Attending Members: Mary Esther Putnam (Chair); Dall Winn; Ron Snow; Gerald Schiefer;
Spence Beckstrom
Also Present: George Cropper (Treasurer) and Beverly Udell (Secretary)
Guests: Helga Love; Gae Robinson; Boy Scouts – Max Harrison; Benson Saunders; Corbin Cox; Cody Robinson; Jerren Enns; Jeff Gardner; Mark Ellis
Absent: Steve Robinson (Fire Chief)
1. General Business:
a/b. Welcome – The meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M. with the opening being the Pledge of Allegiance.
c. Minutes: There were 2 sets of Minutes to be read. Mary Esther asked the Board members to take the Minutes home for revue and then be prepared to vote on them during the November meeting.
d. Pine Valley Building Permits Reviewed: None
e. Boy Scouts – The Boy Scouts joined us at 6:15. Mary Esther told the Scouts about Gae’s EMT rescue this morning. Gae has also taught those same Boy Scouts first aid for a badge. Gerald then told the Scouts about the two fires that were set this month.
f. Board Member Reports:
Ron: The Forest Service wants to replace the culvert at the east end of town with a bridge to make it easier for the fish to travel.
Gerald: Gerald is trying to do a feasibility study on where the money will come from for a pavilion. Dixie Escalante Power is willing to pay for the building itself as long as they are allowed to use it. As the Assistant Fire Chief, Gerald gave the Fire Chief’s report in Steve’s absence: EMS – 3 call outs – One in 871 E. Pine Valley Rd.- Male with chest pains – ambulanced to St. George Hospital. Second call out was to Central , could not respond, no EMT in Valley. Third call out to 292 Pine Cone Place – Male with difficult breathing- Gae Robinson saved his life. Fire personnel assisted with EMS and logistics. Also expedited ambulance to location. Also communication with Sheriff office. * Two Fire Call outs – One at the garbage bin fire- Elk Bones put in bin, then set fire with gasoline .Two trucks responded and fire was extinguished, flames had been 30 feet high. Second fire occurred when a cigarette was tossed out across from old Slade home- quickly extinguished by firemen using Brush 142 The spread potential was enormous. * Communications – Page out system went down again. Tac Tec replaced New Battery and Charger. He charged us only for travel and time. We worked with Sheriff’s office for call out operation, works well, have had 3 call outs since. * Gerald passed the general Hamm operator’s license test. Now he only has one left to pass. * Batteries are a problem. George bought new ones, not delivered yet. * We may need an additional siren. * Training – SCBA training was good. We will definitely need to do more. Hands on training with Fires and EMS. Will bring basic 130 and 160 training here. Also a refresher on SCBA and First Aid including CPR. * MISC – Identified other Station equipment that is necessary. Gerald will work with Dall on possibly obtaining such items. * Game Warden wants us for eyes and ears. He wants license plate numbers of any offenders. He wants ‘No Trespassing’ signs put on as many corner posts, etc. as possible. He/we are very concerned about the poaching and illegal hunting in Pine Valley. Two Elk and many deer have already been killed illegally this year. * Gerald asked Gae and Dall if they would get with him to gather a supply list of needed EMT necessities.
Spence: Currently our charter has us covering fire, sewer and water only, with the possibility of adding recreation soon. However, we need to consider coverage for a sheriff. The sheriff said that if we paid $6000 a year, he could provide Pine Valley with more coverage. Gerald said he felt that with the added coverage we have now had, that we have seen about an 85% improvement. Spence proposes that we write the County Commissioners saying that we are happy with the ATV changes because it has helped (not perfect, but helped). We now need to change our charter to include “law” so that we can legally be able to pay the sheriff. Mary Esther suggested that Spence draft a letter. * We have talked about the possibility of paving more roads in Pine Valley to alleviate some of the dust problems. The property taxes in the valley are going up at least 60%, some are doubling. Spence proposed that since the County is pulling lots of money from Pine Valley, that maybe they should be asked to foot the bill for paving some roads. He also asked about the money in savings that the PVSSD has and if it was possible to direct some of that money towards roads because paved roads were certainly make it easier to get to fires. It would also make it easier on the County to plow on paved roads versus on the dirt. Possible proposed paved roads might include 1st South from about 3rd East to 4th West to hook up with the already existing pavement – connecting the N/S roads. Also 400 up past the Stucki’s * Spence also brought up the possibility again of designating 1st North behind the church as an ATV road. It would need to be built up first.
Dall: None
Mary Esther: She asked 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. * Mary Esther went over Bev’s contract and revisions, and then asked for a Board vote. Gerlad motioned, Ron seconded and all were in favor. Next came George’s contract along with revisions. Dall motioned to accept the contract and revisions, Spencer seconded it and all were in favor.
g. Fire Chief – Steve Robinson sent in a letter of resignation, effective September 30, 2007. Mary Esther sent a return letter of acceptance of Steve’s resignation. In it she thanked Steve for his many years of excellent service, his work on grants, FEMA, gaining us the new fire truck, his EMT status. His impact has been huge. We sincerely hope that Steve continues to serve with us as his job allows. * We are now without a fire chief. Gerald stated that he and George had been holding down the fort in Steve’s absence. Gerald suggested that maybe they both continue in that realm until a new fire chief is found. Mary Esther added that there are also Fire Chief’s meetings with the County that need to be attended. We do have a contract for the Fire Chief – our current choices are to appoint a chief pro-tem or to find one to add permanently right away. We could advertise. Or we simply could leave the contract unsigned. Spence said that he felt we ought to appoint a pro-tem, maybe either George or Gerald if they were willing. Dall said that there is no doubt that we need a chief who will be the “go man. He added that Steve had done a marvelous job, which was one of the reasons that he himself stepped down without missing a beat. Dall felt that we do need a fire chief so that we have someone to refer people to. He asked if Gerald could receive compensation if we nominated him since he is on the PVSSD Board. Gerald reminded them that his Board term is up in 2 months if that is a deciding factor. Ron agreed that we do need someone right away, but that we have been handling it okay with Gerald and George all these months in Steve’s absence. George said that he would be willing to continue backing Gerald, and vice versa, in the interim so that the Board doesn’t need to be in a hurry. George can do that temporarily, but he isn’t interested in a permanent position. (George was recently the recipient of an ambulance ride to St. George – he needed his gallbladder removed.) Mary Esther asked if it would be okay for George (Board Treasurer) and Gerald (Board Member) to continue to perform such duties and also those in the roles of fire chief. Both George and Gerald said that they would continue temporarily on a volunteer basis. Mary Esther asked them to do it at least until the end of the year. Dall motioned to have them compensated for the costs of their trips, meetings, etc. Spence seconded. Dall then motioned to have Gerald as acting Fire Chief, with George as his assistant, at least until the end of the year. Ron seconded that motion and all were in favor.
h. Treasurer’s Report – George: See his report – George added that there is a potential for getting grants for added expenses on supplies so that we won’t have to amend our budget to add our extra supply needs. SCBAs are going to be very costly.
2 – Public Comments –
At 7:45 PM, Gerald moved for the meeting to adjourn. Dall seconded. All were in favor.
The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 6:00 P.M.