - New Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

IX. - Public Input:  No audience.

 

X. – Executive Session:  None called.

 

XI. – Adjournment: 

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

The May meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at 8:22 pm.

 

The next meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board will be the Annual Meeting.

It 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