First fire board meeting with new board member discusses budget, fundraising, moving forward

Susan Monahan was sworn in to her new position on the Seeley Lake Rural Volunteer Fire Board on Monday, May 22 and sat in for her first official meeting on the board later that week.

The special meeting, held in Seeley Lake on Wednesday, May 24 was a small gathering with introductions and a parceling out of the yearly budget as read by Fire Chief, Dave Lane.

"It was good," Monahan said. "It went well, but I have a lot to learn."

Lane read a letter to the board from former board member Scott Kennedy who was replaced by Monahan in an election on May 2.

"It's been a pleasure serving the community and all of the Board of Trustees over the last 20 years," the letter read. "Even though it was very tough at times and challenging. Perseverance and hard work brings the reward that the district is in good financial shape, and everyone is working together in harmony."

There was another letter sent from board member, Jon Kimble. But as Lane didn't print it and Kimble, who was present, couldn't remember the contents of the letter the board shared a good laugh and moved on to other business.

The budget was the main concern of the meeting and Lane read through it in itemized detail, discussing reasons for numbers and answering questions from board members. Some items were admittedly labeled incorrectly, or not accurately.

Lane addressed those items and how they can be changed for the next report, which would have different numbers anyway because the tax revenue collection will be completed.

"Next report, you should see some more tax money but we won't get the final amount until June or July," Lane said.