Fire Commissioners – Dec 18, 2014 – Meeting Minutes

Cotuit Fire District – Board of Fire Commissioners

Notice of meetings of District Department and all District Boards

As required by Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2009 which amends MGL Chapter 30 A

December 18, 2014 Meeting of the Board of Fire Commissioners

Attendance: Fire Commissioner Mycock, Fire Commissioner Hadley, Fire Commissioner Nailer, and Chief Christopher Olsen

Absent:

 Fire Commissioner Mycock opened meeting at 1300 hours.

Amy Kates and Barbara Trainor Tessier are recording

Have two sets of minutes, one from July 24 meeting and one from last meeting on November 25.  Fire Commissioner Mycock asked for the minutes to be reviewed and for the July audio to be sent out.  Motion made to approve July minutes and also November minutes, was seconded and approved.

Old Business

Monthly Activities

Chief Olsen reported the Firehouse activities from November 1 to November 30 had 38 EMS calls and 37 Fire calls, which is about 10-15 more than last year.  Will give the report to the committee from the Firehouse software to review.  Some calls are coverage and mutual aid to Mashpee (about 60 runs), not as much as before as Mashpee has hired more Firefighters and communicating on air more effectively.   Commission Mycock asked how the relationship with COMM is going, Chief said it is close to equal mutual aid, though we may utilize them a little more with maybe 15-20 calls a year.  COMM doesn’t use our ambulance as much as they have 3 ambulances plus one the side and have plenty of personnel to cover their calls.

Chief Olsen reported the Comstar report and will distribute some copies for review.  Chief Olsen has two in hand, one regarding the last meeting were the Committee asked Chief Olsen to investigate the amount of $3,666.76.  The Comstar report states that it is a write off dating from 2012 to up to now of all the catch up’s that were written off that had slipped through the cracks that are now paid.  September and October had zero write offs, November had $101 in write offs, and as of Nov 2014 the remaining balance is $49,526.15.  The net commitments are $12,940.77 with zero write-offs.  We are in the 69.85% of collecting each month.  On the report is a minus retraction for a $20 hardship reimbursement.  The other report in hand is for October. Commissioner Mycock suggested on the next agenda put on increasing collections percentage.  Chief Olsen did put a call out to look into the increase and is waiting for a call back.  Chief Olsen will email the numbers back to Mycock once he received some numbers.

New Business

Truck committee:

Ambulance will be arriving in mid January.  The Treasurer will have a check ready once it is in North Attleboro.   We are saving money by picking up the ambulance ourselves once it is in state, plus after reviewing the specs (eliminating a few items didn’t feel we needed such as the oxygen center (already have one in place) and other items) and resigned the sales agreement which then saved about $6,000 bringing the total to about $230,000        May need to add a few items once the ambulance is on site if it is earmarked for the ambulance.  Chief will look investigate.

Fleet is aging immensely.  The older truck 265 is doing better than 263.  The Exterior of 263 doesn’t seem to have the paint that holds off the rust.  The crossbeams that hold the 750-gallon water tank are starting to corrode and weaken the bar. Chief called Pierce plus asked their mechanic to take a look at it and see if can tack weld it without taking off the water tank.  Still have $17,000 plus for rehab, but waiting until the ambulance is in so two trucks are not out.  Fire Commissioner Mycock suggested that a truck engineer to take a look at 263 to separate buying the buying of two trucks focusing most importantly on the safety margin. Most places do have engineer on site and Chief Olsen will call Minuteman to take a look at how structurally sound both 263 & 265 are.  Chief suggested looking into a lease or lease to own for a new truck, as both vehicles are due for replacement soon. Pierce offers a customized lease option.  The Fire Chief Association has a bidding process, but Pierce has a better leasing offer.  Sandwich Fire leases two vehicles, one custom and one off the floor.  Hyannis fire leases their ambulances with a lease to own within three years.  Fire Commissioner Mycock feels a short-term lease may be a good option as it would separate getting two vehicles so close together and would like to start moving on this and get leasing information.   Chief Olsen mentioned that the Line budget for maintenance is going up, and haven’t yet received an estimate for welding 263 yet.  Chief Olson said the Truck Committee is going to pick a date in January to meet and start looking into all the options and details of getting a lease.  The mechanic also offered to come to meeting to discuss what would go into fixing the machines.

Budget

Starting to be put together will provide a draft in mid-January.  Our running budget right now is on target, some line items are over, but otherwise on target at 46% overall.

Fire Commissioner Nailer mentioned the Toy for Tot drive where the Firefighters raised $2,000 in cash, 645 toys and lots of food that was delivered to food pantry’s to help people in our area.  Very proud of the job the Cotuit FF did and the difference they have made.  Chief Olsen mentioned that in November the Firefighters had a bowling tournament and raised $3,000 for St Jude.

Next Meeting: January 22, 2015 at 13:00 hours

Public Sections not listed on Agenda-no comments

Motion Made by Commissioner Mycock to adjourn the meeting, was seconded to end the meeting.

Download a printed copy of the minutes