Village of Taos Ski Valley

Volunteer Fire Department Meeting

Minutes

January 20, 2009

I. Call to Order: President Pete Hanson called the meeting to order at 5:07 PM in the Village Offices.

II. Roll Call: Gene and Mary Mortimer, Neal King, Dan Kraybill, Pete Hanson, Steve Ruppert, and Dave and Bryan Wallace, and Ailene. All board members were present.

III. Additions, Corrections, Approval of the Agenda for the Meeting: The agenda was approved with a unanimous vote by the FD Board (Pete, Mary, Neal, Dan and Steve).

IV. Approval of the Minutes from the Last Meeting: The previous meetings minutes were not readily available and approval was deferred to the next meeting.

V. Old Business:

A. The last payment on Truck 314 will be in the Spring of 2011, and there was a brief discussion on what should be the next truck acquisition by the department.

B. At the last meeting the radio feedback issue was discussed and the plan was to have Mickey Blake look into the issue. Dan “Zap” reported that he had repaired an antenna in Mickey’s office and the radio repeater no longer “talks to itself”. There are still some issues with the village radios.

VI. New Business:

A. Update on Public Safety Building: This has been a frequent topic of conversation between Dave and Susan Steele. Following the water break in the village core last December just before the Christmas Holiday, it has been widely recognized that the village needs to place a priority on water infrastructure improvements. Specifically, the water delivery system needs to be “looped” so that breaks can be isolated, rather than cutting off water supply to all users downstream of the break in the pipe. This in combination with the general economic problems facing the country, it has been decided to try and redirect the funds that have been appropriated for the Public Safety Building to water infrastructure projects that now have a higher priority.

B. Tentative Long Range Fire Department Plan: As our Chief, Gene, is moving into retirement, he presented the members present at the meeting with some thoughtful comments on where the department finds itself today and where it could go into the future. Given Gene’s deep understanding of the village FD and the sincerity of his desire to ease the department’s transition into future growth, I will attach the “progress report” in it’s entirety with the hope that it will stimulate further discussion.

Gene pointed out that the department had a paid maintenance person in the past. But, there will also be a person needed to write grant proposals and order equipment. There will also be a person needed to conduct SCBA and pump truck tests. The department needs to be looking at it’s next truck acquisition, as E314 will be fully paid off in 2011. Dave mentioned the need for a tanker truck to serve the more remote portions of the village, such as Amizette.

The discussion on the plan began with the Kachina substation and the issue with the Pattison Trust’s architectural design standards. Neal will be consulting with the village attorney, Bruce Kelly, to see whether or not a galvanized steel Quonset hut will be acceptable according to the design standard set in the deed granted by the Pattisons. The hope is to be able to move the station to it’s new home within a year. This item will continue to appear as “old business” until the decision of what to do with the building is determined.

Dave brought up the idea of donating or selling E311 and moving E312 up to Kachina. This would allow Totemoff to be moved into the main station. This would allow space for EMS storage from Kachina to move into the fire house, as well as the 2 lockers of stored supplies that are now in Mogul Medical. It was concluded that the FD Command Staff will discuss the fate of Old Yeller after bringing up the move of Toti at the next EMS meeting.

Gene brought up the issue of Fire Marshall grant money being based on annual pump testing. This is a basic criteria for receiving money, and the last test for “Old Yeller” was in the summer of 2005. Last summer only one truck was tested and it failed? Reservations for the testing in Albuqerque has been difficult to obtain and E311 is really to slow to make the drive to ABQ.

Gene mentioned that as a result of a recent carbon monoxide incident with a rental unit in the village, that E314 now has a CO poisoning test kit. It will alert the operator to any potential flammable/explosion potential that may exist. Gene will be looking into additional CO test kits from grant money. Gene will also be seeking FEMA grant money to replace older SCBAs (6 units). The use of these devices will be the subject of future training using department videos.

C. Board Review of Fire Department Budget: Our Chief pointed out that he really works for the FD Board. Neal moved that Gene and Dave should work up a budget and report back to the Board. There was a 2^nd by Steve. Once the budget is approved by the FD Board it has to be approved by the Village Council before it is final.

D. Active Membership List: Gene needs to report to the Fire Marshall on who is in the department. The previous definition of “active” is 25% participation in all training exercises &/or turn out for calls in a 6 month period. Applying this definition to the current list of 19 members results in a loss of 7 positions. Pete suggested that we look at the active roll semi-annually. Dave suggested that “active” should represent those individuals who show up for training at least once a month. Neal added that it would be good to have a 1 to 2 day exercise this summer to refresh the type of training one receives at the Red River Mini-Academy. It was concluded that the active list from 2002 (19 members) will be pared to the definition in 6 months. The department needs to be able to give the state a straight answer to actual department activity to be able to qualify for grant money. And, members present expressed a real interest in increased training drills.

VII. Status Reports:

Fire Chief: In a sad moment, Gene once again presented those present with his official letter of resignation due to health concerns. What Gene has accomplished in his years of service will be difficult for the next Chief to replicate, and all present were very grateful and wished Gene all the best.

Public Safety Director: Dave brought up a recent near disaster in a village rental involving carbon monoxide poisoning. Dave and Don Scheiber will be looking into the development of a village ordinance requiring rental properties in the village to have a CO monitoring unit. Dave will also be looking into the possibility of buying such devices in bulk and making them available to homeowners in the village.

Administrative Officer: Mary reported that all paperwork (especially PERA!) is in order. She has been as busy, as usual. Mary discussed bunker gear size adjustments with Alene, a new suit for Bryan (same size as Dave), and Jason needs a name tag. Monika will also receive new bunker gear.

Treasurer: Neal will send out the electronic version of the departments financial condition very soon.

Training Board: Pete would like to get the members back on the regularly scheduled Tuesday 5 PM training schedule next week. While the seasonal conditions make it difficult to exercise with trucks and water, upcoming training sessions will vary from training videos, to walk throughs of key buildings in the village and table top scenario sessions.

VIII. Miscellaneous: A mention was made of fire hydrant assignments: Bryan has adopted the fixture at the Bavarian casitas and Aleve will be taking charge of the Chipmunk Lane hydrant that was formerly uncovered by Neal. Hano will be checking to see if the grounds maintenance people at the Edelweiss Condominiums have cleared their hydrant.

A kind offer has come in from the community. Jim Walsh, representing the Amizette Inn would like to produce a donation fund raiser dinner. Aleve volunteered to follow up on the offer and see what could be done.

IX. Announcement of the Date, Time and Place of the Next Meeting: 17Feb2009 5 PM at the Village offices.

X. Adjournment: Pete closed the meeting at 6:38 PM.