Windham – The W.V.F.D. Joint Fire District Board met for their regularly-scheduled meeting on Thursday July 11, 2013 at the fire station with four of the five board members and the fiscal officer in attendance.
The board approved the minutes from the previous meeting, the expenditures and the bank reconciliation for the month of June. Fire Chief Mike Iwanyckyj requested an executive session that included the fiscal officer to discuss personnel issues regarding a leave of absence. The board returned to regular session after about 10 minutes.
The chief reported that one of their Life Pak 1’s was not repairable and they would need to replace it. He presented figures for new ones and they just weren’t a feasible option. The chief also found a place that has Life Paks 12 refurbished and loaded with the newer technology equivalent to the Life Pak 15 for $6,000 (new ones are $18,000 – $30,000) after some discussion, the fire board agreed to purchase one refurbished unit. The refurbished unit can be added in place of the old unit on the maintenance contract the district has for the Life Pak units. Iwanyckyj said there s a grant opening up for the purchase of new ones in the future. He will watch for the grant and apply for it when it becomes available.
The chief also presented a candidate for reserve fire fighter; after some discussion the chairman of the board, Linda Rininger, stated that the board will not approve the hiring of the candidate until he has completed the background check. Once he meets the board’s requirements, the chief can present the candidate again. Lastly, the chief reported that they were still in the running for a grant and they have had 381 calls (both fire and EMS) to date (7/11/2013).
Rininger reported that the total cost to the fire board for outsourcing dispatching was $20,030.04, including the equipment and the dispatching service. This was an expense that the fire board had not planned on since they had an agreement with the village that they would provide for dispatching for 10 years. The unexpected cost has forced the fire board to delay the planned purchase of a much -needed fire engine.
The fireboard meets at 7pm on the second Thursday of each month at the fire station.
