Minutes of the Meeting held On April 6, 2005

Attending Members: Ron Snow (Chairman); Gerald Schiefer (VC); Mary Esther Putnam

Also Present: Steve Robinson (Fire Chief), George Cropper (Treasurer) and Beverly Udell (Secretary/Clerk)

Absent Members: Victor Christensen; Ryon Gardner

Guests: None

The meeting followed the previously posted agenda.

1. General Business: a/b. Welcome - Pledge of Allegiance was said at 6:05 PM and the meeting was called to order at 6:06 PM by Chairman Ron Snow.

c. Review/Approval of the ‘Minutes of The Meeting’ from March 2, 2005 – Minutes were read by Beverly Udell. Changes incurred were a minor typo and insertion of the amount of $6200.00 in paragraph one of the Treasurer Report. Minutes were then approved as amended. Gerald motioned, Ron said the second, and all were in favor.

d. Pine Valley Business Permits Reviewed: None. Also noted was that the Nielson Building Permits had indeed been seen and approved by both Ron and Gerald (as questioned in the minutes from last month). Julie Cropper had made forms to be utilized during Building Permit reviews. These forms should be used and then returned to Beverly.

e. Board Member Reports: Update on the gravel that had been placed around the Fire Station and Post Office – The bill for the gravel has been sent to Ron. Mary Esther said that the Dinner Committee will reimburse up to $1000.00 of the said bill. She was going to talk further with Dall Winn to see about an additional payment. Ron told how he had received a phone call from Qwest. Apparently one of the ATV signs had gone through a phone line when it was planted. Ron called Dave Patterson regarding who should pay for this and the County is paying for the bill.

Gerald: talked about the fuel breaks created by the Forestry Department. Some of the fuel breaks have been cured, some haven’t been yet and will be burned next fall. Burning across the pasture was started, but ice on the wood has prohibited the completion of that burn. The campground will indeed be opened this summer, though some of the individual sites might remain closed due to damage during the flooding. Gerald also shared that the Virgin River Basin has a snow pack of 200%. There is now a snow pack monitor on Gardner Peak. He showed graphs of our creek – the water run is normally 6 cubic ft per second, now it is currently at 20 cubic feet per second.

Election of New Officers: will be put off until next meeting when we have more voting officers present. Discussion of the Annual Letter: Beverly talked about the status of the PVSSD fee letter. She said that for the most part, the data base was fixed and therefore entries had been started. Everyone stressed the importance of those fee letters going out ASAP to bring money into the coffers. Beverly assured them that she was working as fast as she could.

Fire Chief Report: Steve went to a meeting involving the area Fire Chiefs and the County Commissioners. During that meeting it was discussed that the tower on Flat Top had been down since January due to the severe storms. Three towers were lost, two of which have since been repaired. Flat top is still not fixed. The County claims that because of snow, the tower cannot be reached for repair. Repair is expected for sometime around July. What this means that none of the 911 pages are reaching the local fire or EMT pagers and therefore we are basically out of service by St. George. Flat top triggers the tower at Ted Snow’s place, which then sets off our local beepers/radios. There were three emergency EMS call-outs that were missed because they never received the page. One was a car accident call that came in to the EMTs over an hour after the incident. Another example was Daryl the mailman and his heart attack. If the EMTs could not have been reached, Daryl would have died on our mountain. As it was, Gerald Schiefer was able to reach the EMTs by their cell phones. Steve recommends that a letter be written from the PVSSD and sent to the Commissioners saying that the situation is unacceptable and dangerous to all, and ask that Flat Top be fixed by whatever means possible. In the meantime, we are to tell our neighbors that in the case of an emergency, they are not to rely on 911, but they are to call home and cell phones of the local fire and EMT personnel until they reach someone for help.

The sewer at the Fire House was blocked by ice. It has been out of service until it can be repaired.

The FEMA grant was turned in by Steve. We would only have to pay a 5% match because we are a town of under 20,000 people. Steve asked for a Snuffer Truck as part of the grant request. The FEMA grant format has changed just a little this year in that we can ask for what we want, but they can choose to award us less money. Prior to this year, it was an all or nothing deal.

Steve has talked to the Commissioners, sent letters, etc. asking for help repairing flood damage in Pine Valley. So far there has been no response. While we realize that so much damage has occurred elsewhere, that doesn’t mean Pine Valley’s damage isn’t dangerous. It definitely needs to get fixed before someone gets hurt.

e. Treasurer Report: George went to the Utah State Auditor’s seminar. He suggested that the Board look over the books that he got there. The State Auditors seem to be really good to work with. George shared some of the items that he learned from the seminar. Lots of it apply more to big cities. He learned about fraud prevention and controls. All actions that the Board takes should be backed up by Minutes.

We never have to do a formal audit because we are under a $100,000 budget. Our accountant this year will be Stan Seegmiller at a $500.00 charge. The report is due in June.

George showed a profit/loss report. We had taken in $8,963, but spent $17, 780 YTD. Spent more than taken in by $8,000. We are down to only $4,000 in the operating expenses checkbook because the fees letter hasn’t yet gone out. George will only pay bare bones until the fee $$ comes in.

Steve stated that at the meeting he went to with the County Commissioners and Mayors, discussion ensued that they had no emergency funds in reserves. All said that more money should be collected from the communities. County Commissioners will receive a 3-part plan to handle this. Currently the County doesn’t do anything to help the Fire Fighters monetarily.

George said he has been working on doing a better job of conveying to vendors that we are tax exempt which will save us some money.

Bev and George will make up job contracts to present to the Board.

The Board authorizes George to sign exemption certificates for sales tax. Gerald motioned, Mary Esther seconded, all were in favor.

2. Citizen Requests – None.

At 7:05PM, Mary Esther motioned for the meeting to adjourn. Gerald seconded. The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 4, 2005.