HARMONY FIRE DISTRICT

P.O. Box 360 – 194 Putnam Pike

Harmony, R.I.  02829

 

The regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was held at the Harmony Fire Station on Thursday, August 21, 2008.

 

Present:            Chief Stuart Pearson; Moderator - Raymond Fogarty, Jr.;

            Treasurer - Sandra Owens; Tax Collector - Kimberly Barber; 

            Clerk - Ann Dahlquist; Attorney - Fred Mason, Jr.;

            Board Members - Louise Michaels, Milton Huston & George Kain

                         

Absent:             Board Member - James Richards

 

I. – Meeting Called to Order:  7:00 pm by Moderator Fogarty. 

 

II. - Approval of the minutes from the May 22nd meeting. 

Moderator Fogarty asked the board if there were any discrepancies to note on the minutes from the May 22nd meeting.  If not, he would like to call for a motion to accept them.  Please note that George abstained from this vote due to his absence from the May meeting.

 

Milton made a motion to accept the minutes.  Louise seconded the motion.  The motion carried.

 

III. - Treasurer’s Report:

Sandy presented her report for the months of May and June.  Beginning balance May 1st $235,934.81 and the ending balance June 30th $175,024.34.  Of this fiscal year end closing balance approximately $66,000 is in the truck fund, $14,000 is in the salary continuation account and $94,000 is in the general fund.  As for the individual line items in June, Sandy still needs to meet with Kim to go over a few of them that look odd.  Over all about 95% of the budget was expended in fiscal year 2007-2008.  Final year end reports will be forwarded to our auditor sometime in September.

 

Louise made a motion to accept the May and June treasurer’s reports.  Milton seconded it. 

The motion carried.

 

IV. - Tax Collector’s Report:

Taxes receivable balance is $408,593.12 as of today’s date.  Taxes collected in the month of

May were $5,685.86, in June $3,021.51 and in July $2,446.17.  Third party billing monies collected in the month of May totaled $8,851.56, in June $652.50 and in July $18,522.03.  There was a quarterly motor vehicle tax payment of $8,379.88 received from the state in May.

 

All of the 2008 tax bills were mailed by August 12th and the tax levy totaled $440,560.67.

There was a problem in the initial preparation of approximately 300 tax bills that contained exemption amounts.  A letter was mailed to all of these taxpayers, along with their corrected invoices.

 

Sandy asked Kim when a tax sale would be scheduled.  She stated she had not looked at it yet, with the tax bills just having been sent out.

George asked about the tax exemption workshop group.  He would like to be part of it. Ray said anyone who would like to participate is welcome to.  The group would be meeting again before our next monthly meeting.

 

George made a motion to accept the tax collector’s report.  Milton seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

V. - Chief’s Report:

In May the Chief attended a Homeland Security Grant Workshop for a grant that the department has received to purchase 800 MHz radios.

 

Additionally, we have also received a grant from Senator Fogarty for $1,350.

 

On June 8th the Harmony Fire Department hosted the Northern RI Firemen’s League Memorial Service and Parade.  It was a great day, although warm, and we received many wonderful comments and compliments.

 

June 17th through the 23rd the New England Association of Fire Chiefs held its annual expo in Springfield, MA.  A few members of the department, as well as board member Jim Richards, attended this event.  The Deputy Chief also went to a conference there.

 

On June 24th the Chief and Deputy Chief attended “Use of NFPA 1 and 101” at the RI Fire Academy.  This class was sponsored by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

 

June 28th the Deputy Chief attended “Live Burn Train the Trainer” and is now certified in NFPA 1403 through the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

 

On July 7th the department held its annual family cookout.  The event was a great success, with many family members in attendance.

 

July 24th through the 26th a group from the department attended the FireHouse Expo in Baltimore, MD.

Much research was done at this event concerning the upcoming purchase of the new rescue.

 

On August 4th Kim did a computer workshop at the departments Monday night drill.  The Chief also wanted to make a note at this time that since we have made the transfer to computerized reporting the third party revenue has increased dramatically.  Kim stated that the total collected at fiscal year end was $71,613.79.  The figure for the prior year was not available at the meeting, but Sandy agreed it had increased considerably.  The Chief credits the computerized reporting system with this increase.  Things that were being missed before and not being reported properly, are now being accurately reported and billed.

 

We have also submitted a 50/50 matching grant to DEM.  The total we submitted was $4,000, so the district would pay $2,000 and the grant would be $2,000, if it is awarded to us. 

 

The Chief also wanted to note that since the beginning of this fiscal year (July 1st) the department has done a total of 75 runs and 50 of those runs were in the month of July.  

 

Work will be started on the kitchen renovation project within the next week.

 

This October the Chief would like to sponsor an “Alternative Heating Workshop” open to the public.  It would be an informational workshop covering all of the dos & don’ts on different heating options.  Topics covered would potentially be wood, pellets, gas, coal, kerosene, electric, etc.  Kim and the Chief will be working on this in conjunction with the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Some discussion followed.  Everyone agreed that it was a wonderful idea and are looking forward to attending.

 

The Chief also passed around thank you cards received for arrangements sent by the board to Retired Chief Charles Aldrich and his wife Edie and to member Milton Aldrich and his partner Susan Walsh.  These arrangements were sent to acknowledge the passing of their mother Bertha (Williams) Aldrich.

 

Also, the Chief made mention that last evening the wife of Chepachet Fire Departments Retired Chief, Jigs Chase, passed away. 

 

The Chief also presented the board with copies of used fire apparatus sale magazines, as had been requested at the last meeting. 

 

Louise made a motion to accept the chief’s report.  Milton seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

VI. - Committee Reports:

a.   Building Committee – Committee Chair Milton stated there was nothing new to report.

b.      Rescue Committee – Committee Chair Jim was not present to make a report.  However the Chief stated that there had been no new progress.

 

VII. - Old Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

VIII. - New Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

IX. - Public Input:  No audience.

 

X. – Executive Session:  None called.

 

XI. – Adjournment: 

Ray made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Milton seconded it.  The motion carried. 

The August meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at 7:20 pm.

 

The next meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board

is scheduled for 7:00 pm, Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at the Harmony Fire Department.

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

C:\Documents and Settings\Kim\My Documents\MY SCANS\Signature - Kimberly S. Barber.jpg

 

Kimberly S. Barber

Tax Collector/Secretary