2017-03-21 Regular MeetingFIRE PROTECTION AREA NO.1 BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
March 21, 2017 6:00 p.m.
BAYSIDE FIRE HALL
1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLIEGENCE
CHAIR Paul Van Dyke called the regular meeting to order at 6:00 PM.
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2. ROLL CALL
Board Members present were Chair Paul Van Dyke, Mike Dolph, Richard Carstens, Scott Arndt
and Rebecca Nelson. Also present were Chief Howard Rue and Secretary Martha Bamett.
3. ACCEPTANCE/APPROVAL OF AGENDA
ARNDT MOVED to approve the agenda.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTON CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
ARNDT MOVED to approve the minutes for the regular meeting of February 21, 2017.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
5. ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THE FINANCIAL REPORT
ARNDT MOVED to approve and acknowledge the Financial Report.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
6. VISITOR COMMENTS
Mel Stephens — In taking a look at the budget he wanted to point out that this Fire District has
been in an area of town which has been growing in population until recently. They also have a
number of major capital expenditures such as building, and new Fire Engines which you have
had to generate funds for. The mill rate sets the budget and generates enough revenue not simply
for your operating expenses but enough revenue to generate a fund from which those capital
projects could then be paid. He hoped that the error of new capital projects was slowing down
and coming to an end. What he did not notice in the budget was a reduction of the mill rate. He
cannot tell what the mill rate was from the budget but looking at the number it looked like your
reducing the mill rate. If you do not have a specific capital project for which you are generating
some additional money to put away and you cannot pay for in one year, then he would expect the
mill rate to go down. Service districts do not need a big fund balance and they are not
independent governments. You should ordinarily be looking at generating enough revenue to pay
your expected operating expenses and not to generate a fund balance for the subject of purchase
of the fund balance. He was not sure what the Board was doing with regard to the mill rate. It
doesn't look like it is going down. His observation would be that if you don't have a capital
project on the horizon that you need extra funds for. He saw in past minutes the idea of
Fire Protection Area No. I Board Regular Meeting March 21, 2017
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borrowing money to pay for the new fire engine and you have funds to pay for that and he urges
jiG^you.to;p4y for it. If he has a savings account and he gets his credit card bill and he has enough
money to pay off the credit card bill, then he doesn't say let me keep on paying 18% interest so I
can have $10,000 in the bank. He thanked the board for everything they do and realizes it was
7. CHIEF REPORT
Chief Rue presented January and February 2017 reports on calls to the board. He thanked the
volunteers for getting to the calls and getting the situations under control. He updated the board
on the Engine and Tender. He and Bruce McNeil went to Spartan in South Dakota to work with
them on the Tender and Engine. The apparatus's are going to be cost effective, efficient and will
benefit Kodiak for years. They visited other fire departments while in Chicago to see how they
did things. They picked up some ideas on what to add to the equipment. Door 6 in the lower bay
was being installed. It should be operational within a day. They are keeping all the undamaged
panels and hardware as spare parts. He was getting prices on the cord rails for the air -lines and
electrical drops as well as the water lines. The meeting with Dr. Mortenson was canceled due to
illness and was rescheduled for next Tuesday, April 4`h. He will be getting the cost for the
volunteer physicals. The Firefighter 1 class was going well and should be completed by the end
of May. The live fire bum was going to be April 1". There will be a car seat program by
Providence of Anchorage on the April 6`h 7`h and 81h at US Coast Fire Department. CPR classes
and child seats will be on the training agenda. He discussed several fires that they were involved
in including one on Lilly Drive which they held to the outside of the building. They installed a
Kussmaul charger in the Tender which was working so they will not have to face a call with the
tender being dead. Engine 11 and Squad 11 will be next in getting this battery charger. The roll
up door on Engine 10 was out of service being worked on. The kitchen was being painted over
the weekend by volunteers. The exhaust system that the OSHA complaint was about was being
repaired by Long Building Technologies. They are calibrating and doing repairs. He will get the
final report back to OSHA when completed. Long will also be installing thermostats so we can
shut the heaters off to save fuel when the bay doors are open.
8. CHAIR PERSONS REPORT
Chair Van Dyke reported he spoke at the Assembly meeting regarding the loan on the apparatus,
strategic fiscal plan and the Fire Protection budget. The assembly responded asking the board to
separate needs from wants. They are concerned about the State's fiscal position and its impact
locally. He did not think the Board should consider a loan from the Assembly for the second half
of the payment for the apparatus. He has proposed changes to the budget based on the
Assembly's input.
9. NEW BUSINESS
a) FY 2018 Budget Public Hearing
ARNDT Moved to approve the 2018 budget.
Chair Paul Van Dyke discussed budget changes with the board.
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b) Purchase of Air Compressor
Chief Howard Rue looked at Grainger for the parts needed which included free shipping and
decided to purchase parts separately and not from the contractor. He was going to get bids for the
Air Compressor from Scotts, Premier and Larry's.
c) Bayside Lease Agreement
Chair Van Dyke spoke with Duane Dvorak, the Resource Manager who worked through the
lease agreement with the Chief for the apartment. Dvorak realized the Fire Protection Service
Area does not have a current lease on all the property that they manage. The Borough feels they
need to do a land disposal by lease to the Fire Protection District for control or responsibility.
This proposed lease agreement must go through the Planning and Zoning Commission and then
to the Assembly who grants the disposal by lease. The lease then becomes relevant to the Board
to view. Board discussion ensued.
d) Surplus of Boat
Chief Rue explained to the board they have no volunteers trained in swift water, deep water or
open sea rescues. Having the boat was a liability and he would like to sell it. Board discussion
ensued. The Board directed Chief Rue to sell the boat and motor.
10. VISITOR COMMENTS
None.
11. BOARD MEMBERS COMMENTS
R. Nelson — Would like to ask for more patience with the budget. There are items in there that
somb have strong opinions about. We need to move forward responsibly. She heard Mel
Stephens comments about reducing the mill rate and there was no way the department could
afford a reduction. With all the deferred maintenance we are paying the price. When we continue
to kick the can down the road on the maintenance, we will have huge capital outlays or outright
campus closures. That means some serious repairs. The public can hold the board accountable.
We are spending their taxes wisely.
H. Rue —He was proud of what everyone was doing. We have a campus and he has invited many
people to come to see what we are trying to do. He thinks with the plans they have for the future,
you cannot reduce the mill rate. There are a lot of things they are still trying to get caught up on
from past neglect. The board does understand what he and the volunteers are trying to do. He
thanked the board for their support.
M. Dolph —He would like nothing better as a tax payer to see the mill rate go down. He thinks
the wise approach was not jumping on that right away. It might be a couple of fiscal years down
the road before we are comfortable enough to say ok, we have the campus fixed up and
everything in line. There was wisdom in that approach and we need to keep that in the back of
our minds. He expected people to question the budget as we have the explanation on how we are
going to use that fund balance. We should adopt the phase "always flexible" as we never how
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ARNDT MOVED to amend the 2018 budget to reflect the reduction in Buildings from $72,000
to $32,000 and an elimination of operating transfer in $410,030 to $0.00 and the Use of Fund
Balance changes from $68,336 to $396,366.
MOTION FAILED DUE TO LACK OF A SECOND.
Board discussed "Land" item 470.040 in the budget extensively.
CARSTENS MOVED to remove $75,000 from the Land budget item 470.040 in FY2018
Budget.
Arndt spoke against the motion and asked to allow for discussion between the Board and the
Estate of Shirley Berns. He would vote no on motion to remove it. Board discussion continued.
ROLL CALL VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED 4 TO 1.
ARNDT MOVED to recess for 10 minutes and was seconded by CARSTENS.
CHAIR VAN DYKE resumed the regular meeting at 7:41 pm.
ARNDT MOVED to AMEND the budget under Buildings (470.070) reduce from $72,000 to
$32,000. Under Revenue, we had, Operating Transfers In, which was a loan, change $410,030 to
$0. Under Use of Fund Balance increase that from $68,336 to $363,366.
ROLL CALL VOTE ON AMENDED MOTION CARRIED 5 TO 0.
CHAIR VAN DYKE CLOSED THE REGULAR MEETING AND OPENED THE PUBLIC
HEARING ON THE FY2018 BUDGET AS AMENDED.
Rose Dolph questioned the investigation of purchasing and how it would affect Personal
Property Taxes as we are already paying $575,000 per year. She realized it was a small parcel of
ground but $75,000 isn't going to be the end to purchasing that land. There will be maintenance
required as well.
CHAIR VAN DYKE CLOSED THE PUBLIC HEARING AND OPENED THE REGULAR
MEETING.
ROLL CALL VOTE ON FY2018 BUDGET AS AMENDED CARRIED 5 TO 0.
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and when things may change with the projection we have and what becomes reality. Regarding
the land and building lease agreement, he would like a work session to fine tune it. He
appreciates the folks in the audience for being here.
R. Carstens - He wanted to go on record to say he appreciated Shirley Berns a long time
neighbor of Bayside Fire. He had a number of personal contacts with her and he will really miss
that lady.
S. Arndt - None.
P. Van Dyke - He appreciated the effort the board puts into the budget process. This was his first
Chair and first budget and he thought everyone did great. He appreciated Mike's comment and
others as we cannot overlook the fact that we are not guaranteed the money in these grants. The
things that those grant funds will be expended on are not optional, they are required. He
appreciated the board's fiscal conservatism as we go forward and thanked the board for their
participation.
12. NEXT MEETING SCHEDULE
Chair Van Dyke scheduled work session on April 18, 2017 at 6:00 PM.
13. ADJOURNMENT
ARNDT moved to adjourn the meeting.
ROLL CALL VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 5 TO 0.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:11 PM.
SU ITTED BY:
` Date:
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JeWClay, Board Secretary
KIB Engineering/Facilities Department
APPROVED BY:
Chair Paul Van Dyke
Fire Protection Area No. 1 Board Regular Meeting
Date: 4 19 / 7
March 21, 2017
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