WCFA General Meeting Minutes Online Zoom – May 21, 2024 – 1800-2000

President Graves called the meeting to order at 1800 hours. We have twenty-seven members here so far. President Graves thanks all for joining. He said it shouldn’t go too long but we do have some important things to talk about.
The first item agenda is the Minutes from the last meeting. Danielle sent out the minutes and hopefully everybody’s had a chance to read them. President Graves asked Danielle if she had anything to say about the minutes? She commented that they were six pages long and hoped that everyone would have read them and be prepared to vote on them in lieu of reading them. President Graves asked the membership if there were any questions about the minutes? If not would someone like to make a motion that we accept the Minutes as is? Jacob Burkhart made a motion to accept the minutes, Reed Gracie seconded. All approved, motion passed.
Next item is the Treasurer’s report. Danielle shared the account balances and the profit and loss. Balance sheets show the assets at the top, the current bank accounts we have our PayPal account that has $3230.80, then we have the QuickBooks checking $4309.80 and then we have our Wells Fargo checking account $80,071.55 dollars, and then the Wells Fargo savings $59,187.62. Our total account balances $146,799.80. The balance sheet shows an accounts receivable balance but that was paid just before the meeting. Danielle asked if there were any questions about our bank accounts or anything that the President wants to share. Danielle then shared the Profit and Loss statement, January – April. Danielle quickly reviewed the income and expense items. Total income $73, 470.42, total expenses $28,420.95. Gross profit thus far is $45,049.47. Danielle asked if there are any questions about any of this report. President Graves asked for a motion to approve the treasurers report. Dan Shaw motioned to approve, Will Judkins seconded, all approved, motion passed.
The next item on the agenda is the president’s salary. President Graves explained that the president typically gets paid $6000 a year in the spring, the board discussed and approved the president’s salary for $6000 for work done for the past year.
The next item on the agenda is 990 filing. Danielle shared where the 990 filing and our minutes could be found on our website. The IRS requires us to share the filing with the members. No discussion followed.
Next item on the agenda is a bank change. President Graves and Danielle shared with the board that we have been discussing a bank change for various reasons. We let the members know that we tabled the discussion to do a little bit more research on the Spokane Teachers Credit Union. The change wouldn’t happen until after the training season. We will discuss it again in the fall and let everyone know if a change has been made. Positive discussion followed.
Next item on the agenda is a raise for the Secretary/Training Coordinator/Treasurer/Records inspector. The board discussed with Danielle out of the room. After going over how wonderful a job she does for us and how much we’d like to compensate her and catch her up with the times. The last time she got any kind of a pay raise was 2020. The board crunched the numbers and decided to bring her from $24,000 annually to $30,000. President Graves offered a big thanks to Danielle for all she does. He shared that the board plans to continue to evaluate and be sure that we are keeping up with the times. Danielle expressed her sincere thanks to everyone. The raise is effective May 1st, 2024.
Next item is Training committee updates. Danielle shared that they discussed a raise for instructors at the earlier board meeting. The last raise they had was October 2021. The board is recommending a $5.00 an hour raise, bringing lead instructor pay to $35 per hour. The members mentioned an increase in the unit instructor rate to $22 per hour. This raise will start for the next training season in 2025. President Graves asked if there is any other things Danielle wanted to mention before we request someone to make a motion? He asked for a motion to raise the Lead instructor rate $5.00 an hour to $35 an hour and raise the unit instructors’ rate $5.00 an hour to $22 an hour. Mike Meyers motioned; Dan Shaw seconded. Some discussion, Todd shared a thank you to all our instructors and Danielle concurred. Todd asked for all approved, motion passed.
Mike Meyers asked if we could go back and asked if anyone considered the President getting a raise? Todd said it has not been considered. Mike asked if there is a consideration available there? Mike said he was thinking that Todd would make trips to Olympia and does a lot of things on the side. Todd wanted to let everyone know that whenever he travels somewhere he gets compensated for my mileage or my meals or my motel room and all that. Danielle reminded everyone that he doesn’t get compensated for his time. Todd said he figured that was part of the $6000. Jacob interjected, asking Mike if he wanted to make a motion or had an amount in mind. Jake said that Todd is at $6000 and suggests we go to $8000. He asked for any input from the members. Mike Meyers made a motion that we raise’s Todd’s annual rate up to $8000 a year, Jacob Burkhart seconded. Some discussion followed. Danielle shared that she really enjoyed working with Todd and was grateful that a raise was suggested. Reed Gracie shared that he appreciates Todd’s focus year round. Todd wants to be sure that the raise will only be paid if there is enough money in the bank account like it was originally sent up. Danielle asked if this would be effective today. Mike Meyers clarified that this raise would start today and be payable next spring. All in favor, motion passed.
President Graves asked Danielle to talk a little bit about the classes in Sultan. Danielle shared thoughts for why we should consider moving the class from Sultan to Snohomish. It would be more centrally located for those attending. Kevin Weeds and Kurt Bartelheimer said they would both investigate hosting classes at that location. The board approved earlier sending a thank you card and a donation to the church in Sultan. More discussion followed. We’ll get an update at the fall meeting.
Next item on the agenda is Old Business. We looked at Committee reports, and the first one is the Political Action Committee. Members of that committee are Adam Swedberg, Jacob Burkhart and Will Judkins. Jacob shared that the group hasn’t actually convened, but he did speak with Raquel Crawley, with Senator Murray’s office. One of the topics was the Service Contract Act pay increase and that affecting the DNR’s ability to use contractors. Raquel indicated that the DNR was supposed to be getting federal funding to continue using private contractors. Jake also shared a couple of things with the farm Labor contractor certificate, they have made some modifications at the Farm Labor contractor certification team in San Francisco. Jacob said they’re processing applications much quicker and much more efficiently and they are able to correspond electronically, which just a few years ago they didn’t used to be able to do. So, the good news is that it’s an easier process, the bad news is that makes it look like it’s here to stay.
President Graves suggested that maybe sometime soon, the PAC can get together and formulate some sort of a strategy and have a meeting and just figure out what our primary focuses are. The next one up is the Legal Advisory committee and Jacob is the chair. Jacob said the last conversation he remembers is that the POC and LAC were the same thing. Another thing Jacob wanted to mention is that the contractors need to keep track and separate their jobs based on what type of contract it is and if it includes the service contract act. He said you can’t just lump all of your payroll together as if it’s all the same because if you ever get audited, the Department of Labor is going to treat all of your jobs as if they are under the service contract act. Reed Gracie asked, “What’s that mean?” Jake explained that if you have work outside of the service contract act you need to make sure that it’s labeled on your pay stubs because the Department of Labor is going to ask for your pay stubs and some people might have other types of work that are not under your VIPR agreement. So, if you have work that is not under that service contract act where you’re able to pay less, you just need to identify that on your pay stub. Jake said lastly, there’s an e-mail floating around from the Department of Labor about not having to pay vacation. There’s a clause in the Continuous Service Act or the Service Contract Act, I forget, or if it’s called the continuous service clause. It’s in regard to if an employee is eligible for vacation pay and there’s an e-mail from the Department of Labor agent in training person that is floating around that indicates that we do not have to pay. Jacob just wants everybody to be clear that that e-mail violates Department of Labor Policy and that you just need to make sure whether your employees are eligible or not and you need to document it. More discussion followed.
Next item on the agenda is the fire Defense Committee. President Graves shared that he attended the Fire Defense Committee meeting yesterday by Zoom. He reminded the members that the Fire Defense Committee is a group of individuals who are mostly fire chiefs and state mob folks attended and DNR people. These people are there to make recommendations to the governor on how to continue to defend the state from fire. He went on to share what was discussed at that meeting, most notably, the rates they pay for Fire Department people vs. what contractors must pay, they realize there’s a disparity there. They also wanted him to let everybody here know that if you haven’t checked your statewide vendor number with Olympia on the State of Washington webpage, you can go in there and make sure that your name is correct and that you do have a statewide vendor number if you’re going to work for them. Todd shares a few more items and some discussion followed.
Next item is about review/updating the bylaws. Danielle shared the update is still in progress. Nothing more to add.
President Graves reminded everyone about Farm Labor Contract, especially water handling and fallers. Jacob shared about Farm Labor Contract & FLCE is under the migrant Seasonal Work Protection Act which is an old law, and the law did not allow the certification team to communicate with anyone digitally so, it would sometimes take four to six weeks to get your application back, even if there was an error and they would decline it. They couldn’t call you or e-mail you. Fortunately, things have improved. Jake reminded everybody at the meeting that anything that you hear from him, or any board member, is our interpretation, and is not the law. We recommend anyone to call Andrea Rasmussen, contact Danielle if you need help finding her number.
The next item on the agenda is old business. President Graves asked if there was any old business? No old business remains.
The next item on the agenda is new business, first up is election of officers. President, currently Todd Graves, two-year term and Executive board position #1 Jacob Burkhart, three-year term. President Graves asked for nominations for President of the WCFA. Jacob Burkhart nominated Todd; Greg Barker seconded. Greg Bailey – nomination was closed. All in favor of Todd Graves being re-elected. Todd accepts his re-election. Motion passed. President Graves asked for nominations for EB#1, Mike Meyers nominated Jacob Burkhart, seconded Greg Barker. Jacob accepted the nomination. Greg Bailey – nomination closed. All in favor, motion passed.
Danielle asked to reconsider President Graves raise to be effective today. Motion to amend the earlier decision by Mike Meyers, Jacob Burkhart seconded. All in favor, motion passed. President Graves will be paid today the new rate of $8000 for work done from spring 2023 to spring 2024.
New Members: Steelhead Enterprises, new member Alejandro Rodriguez, I’ve been in the private contact industry for 25 years, 4 fire engines, Type 6 and two hand crews. Reed asked if he is using WCFA classes? No, he has an in-house trainer. Some discussion followed with concern about an MOU and why he wanted to join. Tim Logozzo asked if he would be willing to use the WCFA if we could bring him on. Danielle was asked to weigh in. More discussion followed.
Buck Smith, Wildland Warriors, formerly Liberty Wildfire. Bought out Gordy and is moving him membership from Liberty to Wildland Warriors.
Chilton Logging, Jacob Oberlander. Chilton is rejoining with a VIPR agreement. Has been getting WCFA training with Kevin Curfman.
President Graves put them in a quiet room, and we discussed each to get them voted in. Discussion followed. No issues were brought up. President Graves brought each new member back to the meeting. They were reminded of the one-year probation and voted into membership.
Any other new business? Jacob Wigley said he is willing to assist with training on the west side of the hill. He is an acting FMO for his district. He spends a majority of his year teaching, and he has talked to Kevin and expressed interest in assisting or helping and he seemed like that might be a good idea. Danielle will follow up on this.
President Graves asked Reed to share that he liked the new ID cards or the red cards. Everyone said they looked good.
Any other news business. Reed Gracie shared that everybody would want to check with their own insurance providers for Prescribed fire. For Wild Pro, if you have wild Pro insurance, which a lot of us do, if you get ordered through VIPR or a state agency and you’re working for them with your equipment on prescribed fire, you’re covered if you are doing prescribed fire on your own as a private contractor, not an agency. More discussion followed. It was recommended that you check with your insurance provider to be sure you have the right coverage.
No other new business.
Fall meeting TBD.
President Graves asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jacob Burkhart motioned to adjourn, John DeLuna seconded, meeting adjourned at 1950 hours.