Windham – The WVFD Joint Fire District met for their regularly-scheduled meeting recently with all board members and fiscal officer in attendance. The meeting was called to order and the board approved the following: the minutes, expenditures and bank reconciliation for the month of November. The board then approved the temporary appropriations of $600,000 and set the meeting date for the second Thursday at 6pm at the fire station.
In the chief’s report, Fire Chief Rich Gano reported that there were no applications for the month of February. The two new hopefuls from last month decided to take jobs elsewhere because of higher pay and benefits. The plan they had worked on and was going to be started the first of the year has now gone by the wayside due to two other guys leaving the department. Therefore, they have to develop another plan.
The board was open to ideas. Jake Bowden, a former paramedic from Windham who works at other departments, thought he might be able to come up with ideas. Jake now works for the cities of Mentor and Canton and also works at Parkman. Jake said Parkman was in the same boat. He offered a few suggestions and he also is considering applying for an open seat on the board, if there is one. The term for fire board member is two years. Bowden is experienced in getting grants and believes he can bring fresh ideas to the district.
The chief explained the mutual aid system he has set up with Braceville as the district restructures and tries to staff the station again 24/7. Some of the problems the district faces are lack of funding, local staffing and billing collections. They also lose tax revenue from the land that Camp JAG sits on. According to board member Brian Miller, it is about 2/3 of Windham. Camp JAG doesn’t pay any taxes as they are a government entity. Also, since property values are low in Windham, a mill only generates $45,000, according to the fiscal officer. After some discussion, the district has decided that they will discontinue serving the military camp unless a contract is agreed upon. The fiscal officer will notify them in writing. The district also struggles with local staffing. Most of their staff comes from outside of Windham. Some of them come as far away as Akron, Cleveland and Cuyahoga Falls. The district is also unique in their billing collections as 73% of billing is Medicare and Medicaid patients which only pay $104/ ambulance run. That leaves only 27% being collected on the full cost of services rendered.
Chief Gano said he applied for the MARCS Radio Grant again and will apply for the Firehouse Grant in February when it opens. He also reported that they would need $200 for the bathroom repairs. This is for supplies only as the labor will be done in house. The board approved the measure. The board also froze any unnecessary spending until March 31,2020.
In new business, board member Ron Kilgore announced his retirement effective as soon as a replacement can be found. Applications for the board position are being taken. Interested candidates need to be a township or village resident. For more details contact the township at windhamtwp@hotmail.com.
The next fire board meeting will be held on Thursday January. 9, 2020 at 6 pm.
