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, January 15, 2009.

 

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, James Richards & Milton Huston                            

 

Absent:             Board Member -  George Kain

 

I. – Meeting Called to Order:  7:07 pm by Moderator Fogarty. 

 

II. - Approval of the minutes from the November 20th meeting. 

Moderator Fogarty asked the board if there were any discrepancies to note on the minutes from the November 20th meeting.  If not, he would like to call for a motion to accept them. 

 

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

 

III. - Treasurer’s Report:

Sandy presented her reports for the months of October and November.  Beginning balance October 1st $476,951.79 and the ending balance October 31st $453,134.86.  Sandy asked about balance in the grants received account and the $565.37 received from West Glocester Fire District.  Kim stated that the negative balance in the grant account is due to the expense being paid for a reimbursement grant.  She will look at the general ledger to refresh her memory about the $565.37 from WGFD.  It was probably a fire prevention group purchase reimbursement. Otherwise there were no expenses out of the ordinary to report.

 

Beginning balance November 1st $453,134.86 and the ending balance November 30th $441,354.74.  A car tax payment was received from the state.  Also, there was an insurance payment made that seems to have made us over in that item.  This will need to be looked in to. 

 

Ray asked about the estimates for oil and gas expense.  We had budgeted $5 and $6 per gallon.  We will need to look into these line items.

 

Jim made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report.  Louise seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

IV. - Tax Collector’s Report:

The taxes receivable balance is $121,251.47 as of today’s date.  Taxes collected in the month of

November were $10,655.06 and in December were $4,838.37. 

 

Third party billing monies collected in the month of November totaled $6,328.37 and in December totaled $4,750.56. 

 

Ray asked if she could put together a collections analysis, comparing the first six months of this fiscal year with the same six month period in the last fiscal year. Sandy asked to show how old the past due items were.  Ray also asked if we could look at the budget figures for the first six months of the fiscal year at the next meeting as well.  He believes we look pretty good so far, Sandy agreed, but he would just like to go over it completely.

 

Additionally, we received revenue a nice size commercial plan review fee in December, over $1,000.  This was quite out of the ordinary, residential plan review fees are usually small.

 

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

 

V. - Chief’s Report:

At the end of the month of November we held our annual tree lighting.  It was quite a success.  We were very fortunate to have received many donations this year, much attributed to the extra effort from Kim. She put a lot of work into the event.

 

Work has been done on the radio towers.  There is still one more tower to come on-line at the middle school.  Once this is complete we will have four radio towers in the town of Glocester. 

 

The Chief conducted interviews for the open Fire Chief position in Middletown. 

 

The Chief and the Deputy have been attending NFPA exam preparation classes.  When complete they will be taking an exam for certification as Fire Marshal Inspector’s.

 

Historian, Betty Mencucci, has visited us here at the station.  She is conducting research within the Harmony archives in order to put together a video of Glocester history.

 

The Chief has been attending Intrastate mutual aid meetings.  The intent of this group is to organize a plan among RI and neighboring state in case of a catastrophic event taking place.  These meetings are being held in conjunction with the Rhode Island Association of Fire Chiefs.

 

There will be an article published by the International Association of Fire Chiefs about our Strategic Plan.  The article will appear in their Winter Newsletter.  As soon as it is available we will obtain a copy for the board to view.  Ray asked if the Chief would be able to get extra copies to have on hand at our annual meeting this year.

 

In early January the Chief appeared in an ‘Elder Independence’ television spot for Cox Cable.  The production went so well they are planning to do a second spot sometime in March.  While there he tried to go over some ideas for possible grants in the future.

 

The RI State Firemen’s League held its Annual meeting here last night.  Many nice comments were made about the appearance of the station. 

 

The kitchen renovation is complete and the painting of Kim’s office and the hallway shall be done soon.

 

George Kain spoke with the Chief just the other day and stated that he is working on setting up a meeting for the Tax Exemption Committee.

 

The Chief has spoken with Attorney Mason regarding the street light and cistern issues.  Attorney Mason then stated that upon researching the Charter it is his opinion that the district is not obligated to supply lighting to any taxpayers upon their request.  It is however at the district’s discretion to have lighting placed if it is an issue for fire safety. As for the cisterns, since our last meeting the Chief has sat down with the town planner and discussed this issue.  The ordinance had never moved forward since it was discussed back in 2005.  The town planner suggested that the three Glocester Fire Chiefs get together and draft something for him to present to the Planning Committee.  Then a town ordinance could be put in place for cisterns.  The board agreed unanimously that this would be the correct way to handle the issue.

 

Jim asked the Chief if he had any updates on the new training facility.  The Chief stated the property had been cleared, next they will be purchasing a storage container.  There will be a meeting between the three Chiefs and three Deputies soon to discuss the project.  Ray suggested that funding from FM Global might be able to be obtained to help with this project.

 

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

 

VI. - Committee Reports:

a.         Building Committee – Milton, Chair, stated the project is now complete. Members of the association were present to give their report of the project.  Marc Swartz stated that eight department members spent upwards of 37 hours doing demo work, sanding, staining, etc.  This work totaled a savings of approximately $1,900.  Additionally, the association paid $2,414 for the new kitchen appliances.  These included a side-by-side refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave.  Ray thanked the members for all of their hard work, above and beyond what they already volunteer for at the station.  A formal thank you will be issued to the Association and department members at the district’s annual meeting.  Originally it was supposed to be a 50/50 project, but the project had been quite scaled back from the original plan.  He feels that what they have provided is sufficient and the district should not need to ask them for anything further.  The painting of the hallway and office will be expensed under this project, since the original plan had called for the renovation of that area anyway.

 

b.         Rescue Committee – Jim,Chair – Research is being done, but there is nothing new to report.  Ray asked that a short report on this project be presented at our next board meeting.  The Chief did report that he had spoken to Mrs. Nugent regarding the grant request made to the Greggson foundation.  We missed out on funding for last year’s grant appropriation, but will be at the top of the list of applicants this year.

 

VII. - Old Business:  Addressed throughout reports.

 

VIII. - New Business:  Ray asked about the E-Rate program.  The Chief said he had not heard of it.  Ray gave him some paperwork on the program and asked him to check and see if the district might be eligible. 

 

Another program Ray had heard of was the RI Economic Development Corporation – Renewable Energy Fund.  The district might possibly be eligible for an energy consumption study.  Then, having had this done, we may be eligible in the future for additional grants and maybe some of the projected federal stimulus money.

 

IX. - Public Input:  Association members present had already addressed the board.

 

X. – Executive Session:  None called.

 

XI. – Adjournment: 

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

The January meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at 7:48 pm.

 

The next meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board

is scheduled for Thursday, 7:00 pm, February 19, 2009 at the Harmony Fire Department.

 

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

 

Kimberly S. Barber

Tax Collector/Secretary