Active membership status and fee assessments discussed

POTOMAC – At their Sept. 7 meeting, the Greenough-Potomac Fire Board sold their 1991 Chevrolet, Type 6 Engine, affirmed the Chief’s authority to request gear be returned by inactive members and discussed their fee structure charged to residents and commercial businesses for this year.

The Board received three sealed bids for the Type 6 engine. All of the bids were $5,000 or over. Bradd Kindle of Greenough was the highest bidder with a bid of $5,501. The board was pleased with the response and were surprised that all the bids were within $501.

“We listed our low end at $3,500 and we definitely got that plus some,” Board Chair Scott Gordon said. “We can put that in the coffers.”

The board discussed the need to establish a policy for members to remain on the roster. Two issues were identified, the lack of radios and other safety gear to issue to new members and the minimum hours for training and response required to be covered by insurance.

Fire Chief Ryan Hall said he currently has four or five people that want to join the department. However, they no longer have any more digital radios to issue, only one fireline pack, and while they are fairly good on turnouts they are light on helmets. He feels it is financially irresponsible to the taxpayer to purchase radios and other gear when the Department has it, it is just not being used.

“There is gear that is in the community with people that live and work in the community that have not been on calls,” Hall said. “I would like to bring these new folks on but we need gear to do it.”

Hall proposed setting a requirement of 15% of calls and/or training based upon the volunteer’s availability.

“I’ll be honest, my number is very low,” Hall said. “My opinion is we need to start somewhere and I just think it is a good starting point.”

If that is implemented, Hall said that would drop four to six people off the roster. If the requirement was increased from 15% to 25% six or seven volunteers would be removed from the roster. He added three have not attended a training in two years. One has been on one call in two years.

“Two years without training is a liability,” Gordon said.

Gordon asked about the insurance requirement for volunteers to be covered. He feels that should be the minimum for volunteers to retain gear and remain on the roster because if they respond and something happens, insurance may refuse to cover them.

“I think it is important because we want to have our people trained,” Gordon said. “We want them to know what they are doing on a fire because on the fire is not where you learn where to fight a fire.”

Trustee Jennifer Iverson agreed to reach out to the insurance agent to see if there was a minimum requirement for coverage and report back to the board next meeting.

Iverson felt that the Chief’s proposed 15% would put equipment back in rotation, puts volunteers back in training and decreases liability and increases the skill set of the volunteers.

Trustee Jack Mulcar said in his opinion if volunteers aren’t training or responding to calls, there is no benefit to the department or the community. Secretary Gary Burnett added they would not be losing much response.

Gordon questioned how this requirement would affect the auxiliary or other folks on the roster that fill very special rolls that do not require full volunteer status nor require full gear to be issued.

Iverson thought they could “commandeer” equipment operators and others with special skills and they would be covered under insurance. However, she will clarify that with insurance as well.

Next month they will work on a formal policy that outlines required hours of training and response for active members. In the interim, the board agreed to support the Chief and affirmed his authority to gather equipment from roster members that have not been in attendance. Gordon added that they may need to explore other options such as applying for grants to purchase additional equipment so they don’t have to turn volunteers away.

Since they are a fee-service area, the board discussed the list of District members that will be assessed the $60 per structure and $100 per commercial property. There are more than 12 structures that were either missing in the past, recently built or added to the response area. These property owners will receive a letter informing them they have been added.

Iverson brought up that they have no guidance or a policy on how to assess structures with multiple living units. They are currently assessed $60 annually even though there are multiple dwelling units within them.

Gordon feels they need to make a formal policy for consistency. Iverson said it is important for fairness. The board agreed they will leave it as is and come up with a policy for next year.

Iverson also proposed that the board should start thinking about raising the $60 since there are more people and more structures that they are responsible for per residence. However, because the process is so labor intensive, she would like to see a different solution than just raising the fee.

Burnett said that his understanding is they either assess District members through a fee structure or taxation. The board agreed to talk with the Commissioners to learn their opinions. This will be on next month’s agenda.

The Fire Board’s next meeting is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5 at Station #2, 30039 Potomac Road.