Meeting Minutes

Pursuant to Title 29, Delaware Code, Chapter 100, the Delaware Council on Volunteer Fire Service, created by House Bill 190 of Delaware’s 141st General Assembly, held a meeting in Kent County on Tuesday, December 17, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. at the Haslet Armory at 122 William Penn Street, Dover, DE 19901 in the first floor conference room #133. The meeting was called to order at 9:01 a.m. and was attended by:

Valerie Watson, Department of Finance

Joseph Zeroles, President, Delaware Volunteer Firefighter’s Association (DVFA)

Richard Perillo, New Castle County Firefighter’s Association

Michael Layton, Kent County Firefighter’s Association

Ray Stevens, Sussex County Firefighter’s Association

Warren Jones, DVFA

Alan Robinson, DE State Fire Prevention Commission

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am. A motion to approve the minutes of the December 17, 2014 meeting was made by Mr. Perillo and seconded by Mr. Stevens. The motion carried.

Status of Revolving Loan Fund

Valerie Watson reported on the status of the Revolving Loan Fund. There are 13 loans outstanding, the principal of which represents an amount totaling $1.2 million. All loans are current. Total loan payments received in June 2015 equaled $128,365.11. Ms. Watson was unable to provide the amount of the total payments received in December 2015 and the available balance in the Fund due to being out of the office for a family emergency. She informed the council that she would provide the information to them by email after the meeting.

Review and approval of loan applications

One loan application was presented to the Council for review and approval. The application was from the Harrington Fire Company and the request was for $250,000.00 to purchase a new pumper and accessory equipment. The term is ten years with semi- annual payments of $13,767.60. All documents presented were in order and Mr. Robinson made a motion for approval of the loan application. The motion was seconded by Mr. Stevens. The motion carried, with Mr. Layton abstaining. Ms. Watson will contact the fire company to inform the president of the approval and to discuss next steps for disbursing the funds.

Mr. Robinson informed the Council that the Citizen Hose Fire Company had submitted a loan application on December 10th and had hoped that the Council would be able to take action on the request at today’s meeting. However, the application was not received in time for it to be presented to the Council for action. After some discussion, the Council decided to provide a conditional approval of the loan request, contingent upon the following: Ms. Watson would perform a complete review of the application, provide an email summary of the request to Council members and attest that all supporting documentation and application are in accordance with the loan program guidelines. Council members would be required to respond to the email with their approval of the loan application. The motion was made by Mr. Perillo and seconded by Mr. Zeroles. The motion carried, with Mr. Robinson abstaining.

Other Business

Ms. Watson welcomed Mr. Zeroles, the new DVFA president to the Council, who replaced Mr. Guzzo. She also informed the Council that the annual report that must be filed by October 15th of each calendar year was submitted electronically to the Governor and members of the General Assembly by the established deadline. A copy of the report was also provided to the Council membership.

Revision to Program Guidelines, Section 2.4, Maximum loan amount and terms – The Council discussed the need to expand the list of new equipment that can be purchased with loan funds and agreed to amend the guidelines to add “Tankers” to “Rescue” and “Pumpers” under the “Apparatus (New)” category. The motion was made by Mr. Layton and seconded by Mr. Zeroles. The motion carried.

After a motion to adjourn, which was made by Mr. Stevens and seconded by Mr. Perillo, the meeting ended at approximately 9:35 a.m.