Windham – The Windham WVFD Board met with all board members in attendance. The board approved the usual housekeeping measures, before opening the floor up to guests. Jim Bishop from Fallsway equipment joined the meeting and explained how routine maintenance on the equipment would save money in the long run. The board has been wanting to do this, but they are on such a tight budget they really couldn’t afford to do it. Mr. Bishop went over the cost and what they could expect for their money. The board agreed to do one truck at a time. Fallsway would bill the district for each truck, after they service it.
In the chief’s report, Rich Gano reported that the district has had 293 calls to date (May 31st). there were 43 responses with 28 transports. Out of those responses, three were motor vehicle accidents, one fire, one overdose and one DOA. They had 22 responses to the village, 14 to the township, one at Camp Ravenna, three on the turnpike, one to Troy Township and two to Community Ambulance. The latter places were mutual aid. The average response time for the month of May was 4:13.
Gano presented three options for an ambulance upgrade. All of them came with hefty price tags. One option is a totally newly- built ambulance with power cot was $252,061.00, the second option is a complete remount package with power cot at $212,552.00. The third option is a chassis swap with power cot for $148,217.00, the board took the information under advisement.
The radios that run off the repeater channels went down; Firemen Mike Polichina was able to figure out the problem, order the parts and get them installed. Polichina saved the district a lot of money by fixing it himself. The radios are back in service.
Jess Greer would like to go to medic school. She has been with the district for two and a half years so she meets the district’s requirement to request they pay for part of the tuition. The district board voted to pay $2500 of her $5500 tuition. Greer must sign a tuition agreement for length of service to the district following passing the course. If she fails, drops out, or doesn’t meet the districts length of service requirement, she will need to reimburse the district the $2500 they paid.
In other business, Jennifer Derthick reported that the fuel cards were in. She said she was going to get a Staples Business Advantage Card and compare prices with Quill. They will use the less expensive place to get supplies. Derthick reminded the board that they needed to set a special meeting for the budget. The board also needed to change the next meeting date, due to a conflict. They board set July 12th at 5:45pm for the budget meeting and 6:00 pm for the regular meeting. Lastly, the board announces a $1/hour raise across the board for the staff effective August 1, 2021.
The board adjourned to executive session with no decision being made in the session. They returned from executive session and adjourned the meeting.
