Windham – The WVFD Joint Fire District Board met for their regularly scheduled meeting on January 11, 2018 with two members and the fiscal officer in attendance. The first items of business were to choose a chairperson and a vice-chairperson. The board decided that Ron Kilgore would be chairperson and Brian Miller will serve as the vice-chairperson for 2018.
The board then approved the minutes, expenditures and bank reconciliation for December 2017. The board received the new insurance quote for the year on the equipment and vehicles. The rates are higher due to replacement costs of vehicles.
In the chiefs report, Chief Rich Gano reported the monthly statistics and yearly statistics of the department. Some interesting stats were 586 calls for the year, with 472 calls being EMS calls. There were 288 calls to the village, 166 to the township, 9 to Camp Ravenna and 6 to the turnpike. They determined that the busiest day of the week was Monday and the busiest hours were between 6pm and 8pm.
The chief also reported that truck 2812 had AGR and turbo issues and has been repaired. Also truck 2818 had an air dryer valve replaced. They had a meeting on the community sign and it was determined that no personal messages, like Happy Birthday wishes, political statements or religious statements will be permitted. Gregg Isler and Rich Gano will do the programming for the sign. A discussion on the AFG Grant was held. The chief and other officers will look and determine the greatest need and the best way to take advantage of the grant. The communication system the board approved in September is still not completed but it is getting closer. After some pressure put on the communications company by the chief, they were out and began working on the antenna the weather has stalled it for a few days but, hopefully, they will complete it soon.
A discussion was held on obtaining some type of equipment that would only allow pages for Windham to come thru the station speaker was discussed. It’s hard for the guys on call, to sleep at the station when all of Ravenna dispatch pages comes thru for all departments. The issue will be looked into. Lastly, the chief presented Colton Garland to the board to be hired as firefighter and basic EMT. The board approved the recommendation.
The board went into executive session with their attorney, Jim Matthews, to discuss an open litigation. The board returned from executive session without any further decisions or discussions on the issue.
After returning from executive session, the board passed a resolution to proceed with placing a 2 mill additional levy on the May ballot.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.
