Revenue and lease agreement top board discussion

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Rural Fire District board of trustees discussed fire and EMS billing as well as the county lease at their monthly meeting Feb. 18. They also addressed comments from the public who is concerned about the lack of responders showing up on incidents.

Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane reported to the board that since they changed their billing procedures and switched their billing company, they have received more than $4,000 and have more than $2,600 in progress that is expected to be paid for fire calls. “All of these bills that have gone out, our community has not seen a bill,” said Lane.

When the billing company has called Lane and asks if the homeowner should be billed for the response cost not covered by the insurance, he said his response has always been the same.

“Every time I’ve said no because that is not what we are about and we are not going to do that,” said Lane. “We are collecting a lot of money without sending out a bill to the homeowner.”

Lane said that while fire and emergency medical services (EMS) are billed separately, the same billing company collects both. In the past six months, the District has received around $50,000 for EMS and there is another $36,000 that they are waiting to receive. Lane pointed out that the District budgeted $75,000 for collections and they are almost there in the first six months.

Lane attributes part of the increase in EMS revenue to patient transports to Missoula.

“We’ve changed the culture with our providers, with our EMTs, we are trusted more by the hospital to treat our patients. We are providing better care so by doing that we are transporting all the way to hospital,” said Lane. “That makes a difference as well.”

Lane asked the board several questions regarding the lease with Missoula County for use of Station 2, north of Seeley Lake on Highway 83.

First, the County is $24,000 behind on the rent having not made a payment since October. According to the lease that was last amended in the 2012, Missoula County is in default of the lease, however it is also written that only the lessee can terminate the lease. The District has provided adequate notice that payment is due. The lease does not allow the District to charge a late fee.

District Administrator Lynn Richards said that the County was paying on time. They had a change in personnel last fall and the District has not received payment since. Board Chair Scott Kennedy said he would contact the County.

Second, Lane said the County is $1,800 behind on reimbursements for utilities and cleaning for Station 2. He asked the board if it would be possible to split the electric and water meters. This would require the County to pay directly for the services instead of the current arrangement where the District is the middleman and reimbursements are not timely.

The board asked Lane to get estimates for splitting the electric and water meters.

Finally, Lane said the District is short around $13,000 annually between the rent and the mortgage.

Vice Chair Gary Lewis said the mortgage payment is paying for real property and once it is paid off, then all of the rent becomes profit.

“You can’t actually rent real property sometimes for what you have to pay to get it paid off,” said Lewis.

In public comment, the concern was brought to the board asking how many volunteer firefighters are currently on the roster and asked why it is acceptable that only four people show up on a structure fire. The member of the public felt that while the board is doing a great job with the administrative duties for the department, they are missing something that needs to be addressed and changed regarding the operations of the department.

Lane said operations are his responsibility, not the board’s. The board’s hands are tied when it comes to overseeing operations.

Lewis said that there is a liaison from the volunteers that reports to the Board. If there is something the volunteers need, then the board takes care of it.

Lane discussed the issue of the structure fire with the volunteers by voicing his disapproval and brought up the safety issues. The membership was discouraged and there were communication problems that have since been addressed. He added they have two new members and one in the process of becoming a member which will help with response.

Secretary Rita Rossi added that some of the volunteers were out of town and others were unavailable due to injury. Just last week they had back-to-back medical calls and they had plenty of responders to adequately handle both calls.

Kennedy said there is a nationwide shortage of volunteers, not just in Seeley Lake. Following a structure call Thursday, Feb. 20 morning, he emailed the Pathfinder and reported between eight-ten volunteers responded.

At the meeting Kennedy added, “We need members of the public to step up and volunteer their time.”