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, May 21, 2009.

 

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

Treasurer - Sandra Owens; Tax Collector - Kimberly Barber;

            Board Members - Louise Michaels, George Kain & Milton Huston

                        Attorney - Fred Mason, Jr.

 

Absent:             Clerk - Ann Dahlquist; Board Member - James Richards

                       

 

I. – Meeting Called to Order:  7:12 pm by Moderator Fogarty. 

 

II. - Approval of the minutes from the April 16th meeting. 

Moderator Fogarty asked the board if there were any discrepancies to note on the minutes from the April 16th meeting.  If not, he would like to call for a motion to accept them. 

 

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 month of April according to the general ledger as it stands.  Beginning balance April 1st $322,145.47 and the ending balance April 30th $301,080.71. 

 

With May and June figures unavailable, Kim and the Chief have been preparing projected yearend figures for Sandy to work with in preparing the new budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 

 

Geoff Malo has been in to work on the monthly reports.  He will resolve the ongoing problem regarding the monthly adjustments for the payroll liability accounts.

 

The Chief mentioned that the line item for Equipment Replacement (#60300) is showing that it is over.  This is due to the fact that we are waiting for a matching reimbursement grant from the RIDEM.  Hopefully it will be in before June 30th.  Sandy stated that this grant money should be posted to the expense account and not the grant revenue account.

 

Sandy also asked about the telephone expense account.  It is over again this year.  The Chief explained that the telephone box that was replaced earlier in the year at a cost of about $1,300.  Sandy said that the cost of the box should be reclassified to Buildings and Grounds (#60500)  It seems that every year this account is over, so Sandy agrees with the increase in this line item proposed by the Chief and Kim.  The Chief also stated that he has been working on consolidating all of the phone, TV and internet accounts through Verizon.

 

Ray asked about the proposed increase of 45.8% in the line item Employee Fringe Benefits (#60223).  Kim explained that just over the last few weeks there have been over $300,000 in grants submitted.  Therefore there must be enough funds budgeted in this account to cover the Chief’s grant incentive payout, should we receive the grants.  However these funds will not be used if the grants are not received stated Sandy.

 

There was some discussion regarding the new call pay and incentive pay structure.  The board decided to leave the budget amounts as they were last year and form a committee after the annual meeting to figure the actual pay out changes.

 

Ray asked what the total we have for the truck fund to date.  Sandy said, including the proposed amounts in the new fiscal year’s budget, we will have approximately $173,000.  This does not take into consideration any trade-in value.

 

There was then some discussion regarding fuel prices for the upcoming year.  Everyone agreed that the prices will go up again.  The Chief stated that Reichert had given us a price of $2.399

 

Kim stated that she had received information through Senator Fogarty’s office stating that the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax phase-out had not been removed from the state budget, as of yet.  Their budget will not be finalized before our annual meeting, but they do not foresee anything to make them feel it will be eliminated. This revenue item totals approximately $33,520 each year.

 

Also the printer in Kim’s office has to be replaced.  Milton suggested that a leased machine might be the way to go.  Jim suggested that Kim call the Glocester Town Hall to see if there is a vendor under contract with them that we might get a price from.  Different options will be checked into.

 

The only capital expenditure for the upcoming year will be the $30,000 addition to the truck fund.

 

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

 

IV. - Tax Collector’s Report:

The taxes receivable balance is $100,726.40 as of today’s date.  Taxes collected in the month of

April were $4,593.07. 

 

The tax sale has been scheduled for August 19th.  RI Tax Titles, Bridget Williams, will be handling the sale and certified letters have already been sent out.  Kim also sent out past due notices for other non-tax sale accounts.  Louise asked how many properties were on the list this year.  Kim stated 23.  Ray asked about foreclosures.  Kim stated that the only thing she can do is watch the paper, and those foreclosures may not have even gone through.  So there is no way for her to really know how many there actually are.  Sandy commented that the number on the tax sale list sounded quite high this year.

 

Some discussion followed regarding the tax revenue collection figures.  Kim replied that she had pulled some numbers for Sandy.  2006-2007 was our fiscal year transition year, so we can’t really look at those numbers, but 2007-2008 we collected $397,096.99 and so far this year-to-date we have collected $411,113.18.  Sandy stated that the cash flow is very good.

 

Also, Kim has talked to Viviane and her tax roll should be certified the second or third week of June, pending any unforeseen problems.  So as soon as that is done the information will go over to OPAL and our tax bills will go out for July 1st.  Last year the bills didn’t even go out until August 15th.

 

Ray asked about the next revaluation.  Kim said she thinks the next statistical revaluation will be done in three years.  Some discussion followed about revaluation issues and how they could affect the district and taxpayers in general.

 

Louise made a motion to accept the tax collector’s report.  Milton seconded it. 

The motion carried.

 

V. - Chief’s Report:

First, the Chief wanted to wish Sandy a Happy Birthday, her birthday was yesterday.

 

Second, he wanted to congratulate Ray for the successful event held at Bryant University today.  It was Bryant’s 24th Annual World Trade Day and as Director of the John H. Chafee Center for International Business, Ray was a program host.  

 

Captain Randy Brackett and Lieutenant Donna DeConte attended the EMS Expo held at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick.  Each year we bring back a lot of useful information from this event.

 

We received a grant from the RISFL for $3,000.  This money will be used to purchase the materials to build a “Roof Simulator” at the new training site in West Glocester.  Ray asked about the progress at the training site.  The Chief stated that now that the weather has gotten a little bit better it will start moving along, because progress has been slow.  Ray stated that he would be interested in having the board go see it in the future.

 

A new dry hydrant has been installed at the new development being built on Jay Forgue’s property off Snake Hill Road.  An easement was given to the department for its use and it was approved by Attorney Mason.

 

On May 2nd the Glocester Fire Departments Annual Banquet was held at the Thompson Speedway in Connecticut.  Embroidered jackets were given as gifts to all crew and district board members.  A great time was had by all who attended.

 

Our cleaning company, Jani-Tech, was in last week to strip and wax the floors in preparation for the upcoming annual meeting.  They did an outstanding job.

 

On May 14th and 15th the Chief attended the New England Association of Fire Chiefs quarterly meeting in Springfield, MA. 

 

A truck committee meeting was held on May 19th.  At this meeting one of the prospective vendors came by with a demo truck for us to view.

 

Recently our department had four (4) graduates from a Firefighter Level I Class that was held at the South Foster Fire Department.  They were, Privates Andrew Gaiewski, Ryan McAndrews, Charlie Vota and Johnathan Detri.  Next they will continue with the Firefighter Level II Class.

 

A thank you card was received from crew member Linda Nichols for a floral arrangement sent to her on behalf of the board after her recent surgery.  She is now doing very well.

 

Upcoming Events:

The Chief will be attending an Intra-State Mutual Aid Activation System meeting, on behalf of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, on June 2nd, 3rd and 4th  in St. Louis, MO.  In the event of a regional disaster this group will have devised a plan of action.

 

All are invited to attend our annual cookout, which will be held on June 29th at 6:30 pm.

 

Ray asked that a motion be made to recognize and thank the crew members for the time and hard work they contributed to build the new stone flower bed out in front of the station.  Everyone commented on how nice it looked and how it now matched the planting area around the department sign.

George made the motion.  Milton seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

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

 

VI. - Committee Reports:

a.       Rescue Committee – Jim, Chair – addressed in the Chief’s report.

 

VII. - Old Business: 

Call-Pay Review – George Kain – George explained that Kim, the Chief and himself have been working on a plan to revise the pay-out of compensation.  However, a formal recommendation has not been formulated yet.  Some discussion followed.  It was decided that a committee will need to be formed to do further review and to finalize a plan.

 

There will also need to be a committee formed to address the creation of a Policy & Procedure Manual, for which $2,000 has already been appropriated.  Ray believes that this project will take a least a year to complete. 

 

VIII. - New Business: 

Proposed Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Budget = $507,873.

George made a motion to accept the proposed budget for fiscal year 2009-2010. 

Louise seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

Proposed Capital Expenditures Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Budget = $30,000

Louise made a motion to accept the proposed capital expenditures for the fiscal year 2009-2010.  Milton seconded it.  The motion carried.

 

IX. - Public Input:  No audience.

 

X. – Executive Session:  None called.

 

XI. – Adjournment: 

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

The May meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board was adjourned at 8:26 pm.

 

 

The Harmony Fire District Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 10:00 am.

Polls will be open Friday, June 5th, from 5:00 – 8:00 pm and Saturday, June 6th, from 8:00 – 9:45 am.

 

The next meeting of the Harmony Fire District Executive Board

is scheduled for Thursday, 7:00 pm, August 20, 2009.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Kimberly S. Barber

Tax Collector/Secretary