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June 3, 2008 Fire Department Meeting
HIGHLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT MEETING MINUTES June 3, 2008 Members present: Todd Carlson, Sherrie Craft, John Prohaska, Matt Carlson, Ron Cairns, Mike Ross, Dawn Ross, Kally Ross, Tim Andrews and Tom Renz. Other Guests: Andy Moss, Lester Johnson, (Town Board Members): Janice Johnson, Scott Khaler, Rose Graves and Nora Ann Moss. 6:35 pm the meeting was called to order by Chief Todd Carlson. Minutes from the last meeting were given to members. Motion to accept the minutes with the correction of, Todd was asked by fire Chief John Prohaska to get estimates; was made by John/Ron. (MC). Treasurer’s report: Beginning balance was $402.29. A deposit of $135.00 was made. The ending balance is $537.29. A motion to accept the treasurer’s report was made by John/Ron. (MC) Fire Association Meetings: Douglas County – Maple. The “Be Somebody” commercials were discussed. Dr. Westly is taking a copy of the commercials to the federal level to see if he can generate more funding for the campaign. Keith wanted to know what was happening with the tower that was given to Highland. John said that someone would be contacting Great River to see where things stood. Lee Kennedy stated that there are still some first responders that need to complete their refresher and advanced skills. John and Sherrie reported that our hall had been broken into and fuel stolen. Three/four other departments have had the same problem. Fire/EMS Report: 1 Diabetic, 1 General sick, 1 motorcycle accident mutual aid for Lk. Nebagamon. Discussion was held about the accident scene. Sherrie reported that she and John were en-route to the accident but the ambulance was already moving to the landing zone. John and Sherrie will be added to the run report. Dawn said that she would like to train more with Lake Nebagamon. Todd stated that he is working on arranging a mutual training with them but we may have to change our training night. It was discussed that there should be a one year plan in place for trainings to be held. A committee will be selected to create a training schedule. Old Business: Dawn stated that she had printed copies of the protocols that Keith Kessler had sent out. John has found out during our license renewal that we can not follow those protocols. We must follow Gold Cross protocols since Dr. Schrock is our medical director. The only skill that we can use is the epi. Do only what is in our operational plan to avoid getting sued. Nicki from the state wanted to know if we were going to use Gold Cross protocols or the state protocols. Since the medical director will not sing off on any other skills, we have to use the Gold Cross protocols. Be Somebody – Kathy at the Gopher Hole did a lot for us. She served food and made breakfast for us. It brought a lot of people together. Rose asked that next year the event be brought up at a board meeting so that the town’s people will know of it. Dawn said that the thank you to Kathy is in the Northwoods Shopper. Sherrie asked Tom if he would help to create an evaluation form. He said yes and they will get together to do it. New Business: The new DNR Grant applications are out. Ideas from the members for items that we need were: ATV with pump and tank, fire shelters, Thermogel, bladder bags, hand tools, digital radios, PPE. Tom stated that the DNR has the shelters for us on their trucks. Dry hydrants are also eligible for the grant. We need to check the condition of our hydrants. Thursday we will test the one on Murray Lake with Barnes. Items that we would like to see for the grant are, radios, Thermogel, tools, PPE and bladder bags. Discussion was held concerning the integration with Barnes for our EMS. We have been discussing this issue for a while and would like to join with Barnes Ambulance Service. This would erase the line through our township and allow us to use the skills that we have been taught. We would follow their protocols and have their medical director. This would still give us the ability to call ALS or a helicopter just as we do now but would give us the ability to transport from the scene to an LZ when needed. The way we are paged out would not be changed and we would still be Highland First Responders. Rose asked if the contract cost would change with this coverage. Tom said that his recommendation to his town board would be to keep the cost the same. Tom also stated that in 4 ˝ to 5 years, Barnes will be getting a new ambulance and at that time he would like to keep the older one here in Highland. Barnes would keep the supplies stocked. If we do integrate with Barnes, then the responders will have one more meeting/training night. John asked if Tom would want the responders to be trained in combi-tube. Tom said yes. Tom also wants the responders to be trained in glucometer and glucose use. This has been approved by his medical director. Some of the Highland residents have spoken to Tom about the use of the advanced skills and are against the line that separates our town. John also stated that he has been told the same thing about the line by residents. Todd and Tom will work on the presentations to both of the town boards on this issue. The trucks need to be rearranged. There is a hallway being built and because of the new door that will be installed, the engine needs to be moved. After the meeting we will decide where each truck will go. Todd asked that everyone take home the sheets for long and short term goals and fill them out with what they feel is important. That way we will know how to proceed and where we want to end up. This will help create a better team effort in our goals. July 4th parades-Barnes is at noon and Lake Nebagamon parade is at 4pm. Linda Mistek has donated a Fire Fighter plaque to the department. New business from the floor: Rose asked what was happening with Bingo. It was stated that Marvin was no longer interested in running the games and in order to continue, we would need help from people other than just the members. Todd said that Kathy at the Gopher Hole is planning two fund raisers for the department. One is a golf tournament and the other is a raffle. Ron asked if there was any news on the FEMA grant. We have not heard anything yet. Annie (Nora) asked to speak. She said that about 10 days ago, she filled out a change of address form for all mail that said Highland Fire Department on it, to be forwarded to Todd. The post office said that John had filed a fraudulent claim against her because of it. John said that he had received a letter informing him that a form had been submitted and if he had not made this request that he was to call the phone number in the letter. That is all that he did. He did not file a claim. Janice said that Annie had the right to file the address change. John stated that he has lost all of his subscriptions and other catalogs because of this. He stated that he would like to have these things back. Annie said that she was sorry that this had affected his personal mail, but she was told that it would not affect personal things. She tried to rescind the order but the postal service would not allow her to do that. Tom stated that all Highland mail should go to the clerk and that every employee should have a box at the town hall for mail. John asked Todd if he knew that this was being done. Todd said that he had been told that a letter was being sent only to the venders of the change. He did not know of the address change form being submitted. John felt that this should have been a town board decision. Janice said that she had the authority to implement the change on her own as did Annie. The discussion became heated and a Point of Order was called by Tom Renz. Todd asked if there were any other business from the floor. John presented Todd with the fire Chief badge and collar brass, Chiefs helmet and all department files. John gave Annie, (town clerk), the Northern Tool Credit Card. Sherrie said that a new signature card for the checking needed to be filled out. The members decided to have Todd, Ron and Sherrie on the account. Todd asked the members for approval to pay for the pizzas that were served at tonight’s meeting from the checking account. Approval was granted. A motion to adjourn was made by Tom/Ron. (MC) Training will be Tuesday, June 17, 2008 @ 6:30pm at the fire hall. Next Meeting Tuesday, July 1, 2008 @ 6:30 pm at the fire hall.