Attending Members: Mary Esther Putnam (Chair); Dall Winn; Gerald Schiefer;
Spence Beckstrom
Also Present: George Cropper (Treasurer) and Beverly Udell (Secretary)
Guests: Ed Anderson; Jean Kothe; Linda Wood; Gary Wood; Guin Winn; Fred Lundin; Tom Nielsen; John Nichols
Absent: Ron Snow
1. General Business:
a/b. Welcome – The meeting was called to order at 4:10 P.M. with the opening being the Pledge of Allegiance.
c. Minutes: During the previous meeting, Mary Esther had asked the Board members to take the Minutes home for revue and then be prepared to amend and/or vote on them. After reading them, Gerald motioned for the Board to accept the October’s meeting Minutes as they were written, Spence seconded that motion and all else were in favor.
d. Pine Valley Building Permits Reviewed: There was one house addition approved. No impact fee was charged because it was just an addition.
e. Board Member Reports:
Gerald: Gerald talked to Kurt Gardner about requiring garbage dumps at construction sites. Maybe we should give each construction area a form to sign right upfront saying that they will be responsible for having a garbage dump at their site. Bev will make such a form. There is one man that continues to burn his waste even after repeated requests and warnings from Gerald. * Mary Esther gave George a bank letter stating that we can have a wee bit more interest on the CD’s. The Cd’s we have are based on the Impact Fees we have collected and are kept in a separate bank (Sun First Bank) so not to confuse that money with our general funds. Ed Anderson asked if we get a share of the County Impact Fees that are collected when people build a house in Pine Valley. The answer in that we do not. Mary Esther suggested that we might want to consider raising the Impact Fees we charge, with her thought of the fee scale going back to what we had originally proposed before we started charging the fees. That would be $3000 for a new home and .50 cents per square foot for additions or detached buildings (up to 1500 square feet). Spence reminded us that since we can only currently do fire and recreation issues, we can only spend the money on capital improvements in those two areas only. However, he suggested that since we currently have $32,000 raised from the Impact Fees, that we should start to consider different ways to use it to benefit those two areas.
Dall: Gave out 3 sheets of fire department needs encompassing different items that he wishes bought from funds from FEMA, the State and our own Special Service District. In looking over the lists, Spence felt that items 1 through 7 of the Pine Valley list were definitely items needed right away, so he motioned for the purchase. He also suggested that more investigation be done on item #8. Dall seconded the motion and all else were in favor of the purchases, which are to be paid from out of the Impact Fee monies. * Gerald also mentioned that we are in need of racks for our SCBAs. One of the other items listed was for gas tanks to keep diesel fuel in for use with the fire trucks. Along with the tanks themselves, we would also need some type of storage for the tanks. He noted that Impact Fees can be used for enlarging the building. Would storage for the gas tanks be capital improvement?
EMT: We are in serious need of more EMTs trained. Gae’s status is pending, based on whether she stays in Pine Valley, but even if she does, we are still seriously short in case of an emergency. We have currently lost Steve as our EMT and we were trying to get some other people even before Steve resigned. Spence motioned to find and send 3 people to EMT training. Jamie Udell is one person who we know is already interested. * Currently there is about 10 people on the Fire Department who might be going to winter training on January 18 & 19.
Mary Esther: She asked again how the Board might feel about changing the Impact Fee structure to possibly charge for add-ons to existing homes. All Board members agreed that it would be a good idea. Mary Esther will write up a proposal. There was discussion on possibly lowering the annual fee if the impact fees were raised. George said it would be premature to even consider that and asked the Board to wait until after the first of the year to see how our 2007 numbers played out. * It looks like we now officially have jurisdiction over Recreation. Because of Gerald’s new status as Fire Chief, Mark Wells and Fred Pendleton and Gilbert Jennings will be overseeing any thoughts on a pavilion. The current thought is that any funding for a possible pavilion will be drawn from private donations and not from Special Service District money. Gary Wood said that as an adjacent property owner, he would be opposed to a park being built because of lights, noise, etc. His wife was concerned that the home owners would be charged more money to fund it.
Spence: We owe the Sheriff money for the extra coverage over the summer. $5000 is paid from the Forestry Department and another $6000 is owed from us. We have to pay the Sheriff, but we need to create a new “District” to oversee this. Spence will meet with the County Attorney to see what details this might entail.
g. Fire Chief – Gerald: Gerald is currently acting as Fire Chief. Dall motioned to appoint him to that position permanently, along with George officially as his assistant. George said he would do it temporarily until Gerald found someone else. Dall also motioned to have Gerald’s pay start effect of October of 2007, at a rate of $9000 a year (same as what Steve was being paid). Gerald suggested that some of his salary should go to an assistant chief, which the Board said would be taken into consideration. Spence seconded the motion and all were in favor. * The Feds will start to do tree thinning in the campsite for bug kill. They have hired a logging company to do it and all of the logs will be taken out. In the Spring, they will start the process of moving the campsites away from the water.
h. Treasurer’s Report – George: See his report – George submitted the 2008 proposed budget for the Board’s revue. This will be voted on during a public hearing in December. * Ralph Brooks went to the FEMA grant writing class. * Beverly and Ralph Brooks need to be compensated for their costs of training. Their travel will be paid at .48.5 cents a mile.
2 – Public Comments – Mary Esther noted that Fred Lundin is passing around a petition for keeping cows off of Main Street.
At 5:40 PM, Gerald moved for the meeting to adjourn. Dall seconded. All were in favor.
The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 6:00 P.M.