UPPER CAPTIVA FIRE & RESCUE DISTRICT Board of Commissioners Meeting Friday, January 18, 2019 10:00 a.m. 1. Call to Order Chairman Bill Byrnes called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Roll Call Those present were: Commissioners Public On the Phone Staff /Firefighters Bill Byrnes Tom Jenkins Steve Sward A.J. LaVallie Bill Fry Teresa Bolme, Sue Ann Cousar, Sandy Werner, Ed Kronk, Rich Gross, Rick Fox, Mark Justice Zeke McDonald Chief Jason Martin, Renee Lynch 2. Minutes Minutes were read and discussed. A vote on the minutes was tabled until next month s meeting pending corrections. 3. Treasurer s Report Renee Lynch presented the End of Month report. She noted that legal and professional bills had not been received. Commissioner Sward said he will speak with Pringle and ask for the bills. She discussed the adjustment of the office supplies line items being moved to operating supplies. Fry identified the errors he found in the October financial statement. Lynch stated the errors in the Budgeted Revenue and Reserves had been corrected. After discussion with Fry, Lynch agreed to look at his concerns and noted the last audit came back with no issues. Commissioner LaVallie asked if those were issues the audit would have picked up and she responded in the affirmative. Commissioner Fry asked about the Firehouse Subscriptions and the Board decided to leave subscriptions same as past years. Chief Martin stated subscriptions would be reviewed this year. A motion to accept the report was made by Steve Sward, second by AJ LaVallie, motion passed 4-1 (Fry, no). 4. Chief s Report Chief Martin reported 99 calls in 2018 and 6 calls to date in 2019. Chief Martin reported our department responded to a 7 am call near Pine Island. It was an ad hoc houseboat, small boat and mangroves. There was one fatality on the houseboat. The fire is under investigation. Marine training served well in response to this fire. Commissioner LaVallie commended the firefighters on their marine training. Byrnes commended the decision to move the Contender to Safety Harbor Club docks. Sward asked if the Chief was
pleased with the response time to which Chief answered, Yes. Chief Martin sent two firefighters to the call while two remained on island. There was a mutual Pine Island response. Attorney Pringle has drafted a formal cooperative agreement. Station. Chief is continuing to make alterations to the station. He is re-assessing the monthly costs being used at the station, such as using Sam s Club for water and fleet fuel, Pineland Marina for marine fuel. Byrnes asked if the Sam s Club membership would be used for personal purchases to which the Chief responded it is a commercial account with accountability to prevent personal purchases. Fleet. 5-ton Project: The truck has been painted thanks to Tomahawk Construction. It is now complete and headed to bed fabrication. The work was done for exchange of Engine 191 and Contender. The invoices have been created, he is waiting on the lighting package before submission. The method of the project is putting an aluminum bed on the truck, weigh it, fabricate water tank with exact weight allowance. After discussion with Fry, Chief will take his suggestions to Mack and connect with Fry. Chief stated he had been warned by the insurance carrier to stay within the parameters of the vehicle. Fry stated that to be compliant we lose 400 gallons of water. Chief Martin reported that South Trail Fire District donated a second, shorter engine to us. We will take delivery in March. The engine is in good shape mechanically. It will give us two engines with 1,000- gallon capacity. The only cost to the District is insuring it. The engine will be stored downstairs in the bay. Some discussion was had as to where the Forestry truck would be stored. Commissioner LaVallie stated that two engines would give us the ability to have 104 firefighters on island in case of an emergency. We can equip firefighters if needed. Byrnes stated that two engines are invaluable when two or more fires break out on the island. Sward asked what brought our district to South Trail s attention and the Chief responded that we have South Trail firefighters who work with our District and they asked their South Trail chief about the possibility of donating the vehicle to our district. LaVallie stated we have been given five trucks (all free) for a cost to the district of maintenance and insurance. Chief Martin stated that the Lee County Fire Community is generous and well established. Equipment. The district has obtained a new set of Jaws to replace the 1978 model. Chief wants to draft a donation certificate for Chief Rice of the Fort Myers Fire District. Martin reported that Dr. Lemmons, head of Lee County EMS and EMS Chief Hammill will sit down with Paramedics to get credentialed on island in the near future. Byrnes expressed his appreciation to the Chief for requesting accreditation for our firefighters. Chief has hired two additional staff which brings us to 40 firefighters. The PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) have been received and are ready to use. Wildland gear are up to date and compliant. The 50/50 grant will be done once we pay $10,000. Personal Goals. His credentialing is coming along. He has been requested to go to Ocala to meet everyone. His FF1 exam is scheduled for 1/31/19. Chief expressed his thanks to all commissioners for their help during the month. Sward asked if draft points are being inspected and clear of obstructions. Chiefs response was yes and they are actively looking at conditions and additional draft points. Zeke McDonald asked what the standard operating limits on response zones are. Chief referred to the wall map indicating each Fire Department assigned a Lee Co. grid to assist. Our District is assigned F-6, (Pine Island/Bokeelia Grid). They will notify Lee Control of a positive or
negative response to each call. Fry expressed his experience and concerns with using pool water to fight fires. Chief stated that firefighters will consider all property when making decisions. Sue Ann Cousar commended the Chief and Board for hiring Chief Martin stating the board made a wise decision to hire an experienced leader who is learning to apply his knowledge to our island community. 5. Additions/Changes/Deletions to Agenda Commissioner LaVallie recognized the Road Warriors in the building; Mark Justice, Travis Parker, and Rick Fox. He requested New Business 8B to address Old Business 7B. Fry requested to add Proposed Budget Amendment to fund Access Way Maintenance and new business to add Election of Officers. 6. Public Input on Agenda Items No Public Comment 7. Old Business B. LaVallie and the Road Warriors reported the work on Spanish Gold and East Seair is holding up well. LaVallie considers road fill a priority to maintain and improve the condition of our cart paths. The 12/20/18 rain event provided an opportunity to see if road work on N. Airstrip Road was effective. He showed photos of standing water and drainage which only left small puddles after 24 hours. LaVallie spoke with Mike Verona (the new owner of Fuzzy s barge business) and asked him to find a method to barge fill over to the island. LaVallie has asked Mark Justice to come up with a price for barge, fill and work to crown the roads on Rum Road and Bartlett Parkway. They estimate 4-6 hours on each road without cost of material. LaVallie will address the work by the Access Way Maintenance team to be categorized as 1) Structure, 2) Basic Maintenance, and 3) Trimming. Structure - Rich Gross asked if topping will be added after crowning of the road. Fry asked if we can try swales. LaVallie said he was considering swales in the future. Rick Fox suggested getting an estimate for material for N. Airstrip Road and Kingfisher, make a proposal of 50/50 split with homeowners to provide the fill for Kingfisher. LaVallie said he would consider a cost sharing between the Fire District and the homeowners. Fry suggested the expense would be a taxdeductible donation from the homeowners to the fire district. Zeke McDonald expressed his pleasure that the Airstrip roads are in discussion. Cousar suggested a 50/50 split with all islanders. Byrnes brought up the airstrip and irrigation issues. Basic Maintenance LaVallie would like to see the 6X6 and 4X4 stay on the island. Chief stated that in streamlining the fleet, recreational vehicles do not perform the job of emergency vehicles. At the present time, the District maintains 4 ATV s (2 6x6 and 2 4x4). The vehicles have a high value for road maintenance instead of emergency vehicles. The road crew has equipment that will work well with the ATV s on the island. Both vehicles are powerful enough for pull behinds. He recommends that the vehicles be retired from emergency service. Kelley Blue Book value, trade-in is $5,600 in good condition. Chief suggested the board look for fair market value and ask interested parties to
put in a bid on ATV s. Mark Justice made a bid of $4,750 on the 6x6 and Travis Parker bid $3000 on the 4x4. The Chief thinks the Board should proceed to sell vehicles to Mark Justice and Travis Parker to use on island. Commissioner LaVallie made a motion to accept Mark Justice s bid of $4,750, second by Bill Fry, motion passed 5-0. Zeke McDonald stated the vehicles were to be used for commercial and business use only. Travis Parker offered $3000 and 25 hours of work ($1,050) for the 4x4. Commissioner Fry suggested a cleaner transaction would be to purchase the 4x4 for $4,000 cash and bill the District for hours worked. LaVallie moved to sell the 4x4 ATV to Travis Parker for $4,000, Bill Fry seconded the motion, motion passed 5-0. Both men paid by check by the end of the meeting. Chief Martin will sign the titles over to Parker and Justice. Chairman Byrnes asked for the non-working equipment on the island be cleaned up. Road Trimming Bill Byrnes reported on work that has been done. Chief reported that work started on December 1 st. Duncan Rosen purchased a new chipper, there were delays with the holidays and the weather, some spot areas need to be cleaned up. The work slowed down the last couple of weeks with Duncan out of the country. Laurie Rosen indicated the trimming is done and chipping still needs to be finished up. Chief Martin and Chairman Byrnes are going to monitor the piles and will notify homeowners to remove their new piles. Sward asked if we were at the punch list stage. Chief will create a punch list for Rosen s crew to complete the job. Rich Gross asked if chipped wood is a fire hazard in vacant lots and discussion was made about wind and rain taking care of loose chips. There was discussion regarding the Brazilian Pepper eradication, Jenkins suggested Rosen could do monthly maintenance after job is completed. A. Station Renovation Project Tom Jenkins. Fry asked if the scope of work would be reasonable to do labor in-house plus the cost of materials. The Chief stated the firefighters have offered to move wall, install wainscoting and paint the interior. The flooring needs to be done by contractor (labor and materials). Fry motioned to terminate existing bids, delete the addition of a bedroom, get flooring bid, second by LaVallie, motion passed 5-0. The work is to be done by firefighters on their regular shifts, it will cost the District materials only. C. 5-ton Truck In Chief s Report D. Fun Run Jenkins. Commissioner Jenkins reported that the Fun Run went well. Financials are $12,920 in donations, $3,800 in insurance and expenses, and net of $9,103 with one business supporter yet to pay. There were approximately 300 participants. He expressed a heartfelt Good Job! and requested a certificate be given to participating sponsors signed by Chief Martin and himself. E. Revise Document Retention After Attorney Pringle s review, a decision was made to rescind guidelines or adopt revised guidelines regarding website document retention. Steve Sward moved to rescind document policies and follow Florida Law guidelines, LaVallie second, motion passed 5-0. Fry commented agenda items and created documents must be on website. Byrnes ask Fry to email the attorney about topics and have him respond. Fry said he will not email the attorney. Byrnes stated to the public that Fry s actions have caused litigation issues and high attorney fees to the district. LaVallie stated Fry s patterns of behavior are not in the best interest of the residents or tax payers to continue drawing attention to the documents.
8) New Business A. Officer Election 2019 LaVallie nominated Bill Byrnes as Chair, Sward second. Bill Fry nominated AJ LaVallie as chair, no second. A motion to close nomination and propose Bill Byrnes for Chair by Steve Sward, second by LaVallie, motion passed 4-1 (Fry, no). Bill Byrnes nominated AJ LaVallie as Vice Chair, Jenkins second, motion passed 4-1 (Fry, no). Sward nominated Tom Jenkins as Treasurer, second by LaVallie, motion passed 5-0. AJ LaVallie nominated Steve Sward as Secretary, Jenkins second, motion passed 4-1 (Fry, no). B. Amend 191 Florida Statutes Attorney Pringle Bill Byrnes reported that the District has been asked to consider making a $3,500 donation and sign a letter of support for a proposed amendment to FL Statute 191 pertaining to Independent Special Districts. Pringle stated that Assessment Revenue can be used for many purposes. UCFRD also uses Assessed Revenue to fund Paramedic positions. 191 Amendment does not eliminate referendum, it gives an additional option with its own parameters. Sward made discussion about Ad Valorem compared to Special Assessment. Pringle stated that if our District agrees to support the 191 Amendment, the Board can assess the tax without a referendum, as a Board obligated to provide level of services. The burden is to determine what level of services and then the burden to fund the services. He states it is a tool to generate funds, not a mandate to use it. It changes the place of power to assess taxes in the Board s hands. Fry asked if Pringle was lobbying UCFRD to help his larger district clients. Pringle responded that it was not lobbying. He presents benefits to each fire district he represents. This 191 amendment gives an additional tool to provide revenue. If the Board believes the amendment will be of benefit to our Special District now or in the future, then vote in support of change. The District has the option to support the measure, but not pay the $3,500 contribution. Then Pringle was dismissed from the phone call at 1:27 p.m. Sward stated that our community has a level of involvement other Districts do not have. He thinks voters would disapprove of the measure. He wishes the Board to abstain (no vote, no support). LaVallie agrees that our District has little use for this assessment. Jenkins agreed as well. It was the decision of the Board to make NO action, no financial contribution. C. Proposed new ATV Chief Martin The Chief presented the idea of purchasing a new diesel ATV (including tow and cargo capacity) that can carry tow pump units and moving equipment around the island. He has entertained bids on three ATV s, 2 in Naples and 1 in Clearwater. The vehicle is a 3-cylinder diesel steel frame, would be used to move marine equipment, use on wild land, man power, and pump trailers. Chief Martin requested $13,300 for the unit with roof cover. The unit will be equipped with emergency lighting. Bill Fry asked if the purchase was time critical today, should we make a decision about the 6x6 and requested desired end state for our fleet. He recommends a proposal to replace the existing 6x6 first. Rich Gross suggested looking at the electric Polaris. The discussion was tabled to next month s meeting. Road funding was asked to be placed on next month s agenda. LaVallie acknowledged philosophical differences in accounting. 9) Public Input on Non-Agenda Items:
10) Next Meeting Date: February 15, 2019 11) Adjourn: A motion to adjourn was made by AJ LaVallie, second by Bill Fry, motion passed 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 1:50 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Steve Sward, Secretary SS:tjb