ALTA VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER’S ASSOCIATION

MEETING MINUTES

AUGUST 28, 2013, 19:00

1.Call to Order – meeting called to order by President Daria Snider at 19:04. Also present: Ed Snider, Jill Bechtel, James Davenport, and Chief Rich Thickens.

2.Proposition for Membership - Michael Crum, CERT/Support – tabled until next meeting, as the members present do not know who Michael Crum is.

3.Minutes of June Meeting – sent out via e-mail 06/27/13. No meeting in July due to lack of quorum. Motion by Jill Bechtel to accept the minutes as presented. 2nd by Ed Snider. Motion carried.

4.Report of Treasurer – report presented by Treasurer Ed Snider. The current balance in the Association account is $11,873.56. This includes the deposit of the $1,500.00 donation from Nestle Waters, $60.00 from sales of address signs, and $126.44 in boot donations from the 4th of July hydration tent. During the months of July and August, we spent $80.49 to order fire awareness materials, and $512.78 to order the CERT T-shirts.

5.Reading of Communications and Bills – none.

6.Report of Committees and Officers

a.SOP Committee – tabled as Lisa Russell and Colin Carmichael are not present.

7.Unfinished Business

a.Sales/Income Tax for events - Chief Thickens received non-filing delinquent notice from state. This issue has been resolved, per Chief Thickens.

b.Attorney General Registry – pending, per Chief Thickens

c.4th of July Hydration Tent/Parade – well attended. Distributed approximately 24 cases of water, received $126 in donations. Thanks to everyone who participated.

d.Dodge maintenance – discussion of ongoing maintenance issues with the Dodge due to lack of use and improper storage. Suggestion was made to develop a list of maintenance needs with cost/benefit analysis to present to the board, along with a regular maintenance/operation schedule. Also look into better storage facility for the long-term.

James reported that there are two big items to be addressed on a short-term basis – replacing the tire tubes, and dealing with the brakes. All agreed that the brakes, as a safety issue are the primary concern. James stated that there are two wheel cylinders – and you have to get wheel cylinder kits. He is going to price out the wheel cylinder kits on-line, and then potentially talk to George in town about supervising the repairs. He will also price out jack stands for storing the Dodge. As Chief Thickens noted, the Dodge could get really expensive to maintain really fast, so we need to be realistic about whether or not we want to keep it. One idea that was floated was to have a fundraiser specifically for maintaining the Dodge. This is something that needs more discussion later.

e.National Night Out Community Block Party, held Tuesday, August 6, 6-10 pm. Placer County Sheriff’s Office, 32, 33, Church, Store and Deli all participating. Coordinating with Colfax. Thanks to everyone who participated – great attendance and feedback from community.

f.Received $1,500 donation from Nestle Waters.

g.Apparatus maintenance checks – need more participation from firefighters. White board with rotation schedule posted. Operators – please check the board and complete your assigned inspections. As James noted, we need to have each apparatus checked AT LEAST once a month – if it could be done 3 times per month, that would be ideal. Everyone please chip in as much as you can!

8.New Business

a.Apparatus Status Board - discussed above.

b.Fire Department Ball Caps – ordered from Galls. Should be here in 1-1.5 weeks.

c.CERT T-shirts – ordered and in.

d.Altoids T-shirts – Jill proposed that we place the minimum order of these (since we already have a lot of other T-shirts), and see if they sell before ordering more. Chief Thickens seconded. Motion carried. President Snider will work with Lisa Russell to implement.

e.Board/Auxiliary Appreciation Dinner in December – tabled until next meeting.

f.DF Pool Back to School Potluck, held Thursday, August 1, 4-7 pm – went really well. Not many members of the public there, but Chief Thickens, James, Davenport, and Colin Carmichael were there, among others. Thanks to those that participated!

g.Helicopter Training being rescheduled due to new property owners.

g.Long Range Plan delivered to board at August board meeting – well received. This was e-mailed to the firefighters by Lisa Russell on August 4, 2013.

h.Maintenance Weekends – tabled until next meeting.

i.New computer for firefighter’s office and computer software upgrades. Ed Snider (who provides volunteer IT support for the department) noted that it is becoming more and more challenging to keep the laptop in the firefighter’s office running, because it is so old. He recommended that since the laptop is not being used anywhere apart from the firefighter’s office, that it could be replaced by a relatively inexpensive refurbished laptop that has more than enough memory and processing capability to do everything that’s needed. James noted that in his experience, refurbished machines are not as reliable. There was general consensus that a new desktop with a large monitor and speakers should be purchased. Ed also discussed the fact that the operating systems on the various fire department computers are different, and he is having compatibility problems with the network infrastructure (routers, printers, etc). He proposed to upgrade the remaining laptop computer to Windows 7 Pro. Chief Thickens proposed that Ed purchase a desktop computer with a minimum Core i5 processor, monitor, and speakers, plus upgrade the remaining laptop to Windows 7 all with a maximum spending limit of $1,000. James seconded. Motion carried.

9.For the Good of the Order - none

10.Adjournment - meeting adjourned at 20:10 by President Daria Snider.