Attending Members: Mary Esther Putnam (Chair); Dall Winn; Ron Snow; Gerald Schiefer
Also Present: Steve Robinson (Fire Chief); George Cropper (Treasurer) and Beverly Udell (Secretary)
Guests: Fred Pendleton; Guin Winn; Helga Love; Gayle Cloud; Gae Robinson; John Nichols
Absent: Spencer Beckstrom
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 not Minutes to be read because of ink failure on Bev’s printer.
d. Pine Valley Building Permits Reviewed: Prince, Robert (Home) and also and addition for Jennings, Gilbert.
e. Contracted Services – annual contract revue: George went over his contract with the Board and shared his thoughts on revisions. Ron made the motion to accept those revisions and re-sign George as Treasurer for another year. Dall seconded that motion and all were in favor. * Beverly then went over her contract and suggested revisions. Gerald motioned to accept those revisions and re-sign Beverly also for another year. Ron seconded and all were in favor. * Bev asked if the Board wanted her to again attend the November conference in Provo regarding Special Service Districts. The answer was affirmative and that she will be reimbursed according to the Counties per diem rates. * Mary Esther will get the contract revisions typed up and have them ready for Bev, George and Steve to sign at the next meeting. * Steve agreed a month ago to inform the Board of a 3 week schedule of when he is or isn’t going to be in town based on his employment duties. To date he has not presented that and the Board was asking for some type of accountability just so that they might know when he is around incase there is a fire emergency. Steve has been working in California for the majority of the last 5 months. Steve said that his schedule is still up in the air, so he can’t say further in advance where he might be at any given time. Steve stated that if the Board wasn’t happy with that, he would step down, but that because he had to work for a living, that was the best that he could do for the time being. Mary Esther asked him if there was any sign of his California schedule slowing down so that he could be in Pine Valley more. Steve said that maybe he could answer that question better in 90 days. Dall stated that he had been talked to by several people who were concerned about there being an absent fire chief through our greatest fire season. He said that he thought Steve was awesome as a fire chief, but that he too would like to know when Steve might be in town. People feel safer knowing that there is an active fire chief around to lead them. Steve stated that the Board wanted him in town for at least 3 days a week, and he felt he had been doing that except for a 10 day period over the summer. Someone mentioned that while he might be not in California, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is in Pine Valley either. Steve stated again that he has been around at least 3 days each week. It was brought up that George and Gerald have been holding down the fort in Steve’s absence and was it fair for them to be doing that for so long while Steve is the one being paid to do it. Steve again stated that he had to work, and while he is not in California, he either needs to be in Cedar City or St. George on jobs. He felt he had also been to most of the trainings and Board meetings. Beverly suggested that it was possible that Steve might be around more than people think he is, but because he drives a rented car while he is in Pine Valley, people often aren’t even aware that he is here. Her suggestion was that maybe he simply inform a Board member when he is staying in Pine Valley, and then again when he is going back to California, so there isn’t the confusion. Steve again stated that was the best he could do and if that was not acceptable to the Board, he would step down. Dall mentioned that no one wanted Steve to quit, that they were all happy with him as chief, they just would like to know when he was or wasn’t in town, so that they would know if they had him here during an emergency call. Mary Esther said they would like a more set schedule involving at least 3 days a week, but she asked the Board if they could work with Steve for another 90 days to help him during his California job. It was questions as to whether George and Gerald were willing/able to continue keeping up the affairs of the fire station during Steve’s absences for the next 90 days and they said they would. Steve did say that he needed to maintain a full time chief status in order to keep his title with the County as president of the County Fire Chiefs Association. The Board all agreed to wait another 90 days and then bring it back up to Steve again to see if his schedule would be more settled or regular. The revue of Steve’s contract will be placed on hold for that 90 days.
f. Board Member Reports:
Ron: Ron wanted it noted that it is inappropriate for people to be putting signs on the big cottonwood tree on Main St. Now that there is a sign up for those things, the sign should be used, not the tree.
Gerald: See extra page.
Spence: None
Dall: None
Mary Esther: There is an agreement with Lee Snow for his purchase of the property of Fire Station #2 for $27,000. Paperwork is currently at Southern Utah Title to make that happen. Mary Esther will sign those papers on behalf of the Board.
h. Treasurer’s Report – George: See his report – George transferred $15,000 out of the checking account into a savings so that we could collect interest on it. There currently is $50,000 in savings and George wanted to know if the Board would consider putting that into something that would garner even more interest. The Board suggested placing $40,000 in CDs. Ron motioned, Dall seconded and all were in favor.
i. Fire Station Chief’s Report – Steve: Steve mentioned that the repeater at Flat Top still wasn’t working and that the County had no plans to get it fixed because of financial reasons. Gae said that the EMS council is talking about setting up a committee to write grants to try to gain money for repairing Flat Top. Steve said that it has been suggested that each town affected by the loss of Flat Tops communication should check into setting up their own communications system. Mary Esther asked Steve to check into what that would take and then report it back by the next meeting. Gae told how hard it is to do EMT work when they don’t get the call-outs. They lost a stroke victim – who knows if they might have been able to save him if they had gotten a call-out to help the man. * Steve wanted to know if he could contact Ed Evans about putting in 2 new fire hydrants on the west side of town. The Board agreed. * Steve also asked Mary Esther if she would hurry and get the Mutual Aide agreement signed and delivered to Dave Patterson.
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.