Cedar Mountain Fire Protection District
Minutes
November 10, 2018
3620 Mammoth Creek Road,
Duck Creek Village, UT. 84762
Board Members Present:	
Brad Robbins, Chairman
Diane Adams, District Clerk
Charlie Duvall, Treasurer 
Bob Shackleford, Member
Charles Hightower, Member 

It is November 10, 2018 at 10:00 am.  This is the Cedar Mountain Fire Protection District Governing Board meeting for the month of November.  We are now in session. 

Chairman Comments:

Chairman Robbins talked about the UASD Conference that Diane Adams, Frank Gagliardi, and himself attended these last few days in Layton, UT.
There were lots of new bills that were passed, some affecting the local districts and he has asked Member Hightower to look into and report at next meeting. 
District Clerk Adams stated that off the Utah State Website all the passed bills can be found.
Discussion of bills continued.

Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the October 13, 2018 meeting minutes was made by District Clerk Adams.
Motion was seconded by Bob Shackleford
Motion Carries.

Treasurers Report:
Treasurer Duvall gave the following report.

Mountain America			456,980.98
Snow Emergency Fund		246,601.97
Snow Removal Funds		  95,895.12
Zions Fire Checking		401,268.69
Zions					255,989.73
Total Checking/Savings	     1,456,736.49

Jim Pollock, Elk Ridge asked for copies of the reports.

District Clerks Report: Diane Adams
District Clerk wanted to clarify the snow removal contracts.  She stated from October thru June when the snow contractors are paid, they bid for the particular jobs, we hold out 10% of what that amount is and the 90% left we divide that by the number of months to pay them.

The expenditures this month were all within budget. In previous meeting it has been stated there are some general ledgers that we have spent more money on, but the complete category that it is included in is under budget.  The fact that we look at these reports on a monthly basis, rather than quarterly, puts us in a really good place to make the 2019 budget.  We were able to look at these numbers and drill down as to whether there were specific general ledgers that we need to put a little more money in or a little less money in.

We have one major purchase left this year and that is the purchase of this property. This may or may not happen this year, but there is enough money in Capital Improvements to cover the purchase. We are waiting on the County to tell us exactly how much it will be.  We want to see exactly where our boundaries are. We were on a lease from the Forestry Service for free that ended in 2018 and the Forestry Service sold 90 acres including the land this fire station sits onto Kane County.
Conservation continued from the audience and board with a thorough explanation of the land acquisition between the Forest Department, Kane County and Kane County Water Conservancy.


Chiefs Report:  Captain Frank Gigliardi -Chief on Vacation
Response:
Since our last Board Meeting we have responded to 8 calls for service 
4 Medical calls, two of which were MVA extrications
3 Fire calls,  
1 Public Assist call 
Just as a side note: last year all total of 186 calls, this year we have had 247 calls with a month and three quarters to go.

Fleet:
Vehicle Maintenance:
Weekly rig and equipment checks were performed.
Tender-71 is out of service due to a fuel pump issue and has been transported to Baird Diesel in Orderville for repair.
Engine-71 is out of service due to a transfer case issue and has been transported to Baird Diesel in Orderville for repair.
Engine-74, Wildland Engine is in the Strawberry Community Center for winter storage. 
Tender-72 is stored for the winter at Station 2.
Rescue-70, Engine-77 and Engine-72 are in-service and currently assigned to Station 1.

Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser
The remaining Stop the Bleed Public Access Stations are still in their original locations with the AEDs placed throughout the district.  The monthly inspections of both the AEDs and Stop the Bleed Public Access Stations have been completed for the month of November.

 Classic Air Medical
As of November 1, 2018, Classic Air Medical moved their air ambulance from the airport in Kanab.  The air ambulance has been moved to an airport in Page Arizona.  Classic Air Medical can still respond to EMS calls in our area but they will no longer be the closest available air ambulance regarding flight time.  Life Flight has an air ambulance staged at the St. George airport and is now the closest available regarding flight time.  That being said our personnel have been instructed to ask for the closest available air ambulance, dispatch will contact both companies and request the closest available resource.  
 
Combination Fire Department
Shift changes have been made effective November 3rd of this year.  The changes were put in place to strengthen crew integrity by placing more experienced members with newly hired members.  We still have a vacant position on B-Shift but have covered that position for the month of November with a combination of volunteer and career members.  Chief Tuttle is exploring the option of filling the vacant position for the months of December - February with a temporary position.
Currently the shifts are made up of the following:
(A-Shift)	
Adam Scott;  
McKay Leavitt 
(B-Shift)    
Tristan Tuttle;    
(vacant position)   
(C-Shift)
Michael Niemann;
Michael Ahlstrom
                                                  
Training 
A Fire Instructor I Course was completed in October and was completed by six of our members; McKay Leavitt, Cheryl Tuttle, Jason Thompson, Michael Niemann, Josh Sommers and Kyra Tuttle.  All successfully passed their psychomotor exams and are awaiting their results for their written exam.
A Hazardous Materials Operations course began last weekend and will be on going until December 1st.  Enrolled in this class are eight of our members: Alan Zellhoefer, Tyler Beaulieu, Micah Napier, Brett & Brian Barsness, Josh Sommers and Patrick & Amber Mahler.
 
Rosenbauer Timberwolf  Pumpers
We are still waiting for our new Timberwolf Pumpers.  We received pictures of the two pumpers at their current stage of production.  They are a combination of wildland and structure engines, so we can use them to respond to any type of fire. Pictures of our new engines in the stage of completion they are in. The latest estimated time of delivery is some time in the middle to the end of December.  We received a FEMA grant to purchase the two new engines two years ago.  We contracted for these new engines 17 months ago and they were due in August.
Jim Pollock from Elk Ridge ask the cost to us for the engines.
Acting Chief Gagliardi stated we did not know the exact cost due to the manufacture is in the penalty stage right now because they are late and that is good news to us as it save us $200.00 a day that they are late.  It is in the neighborhood of $45000.00 for the two.  The total purchase for the two was about $800,000.00.  The grant was right close to $750,000.00 for the two.  Our portion has decreased every day.
Charles Hightower told Captain Gagliardi to tell the audience why they are late.
Captain Gagliardi stated that Rosenbauer is the manufacture of emergency vehicles but mostly fire engines. Last summer and this summer there have been a lot of fires, fires are still going on in California which has taken a toll on the equipment.  Rosenbauer is seeing a significant up take in the numbers of the vehicles they need to manufacture and repair.

Trunk R Treat 
The Trunk R Treat event was successful this year with eleven members attending and representing CMFPD.  We were tasked with road closures as well as manning a fire department candy station. A lot of people took exceptions to CMFPD closing the roads for the safety of the children, until they realized there were hundreds of kids out there all over the roads.


Physical Fitness
Two pieces of equipment were purchased to aid in maintaining firefighter physical fitness during the winter months.  Both pieces of equipment are designed to maintain cardio fitness for the firefighters.  A treadmill and an elliptical machine were purchased used, for a total of $900.00.  
Physical fitness is a concern nationally among fire organizations and the number one cause of fire ground fatalities is cardiac related due to physical exertion.  These two pieces of equipment will allow for physical training and will be required of all career members just as any other required training to maintain standards and run ready operations.  The intent is also to allow volunteer members the opportunity to utilize the equipment in an effort to maintain their physical fitness and reduce fire ground related injuries and or fatalities due to physical exertion.
Future grant opportunities will aid in the acquisition of strength training equipment as well as state of the art cardio equipment.  With the future addition to Station 1 or the construction of Station 3, Chief Tuttle plans on setting aside room for a gym to be used for physical fitness.  This would be an attraction for volunteer members to be at the station maintaining their physical fitness.  Likewise this would allow for better response times from our volunteer members that are at the station training on physical conditioning when the emergency incident is paged out.

Christmas Party 2018
We have begun selling tickets to our annual Christmas Party.  The party is being held at Aunt Sue's, December 15th at 5:00 pm.  A badge pinning for the three newest members of the career side of our fire department will be held during the Christmas Party prior to the Bingo game.
Tickets are on sale in the office Monday through Friday during normal business hours, see Cheryl or Betty.  Tickets purchased prior to December 6th at 3:00 pm are priced at $14.00.  Tickets purchased after December 6th at 3:00 pm are priced at $20.00.

Snow Liaison report- Bob Shackleford
Due to the lack of snow, there is nothing to report

Old Business:
Townsite Act: Diane Adams
District Clerk Adams stated while they were out of town last week there were eight or nine cars from Sunrise Engineering here doing the legal descriptions of the land we are buying. There were about 12 people tromping all around the property.  That makes her feel confident that we may get the legal description of what we are purchasing very soon.

Funds on Deposit- Treasurer Duvall
Chairman Robbins said this was something he was dealing with when he was Treasurer,
and Treasurer Duvall has not really had a chance to really look into all this, so this is tabled until next meeting.
Treasurer Duvall said he would like to take a closer look.  He believes this is a great idea.

Comment from the public wanting to know if this was different from what was reported here.

Treasurer Duvall stated no.

Chairman Robbins explained that this is an opportunity that the state provides to invest in a pool with other counties, cities and special districts in the state, there is about 850 of them that invest in this pool.  The thing about it, it is not a guaranteed pool, but practically every city in the state does it.  The interest rate is about 2 1/2 percent as opposed to the 1/2 percent we are getting on our funds now.  The State Auditor recommended we do this so we can make more money.  It is something we are looking at.  We will bring this back at the next board meeting.

District Clerk Adams said she spoke to several people at the conference that participate in it and they said it was very easy to participate in, funds in funds out.
Comments from the board continued.

New Business:
Swains Creek Fire Station Update- Brad and Frank
Formation of a Board Committee-Swains Creek Fire Station- Brad
Chairman Robbins stated these two agenda items go together.  We have been working on the Swains Creek Fire Station for quite some time.  As a result of that the Chairman would like to form a board committee that deals with this in particular.  The Chairman has asked that Member Hightower, Treasurer Duvall and the Chief be on that board as result of that they put together a presentation.
Charles Hightower introduced himself and gave his background. He thought he should take a step back and explained why the station is needed. A very informative slide presentation  was presented by Member Hightower  and copies are located at Station1, 3620 Mammoth Creek Road for viewing.
At the end of the presentation the Chairman stated the strategic plan that member Hightower was talking about was something the Chief, Frank Gagliardi and himself talked about a few years ago with the Board that was adopted.  This was everything they thought was needed to be done and what the priorities were to get things done.  Of course those priorities change over the years.  
What has happened we now own this land and to have land that we own and do nothing with is a mistake.  From the Chairman's perspective this should be a top priority and it would reduce the ISO ratings for the people that live down in that area.  Having said that for my perspective the station does not need to be anything super fancy, it needs to be something that is efficient and effective, but you could get into spending a million dollars on a station and he does not feel this is necessary at that location.  The second thing is as Member Hightower said in his presentation is to bring something back to this facility.  This facility is getting old, dated, the exhaust problem, and somethings that need to be fixed.  We have been putting patches on stuff and we need to take a larger comprehensive look at both of those and figure out what our finances are needed.
Chairman Robbins said from his perspective as a Board Member that one down there just needs to be minimal just to get it up and operating.  Then we need to figure out what to do here.
Chairman Robbins would like for each board member to state what they feel is their priority.

District Clerk Adams said she agrees with the Chairman an operational fire station there that can house equipment, that can protect that equipment, it has to be heated.  The minimal things that need to be done that will also help the property owners with their ISO ratings on their homeowners insurance.  We do have volunteers there that could quickly get to that equipment to do things.  District Clerk said we have to keep in mind whenever we build there may be a need of expansion there that we don't make it so it can't be expanded upon. District Clerk Adams also stated the sooner the better. 

Treasurer Duvall wanted to ask if the four bay size of the Elk Ridge Station is the same size station we are talking about.

District Clerk Adams stated yes, in her mind it was.

Treasurer Duvall also asked if anyone knew the cost of the building and if the land in Elk Ridge was donated.  

Captain Gagliardi stated it was donated.

Treasurer Duvall would like to know what kind of money we spent to get an idea what it will cost by the next meeting. We can get these things started for Swains Creek from drafting, to drawings out of some of the money we have.  We have to do a few things before we can get the grant.  He would like to know how much the whole thing is going to cost and he is in agreement with the District Clerk it does not have to be a luxury hotel/fire station.  Treasurer Duvall agrees there are things that need to be done here at this station.

Member Shackleford stated that as the community grows and this year there were more building
permits issued since 2008. We are requiring more equipment.  We are scattered all over with HOA's buildings, people volunteering to shelter some of our equipment, but we should have more of a departmental control over that.  Member Shackleford agrees with the Chairman and the District Clerk.

Member Hightower stated that both he and the Treasurer both mention that people that can't get insurance now or are paying extremely high insurance out at Swains Creek is certainly a good reason.  It will bring more people into the community and help the downtown area with more people spending money at the stores. Back to the cost of Elk Ridge, he did not think it cost that much.  We also need to get feedback from the firefighters.  Member Hightower talked to the Chief and the Chief stated he needs more room out here to house these people. They are here 24-7. They need a comfortable place to study, exercise and relax.  They talked of adding onto the back of this station, look for the capability to house more equipment, storing of records and things.  Member Hightower stated he thinks we need to figure out the requirements are for the substation down in Swains Creek as well as find out what needs to be done here and try to figure out how to do both.

Comments from the Public on the presentation
The Chairmen will open up to comments and would like the comments be focused on Swains Creek and this station.
Mike Gage from Elk Ridge stated focus should be on the Elk Ridge station and get it back fully operational.  Swains Creek is pretty much the equal distance from Station1 as it is to Station 2.   Station 2 is basically nonexistent of people down there.  Focus needs to be put there before we start spending money on a new fire station.  Then when we get up fully operational  respond to Swains Creek and this fire station.
 
Chairman Robbins asked for further comments.  None.  Chairmen Robbins recommends there be a committee of Member Hightower, Treasure Duvall and Chief Tuttle and bring in whomever and the resources you need to figure out what our next step in the process is. Chairman Robbins made the motion to form the committee.  The motion was seconded by District Clerk Adams.  Motion passes. 
Member of the audience stated that Doug Heaton was the contractor on the Elk Ridge Station and Mr. Heaton might be able to give a cost on that building.
Adoption of the 2019 Proposed Budget-Diane Adams
Chairman Robbins stated this was previously talked about and there was a Public Hearing on October 24, at 6 P.M.
District Clerk Adams stated just for the board members, there was only one cell that was corrected - I 39.  It previously showed $394.85 that should have divided out and has been corrected. 
 It is the only change since the Public Hearing was tentatively approved the budget.
Member Hightower wanted to be reminded of the budget for Snow and Fire.
District Clerk Adams responded that for snow income is anticipated at $356,500.00. Anticipated for the fire revenue is $949,800.00.  Our donations are estimated under what we usually receive; due to there may be fewer than last year.  Carryover from fire this year is anticipated to be about $54,000.00.  We have grant money in combination of $814,000.00.  It may be spent this year depending when we receive the two new engines.

Motion was made by Treasurer Duvall to adopt the 2019 Budget.  Motion as seconded by Member Shackleford.  Motion Carries.

Evaluations for the Clerical Staff and the Chief.
Chairman Robbins asked that the District Clerk do the evaluations for the clerical staff.  
District Clerk stated she would do that for this year.  
Chairman Robbins said he would do the Chief.

Comments from the Public
Bryan Carlson, Elk Ridge curious about the Boards thoughts or plans for Public Education.  He ask this because of the dramatic increase of rental properties. The people who rent the properties do not have a vested interest in the properties. There is a lot of risk there.  He is curious if the fire department has reached out to the management properties.  Fires are the greatest concerns.
Discussion continued and people were reminded to call the dispatch for illegal fire pits and speeding in the subdivisions by the ATV's and other side by sides.  They were also reminded the Sherriff's Department does not always have a deputy up here.  During the summer the Fire
Department does patrol looking for fires in illegal fire pits.

Treasurer Duvall stated that last month the Greater Duck Creek Area Fire Council was formed which he is separated from this board.  He went into depth about this and anyone interested in joining can contact Charles Duvall.

Roger Adams commented on the six or so Public Hearings for the budget and fees that were held last year and there were probably less people at the hearings than there are here today. Mr. Adams said he gets tired up people showing up and complaining about what they are being charged and they don't come to the Public Hearings.  
Discussion continued.
Roger Adams also stated that due what has happened to the town in Paradise, Ca. with the fire and only one way in and one way out we need to think about escape plans for up here as there are subdivisions that have only one way in and one way out.  People really need to think about this.

Chairman Robbins made a final comment.  All members of the board are volunteers.  Member Hightower's presentation was done all on his own.  Member Shackleford, the Snow Liaison, does everything on his own.  District Clerk Adams spent hours putting the budget together.  He appreciates all the hard work everyone does and appreciates all the new faces here at the meeting.  Captain Gagliardi acting as the chief does not receive a dime.  So all that they do goes right back into the department for the good of the department and community.  Again he truly appreciates everyone being here today.  

Closed Session:  

No reason to go into a closed session.

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn by Member Hightower
Motion was seconded by Member Shackleford.
Motion carries.

It is November 10, 2018 at 12:11am.  This is the Cedar Mountain Fire Protection District Governing Board monthly meeting.  It is now adjourned.


Minutes Approved by ____________________________________ Brad Robbins, Chairman                                  Date_______________
			         

Signed copy on file at:
 3620 Mammoth Creek Road