Gold Hill Fire Protection District Board Meeting 11-20-14

Notes by Gretchen Diefenderfer

Next Meeting will be Thursday, December 18, 2014, 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center.

Chair Rich Lopez called the meeting to order. Board members Paul Garabedian, Bobby Vrba, Secretary Dave Sturtz, Chief Chris Finn and community member Gretchen Diefenderfer were in attendance.

Acceptance of last meeting’s minutes was deferred until a quorum of the members present at the last meetings could approve them.

Chief’s Report – Chris reported that a letter from the State Auditor’s office will arrive in March while he is out of town. It is an application for a routing exemption from audit and will go to our CPA, who will email it to the Board. It needs to be printed, signed at the March Board meeting and mailed.

He also reported that we have a good truck possibility. Jim White of Brindley Mountain Fire Apparatus in Union Grove, Alabama has found a 2007 Pierce GMC for approx. $100,00, which is what we have budgeted for a new truck. It’s 22’4”, so it will fit in our barn and has only $3,324 miles on it. We would need a bigger tank, however – we want to be able to carry 500 gallons of water – and they will look into whether this conversion is feasible.

Calls – On the 18^th, there was an unattended campfire, on the 1^th a false alarm in Sunshine, and on the 11^th a medical call at the bottom of Lickskillet. Chief Chris O’Brien of Lefthand and AMR handled the call as the vehicle blocked our access. On the 17^th there was an upside down jeep down Lefthand from Ward in a driveway leaking a little gas and oil

Chris also reported that he’s talked with Bob at Astral Communications about the new audio pagers and they will be in the mail – we’ll get 10-12 this year and 10-12 next year.

Training continues – there will be a car fire training with the 3 departments on Saturday, December 13 (field trainings are the 2^nd Saturday of each month).

Dave asked why we still have the old SCBAs around and Chris said it’s because we haven’t figured out how to dispose of them etc.

The Firefighter’s Ball is December 10^th at the Inn.

Old Business – Training Flyer – Rich will email it to Chris who will have flyers made up. The Department is looking for new members – we need help and all are welcome. There are many ways to contribute, from actual firefighters to people willing to help organize.

Dry Hydrants in Lefthand – Rich has given Chris the list of people he has received approval from. Chris will set up a meeting with Ted Plank of the County Roads Department to coordinate our work with the creek work. Rich will continue to check out sites and people willing to grant access.

Insurance Policy – was renewed with no problems.

Rich thanked Rick for chairing the last meeting and Gretchen for taking the minutes, and the meeting was adjourned.