The Windham WVFD Board met for their regularly scheduled meeting with all pertinent people in attendance. Abiding by the governor’s orders, social distancing was being practiced. The board approved the minutes, expenditures, and bank reconciliation for both February and March, as the March meeting had been cancelled.
Chief Rich Gano reported that there were 67 calls in February with 56 being EMS calls. They had a call for tree down, one wire down, an accident and an accident with Haz-Mat issues. In March, they had 54 calls — 45 of them EMS. There was one structure fire, one vehicle fire, and several which were refusal to transport.
Chief said he filed all the pertinent paper work for a grant that was used to purchase the gear extractor, hoodies and gloves. He advised fiscal officer Casey Timmons that she should see the reimbursement soon. Gano said he is currently applying for all of the non-matching grants he can find.
A discussion was held on what the cost would be if they staffed four people rather than two during the peak of corona virus. Timmons said, that they would have to cut expenses somewhere in order to do that, but yes, if they have to do it, they will make it work. They are not sure if FEMA will reimburse them for that or not. Also reported was that the Insurance Service Operations (ISO) inspection should keep their insurance rates at a 4-4.5 on the same insurance scale as they have been. The ISO sets the rates homeowners pay for insurance in the district.
The chief addressed a rumor circulating about a response time to a recent call. The rumor claims that it was a 15-minute response time. That rumor is false, it was 3-minutes.
The chief was given Marks radios for free; he said it would cost $10/ month for service for each radio. After some discussion, the board approved the measure. There will be additional fees for programing them as well.
Squad 2812 has been a problem for some time. No one seems to know exactly what is wrong with it. Gano will have another service place look at it and see if they can figure out the problem and the cost to fix it. A discussion was held on whether they should consider putting the box (ambulance portion of the vehicle) on a new chassis. After some discussion the board gave the approval to explore that possibility. The chassis swap, completed, will cost about $94,000. Gano will check on warranty, trade-in and the master lease program which is generally how they purchase vehicles. The chassis swap is being considered for squad 2812.
The board voted to remove three people from the roster and then added two. They added Mason Molina who is a basic EMT and finishing up fire school. He resides in Barberton. They also added Lerissa Pierce who is an EMT. They both will go through orientation before being put on the rotation. All new hires are on 90 days probation.
The board adjourned to executive session and upon returning, there was no other business to discuss. They adjourned the meeting.
