KIOWA COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICTBOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

March 20, 2018 at 7:00 pm

Jay Specht called the meeting to order at 7:13 pm. Those present at the meeting were:

Jay Specht, President

Teresa Witte, Treasurer

Terry Riley, Director

Delton Eikenberg, Director

Karen Jones, Secretary

Marvin Watson, Vice President, was absent due to a prior commitment. Also attending were District Chief A.J. McCracken, A.J. Bolin, Kathy McCracken, Ken Flory, Tim Wolf, Darrell Hollis and Jayce Negley.

Before the formal agenda items were addressed, Debbie Gooden requested a moment to present a heartfelt Thank You to the firefighters and all involved for their work and support in fighting the fire south of town. She brought cinnamon rolls, card and presented a donation as well.

There were no additions to the Agenda. Terry moved to accept the Agenda as submitted, Delton seconded, and the motion carried.

The Minutes from meeting on 3/8/2018 were reviewed by all, and Teresa moved to accept the Minutes with no changes. Terry seconded the motion and the motion carried.

District Fire Chief, AJ McCracken presented several reports:

•He expressed concern at the state of the structure truck at the Haswell station asit is in questionable condition. Several repairs were slated for this truck but he expressed concern about spending funds on a lost cause.

•The brush truck in Haswell is also out of service. Additionally the 330 gallon tank is too small, though the pump is good. The cost to increase tank size to 550 gallon is $786.00,

•The structure truck in Sheridan Lake was donated and the title is currently missing, and he will pursue a lost title replacement title. He said the batteries are dead and other problems as well.

•In the Towner station the 1800 gallon tank is filled off of a well system. The best truck there is 'big blue' a 2000-3000 gallon tanker, along with a couple smaller pumpers with 350-500 gallon tanks. Concern is that there is not a good brush truck located there, and if trucks are brought from other locations there isn't a water system to fill with. To purchase a 5000 gallon tank to sit there would cost $4,000, less if used, and is a consideration.

•Overall, the truck/equipment concerns are many and funds are few. He will look into more options on how to prioritize needs and look into auctions and grants.

•Another concern is that radio batteries are dying too quickly, he said 8-10 may need immediate replacement just in Eads. Several present discussed the wisdom of using Interstate batteries vs Motorola batteries, with the latter having the better reputation for lasting longer. Ken Flory volunteered to help update a list of who has radios. Terry agreed to look into radios available at  auctions.

• Terry made a motion authorizing Teresa to purchase up to 20 batteries with a limit of spending $2,000. Delton seconded the motion and it was approved.
• Then Terry amended his prior motion and instead motioned to give Teresa authority to purchase as many Motorola batteries as possible for the $2,000 limit, with a price limit for each being $125.00. Delton seconded the motion and it was approved.

•Another concern Chief McCracken expressed is how many firefighters in the west end are rural either at home and/or while at work. He is considering allowing them to keep their bunker gear in their car, and considering either a hidden key or a key pad at the station to allow others to help.

•The 'Chief car', aka Bronco, is in dangerous condition with the steering severely loose, 200k+ miles, etc. Options explored include replacing it with a used state patrol car which could be a good replacement command vehicle.

•The cascade system is installed and Weis Fire is coming down to complete inspections. During the last fire the men filled 8-9 bottles in the time it used to take to fill barely 2! A concern is that Eads currently has no high pressure bottles, but the other towns do but the men there have not had training on using high pressure bottles. Terry and Chief McCracken agreed that structure fires are most likely to occur in Eads, and the Eads firefighters have trained for high pressure bottles and thus at least some of them need to be moved to Eads.

Karen discussed the concerns expressed by Commissioner Scott in his email regarding the recent tire purchase.  She shared his email and her response explaining that the District does strive to purchase locally. She suggested that, in the future, we obtain written estimates so that if questions arise in the future we will have better answers.

The towns of Haswell and Eads have signed IGA's, along with the requisite Bill of Sale and inventory lists, and the Board members signed their parts as they were previously agreed to. Jay agreed to work on the Sheridan Lake IGA.

Karen worked with Mandy Brown, CPA to complete the annual Exemption from Audit forms, and explained the letter of employment agreement Mandy submitted. Delton made a motion to approve the ongoing retention of Mandy's services as needed, and Terry seconded, to authorize Jay to sign her letter of engagement. All approved.

Karen discussed the upcoming election on May 8th, and her desire to have a polling place located not just Eads, but also Sheridan Lake and Haswell. Her concern is finding volunteers to man the stations and be trained as judges for all locations. A motion was made by Terry, seconded by Delton, to approve supporting 3 polling locations subject to Karen's ability to find sufficient judges. Approved unanimously.

As part of the effort to move the Eads firefighters monies into a bank account they control, Karen explained that the bank had several detailed requirements in order for this new account to use the District's EIN. In order to meet these requirements, and allow the firefighters to open their bank account, a Resolution was drafted and read fully into the record (see attached). Terry made a motion to approve the Resolution, Delton seconded and all approved unanimously and the Resolution was signed. Karen will facilitate the bank account with firefighters.

The current bills pending were reviewed and Terry moved, Teresa seconded a motion to pay the bills as listed in the financial report presented by Karen. All approved and checks were signed.

Consideration of the By Laws is next on the agenda, but time is late and Jay suggested that Board Members take time to carefully review them prior to the next meeting. He also brought up a concern that he discussed with Terry regarding having volunteer firefighters serve on the Board. While it is legal according to the District's attorney for volunteer firefighters to serve on the Board, it is not recommended because of the potential conflict that could occur on an incident call. This will be considered further.

In order to give sufficient time for consideration of the By Laws it was agreed that the Board should hold a work session on April 3rd, 2018 at 5:30pm in the courthouse meeting room. Motion for same made by Teresa, seconded by Delton and approved.

A motion to adjourn was made by Teresa, seconded by Terry and approved, the meeting being adjourned at 9:48 pm.

The next meeting, other than the work session, will be April 17, 2018 at 7:00pm at the Courthouse.

/s/ Karen Jones, Secretary

/s/ Jay Specht, President

FINANCIAL REPORT FOR BOARD MEETING 3/20/2018

BALANCE AS OF 3/20/2018:           $40,091.13

INCOME:none