HARMONY FIRE DISTRICT
P.O. Box 360 – 194 Putnam
Pike
The
regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive
Board was held at the Harmony Fire Station on Wednesday, September 24, 2008.
Present: Chief Stuart Pearson; Moderator - Raymond Fogarty, Jr.;
Treasurer - Sandra Owens; Tax Collector -
Kimberly Barber;
Attorney - Fred Mason, Jr.;
Board Members - Louise Michaels, James
Richards & Milton Huston
Absent: Clerk - Ann Dahlquist; Board Member – George Kain
I. - Meeting Called to Order: 7:03 pm by Moderator Fogarty.
II. - Approval of the minutes
from the August 21st meeting.
Moderator
Fogarty asked the board if there were any discrepancies to note on the minutes
from the August 21st meeting. If not, he would like to call for a motion
to accept them.
Milton
made a motion to accept the minutes. Jim
seconded the motion. The motion
carried.
III. - Treasurer’s Report:
Sandy
presented her report for the months of July and August. Beginning balance July 1st $175,024.34
and the ending balance August 31st $404,209.24. There were routine expenses in the month of
July. In the month of August there was
a large expenditure for insurance, but other than that there were just routine
expenses.
Ray
asked about the balance in the truck fund as of July 1, assuming that we
deposit another $45,000.00. Sandy
answered approximately $111,000.00 with the current fiscal years
appropriations. So, Ray continued, if
we were to add another $45,000.00 in next year’s budget, we would have a total
of $156,000.00. Ray then asked the
Chief what he had for a cost estimate on the Rescue. The Chief stated somewhere between $160 and $170,000.00. Sandy asked if there were any potential
grant opportunities available to make up the difference. The Chief said he would be applying to “The
Greggson Foundation” for a grant, but there were no guarantees. Ray asked if the Chief’s estimated cost
included our trade in value. The Chief
said no. Louise asked about paying some
money up front, once we decide where we will order from, to potentially get a
percentage off of the sale price, as had been done with a vehicle purchase in
the past. Jim said the committee would
definitely be looking into that option.
Some discussion followed regarding the ordering process and delivery
times for the new rescue. The “Truck Committee” will continue to work on the
particulars. The Chief quoted from the
annual meeting minutes, what had been decided on the rescue purchase at that
time. Sandy thinks there is some sort
of rule listed in the district by-laws regarding large purchases, it may even
have to be advertised. Attorney Mason
said he will check into it for the next meeting. Ray asked that the Chief apply to “The Greggson Foundation” for
the grant as soon as possible.
Louise
made a motion to accept the July & August treasurer’s reports. Milton seconded it.
The
motion carried.
IV. - Tax Collector’s Report:
Kim
then presented her report for August. Taxes
receivable balance is $154,683.53 as of today’s date. Taxes collected in the month of August were $275,015.10. Kim also wanted to note that since the tax
bills were mailed on August 12th, $342,052.39 has been collected of
the $440,596.67 tax levy, or about 80%.
Third
party billing monies collected in August totaled $603.70. But, another item to note was that we had
estimated a total of $60,000.00 or $15,000.00 per/quarter for the fiscal
year. Without the 1st
quarter even being complete, we have already posted $25,290.30 or $10,290.30
over our quarterly estimate. Two months
we had very low collections and 1 month they were very large. Ray asked about
the consistency of the payments, were the bills submitted regularly? The Chief explained the process of
electronically submitting run reports and third party billing. He also explained how the revenue varies
according to the number and types of runs, as well as remittance of payments by
health insurance companies.
Kim
continued with her report stating that additionally in August, $425.00 was
collected for the Chief performing 10 Smoke Inspections and 2 Plan Reviews and
Kim preparing 3 Incident Report Requests.
We
have also received a quarterly car tax payment from state, in the amount of $8,379.88. Milton asked about the car tax payments, if
this was the item we could lose next year.
Kim replied yes. Sandy stated
that it would be a big chunk of revenue, about $32,000.00, that we could lose.
Sandy
asked about bankruptcies and foreclosures.
Kim stated that she had not received any notices, but she had seen a few
district properties listed in the legal ads for mortgage and foreclosure
sales. This would not affect us though,
because the bank or mortgage company taking over these properties would be
liable to pay any taxes due to us. She
also mentioned that one of the properties that were in our tax sale this past
January has been sold and redeemed.
Ray
stated that he had attended a meeting today and fire districts were mentioned
twice. Once to say that they would
probably come under the 5% cap provision. The second time was in a discussion
regarding multiple fire districts in one town and if revenue from large taxable
properties should be spread amongst them.
For example, FM Global in West Glocester. Some discussion followed on this topic, as well as commercial and
tangible taxes in Harmony in general.
Jim
made a motion to accept the tax collector’s report. Milton seconded it. The
motion carried.
V. - Chief’s Report:
To
begin his report the Chief passed around an article written about Bryant
University’s IPICS network in which the Harmony Fire Department was
mentioned. A while back, four or five
years, he had worked with CISCO Systems at the inception of this program, and
they have expanded on the idea greatly at Bryant. Some discussion followed about the IPICS network.
On
Labor Day weekend Harmony again participated in the Oakland-Mapleville Fire
Department Muster. We put together 2
teams of 6 to compete and again won 3 trophies. They are on display for the board to view. Everyone had a lot of fun and it was a great
event.
The
crew has started the second part of their EMT Cardiac Recertification Course.
Two classes are done, with six more to go.
It should be complete by the end of December.
According
to the USDA, who our building loan is with, we were required to have an ADA
Inspection. Harvey Salvas from ADA came
in to do the inspection, we made a couple of changes and are now in compliance. One of the items was adding an equal
opportunity notice to both the district and department letterheads.
RIEMS
held a seminar titled “RIEMS 101 Now & Future.” Lieutenant Donna DeConte and the Chief attended together. This is a seminar that RIEMS would like to
make an annual event. Some discussion
followed on the seminar topics and how they could possibly affect the rescue
service we provide in the future.
On the 15th our phone service was
down here at the station. We called in
RI Telephone and they had to replace the phone system processor at a cost of
$1,334.00.
All
three Glocester Fire Departments, as well as Foster Fire personnel, did a walk
through of the
new
Ponaganset High School. It looks good
and is definitely a school for the future.
There
is a Northern RI Firemen’s League drill in West Glocester this Sunday that we
will be participating in.
Also,
we have added two new members, one of which lives in Harmony, Steven Winsor.
The
800 MHz radios that we received the reimbursement grant from RIEMA for, have
been received and are in place on the apparatus.
We
have also received a $2,000.00 matching grant from the RI DEM, so we are paying
$2,000.00 and they are paying $2,000.00.
These monies will be used to buy wildland firefighting gear: brush
shirts, brush pants, helmets, goggles, and hand tools. The total amount of funding available for
this grant was not expended, so they will be reopening for grant applications
again sometime in January 2009. This
will work out good for us, because should we get additional funds, they will
not have to be used until the 2009-2010 budget is in place. So we can budget for the matching funds
then.
The
“Alternative Heating Workshop” has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday,
November 12th at 6:30 pm. We
have been in contact with the Glocester Building Inspector and he will be
attending. Additionally, we have
contacted local vendors and the State Fire Marshal’s office.
Regarding
the department’s radios, the problems we have been having is due to some
antennas installed incorrectly on the towers when the project was originally
done. Replacement parts have been
ordered and should solve this issue, hopefully within the next four weeks.
Lastly,
we have contacted Tom Mainville at the Glocester Town Hall and have been able
to be added to their heating contract, along with the Town of Foster and the
Glocester School Department. We are now
locked in at $3.199 per gallon for oil from October until March. Louise asked about the gas and diesel. The Chief explained that we had topped off the
tanks in June and will be working closely with the vendor to keep topping off
when the prices dip down. Some
discussion followed about alternative fuels and their possible use in the
future.
The
Chief announced that there were also tickets still available for the Glocester
Firefighters Scholarship Steak Fry if anyone needed to purchase some. It will take place Saturday, October 4th
from 4:00 – 8:00 pm at Watmough’s Campground.
Tickets cost $15.00 each.
Louise
made a motion to accept the Chief’s report.
Milton seconded it. The motion
carried.
VI. - Committee Reports:
a.
Building Committee – Milton, Chair – The Chief stated that the project
is the demolition stage right now and the contractor is
expected to start within the next week or two.
He attended an association meeting
recently, and they have formed a committee to begin the process of
buying the appliances, which will be at their expense. There was some discussion regarding the construction of a wall in the
reception area. This idea has been tabled for now, while we can look into other ideas such as
buzzers and video. Security and safety are the top concerns.
b.
Truck Committee – Jim, Chair – discussion provided during Treasurer’s report.
VII. - Old Business: Addressed throughout
reports.
VIII. - New Business: Addressed throughout reports.
IX. - Public Input: No audience present.
X. - Executive Session: None called.
XI. - Adjournment:
Louise
made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jim
seconded it. The motion carried.
The
September meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at
8:13 pm.
The
next meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board
is
scheduled for Thursday, November 20,
2008, 7:00 pm at the Harmony Fire Department.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kimberly S. Barber
Tax Collector/Secretary