(Normal July 1 meeting was postponed until July 8)
Attending Members: Dall Winn; Spence Beckstrom; Jeff Gardner; John Nichols;
Also Present: Gerald Schiefer (Fire Chief); George Cropper (Treasurer); Beverly Udell (Secretary).
Guests: Guin Winn; Fred Pendleton; Steve Haluska; Rob Tersigni; Bob Herpel; LeeAnn Powers
Absent: Mary Esther Putnam (Chair)
1. General Business:
a/b. Welcome – Meeting was opened by Dall Winn (Co-Chair) at 5:00 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.
c. Minutes – The Minutes from June 3 were reviewed by each Board member. Spence motioned to accept the Minutes as written, Jeff seconded the motion and all were in favor.
d. Pine Valley Building Permits Reviewed: N/A
Update on Impact Fee usage – impact fees can not be used for anything but the building. There is a new Impact Fee handbook. It now lists major requirements, plans, accountability, paperwork, etc. We will table this discussion until another meeting after further research has been completed.
Sheriff’s Office, Rob Tersigni: Came to give a report on Pine Valley activity over the 4th of July. Rob states that a lot of the ATV activity they can not address unless they catch people doing something illegal. They did catch lots of speeders on Main St. There were quite a few violations regarding golf carts not being registered. Rob reiterated how hard it is for the officers to see everything, and therefore how important it is for the general public to act as the extra sets of eyes. We do have a 10:00 noise ordinance.
Board Member Reports:
Spence: In regards to answers for Impact Fee questions, Spence doesn’t feel he is getting anywhere with Dave Patterson. Maybe because of the complexity of the new regulations? Spence was appointed to the new County Board which deals with utilizing the Federal CITLA monies coming down the pike for road improvements in Washington County. Spence brought up the roads in Pine Valley that needed to be upgraded, but was shot down as far as getting them done. Someone brought up the possibility of creating our own Special Service District to be able to acquire some of the CITLA money. Spence is championing for certain roads in Pine Valley to be paved. Ron Whitehead would like to see us go forward with paving. * John asked about the road coming from Central and leading to Pine Valley, which is in need of an update. The problem always has been with this road is that while it is a Forestry road, the County is supposed to maintain it. When ever there is a question regarding that road, both entities like to defer the question or problem to the other entity, with nothing ever then getting accomplished.
Dall: Fire Station Addition: It is going to cost approximately $6000 to upgrade the power to accommodate the new addition. Dall contacted Ginger Mathis to see if there was anything she could do to help since she is the Pine Valley representative to Dixie REA. She spoke to the power company and she thinks that they might be able to assist us. * The fire hydrant on 1st West & Main Street has been leaking. Evan’s Construction dug up the area around the hydrant. There problem is that the hydrant is one that is obsolete. It will cost $3100 to replace it. Spence motioned to pay to have the hydrant replaced, Jeff seconded the motion and all else were in favor. * Another problem has been trying to contact the telephone company about getting the telephone pedestal moved by the fire station. So far they have not had any success trying to get the phone company to help with moving it. It will cost $1100 to pay someone to move it on our own. Spence made the motion to pay to have the phone pedestal moved and John seconded it, all else were in favor.
Jeff: N/A
Fire Chief – See report. * In regard to the Fire Departments, we have a very good relationship with Brookside and Central. Wendy McCray is the Fire Chief in Central. We are first responders for most of Steve Haluska’s area (Steve is the Chairman for the NW Special Service District.) Gerald is asking Steve for more EMT help. Currently there are not any EMTs in the Central, Baker Dam or Brookside areas. Pine Valley EMTs are the first medical responders. The EMTs of Pine Valley are just volunteers, who offer to go to Central or Brookside out of kindness and concern for life. Frustration often occurs because we feel that we respond to Central or Brookside, but feel that sometimes that response is taken for granted. We do not receive compensation, nor do we feel that Central or Brookside is willing to help us with medical calls either, even though it is something occurring in their towns. Steve said that part of the problem is that they aren’t receiving any of the page-outs. Gerald asked if they could at least man intersections to direct our personnel (and also those of Enterprise Ambulance.) Steve said that part of their problem is that they have a severe shortage of firefighters. Last March, Steve asked the County to page them out if there were any car accidents in their area of Highway 18, but so far that hasn’t come to fruition. He believes the key to them helping us is with dispatch. Steve also suggests that we might think about purchasing GPS guidance to aide us in locating houses that we are called out to in Central or Brookside. Dall asked Steve if Pine Valley could get some reimbursement for our EMT services to them, but Steve did not favorably respond to that question. Beverly added that even backup response, which up to now there has never been any, would be a huge help.
h. Treasurer’s Report – George: See attached report. * The annual insurance bill for the building and its contents is due. Discussion ensued regarding possibly upping the coverage for the contents of the building. The decision was that coverage needed to be increased, but for sake of time the bill would just get paid “as is” now and some time in the next few months an inventory of the contents and replacement costs would be conducted.
2 – Public Comments: Bob Herpel talked to the County Planning and Zoning. They want to change our street names to be numbered streets. Bob was requesting that someone from the PV Board to speak to the County on behalf of our street names. He feels that the people who live here would much rather live on a street with a name reflecting the beauty of our valley.
Spence moved for the meeting to adjourn at 6:50. All were in favor.
The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 5, 2008 at 5:00 P.M.