WCFA General Meeting, Wenatchee,
May 19, 2018 – 1600hrs
Call to Order by President Kevin Curfman at 1630hrs. Danielle and 22 members were in attendance.
Minutes from the last meeting were read. Jerry Lease motioned to approve the minutes, Chad Sheets seconded, motion passed.
Treasure’s report was given by Danielle. Account balances as of April 30, 2018 are as follows: PayPal undeposited funds: $8,859, checking: $40,205, savings: $45, 037. On the Profit and Loss report our income as of April 30, 2018 is: $53,480 and expenses are: $25,588 with a net profit of $27,892. Motion to pay President Curfman $6000 for his work as President was made by Aaron Burkhart, second by Chad Sheets, passed. Jerry Lease motioned to approve the treasures report, Van Sarver seconded, motion passed.
Old Business
Kevin shared highlights of the earlier board meeting most of which will be covered here. He shared that we may implement a code of ethics. A portfolio about the WCFA to hand out is in the works. A fall meeting is hard to schedule; may try to do an online general meeting. Kevin would like contractors to share concerns as they happen so we can keep on top of them.
Training committee report was giving by Danielle. Details of that report can be found in the early board minutes. We discussed lowering the cost of the S-131 class. Danielle set the price at $120 because the S-131 was $100 and the S-133 was $20. After doing a cost vs. student’s payments assessment it was decided that it could easily be lowered to $100. Tim motioned to approve the price change, Saul seconded, motion passed. So starting today the cost for the S-131 will be $100. Kevin shared about the training questions that came up from R-6 new MOU training requirements. We finally got it sorted out and a memo had been sent out to the membership.
Will Judkins of Advanced Life Systems in Yakima came up and shared about an online option that he has been using called Fire in the Field. He shared the many advantages to using this program vs. using the NWCG online option. It provided accountability between the employer and employee while they complete the training for S-130, S-190 and L-180. He handed out brochures that FIF provided and said that as an organization we could get a price break of $60 per student from the program.
Political Action Committee
Todd shared the meetings with DNR he had earlier in the year. We have seen some progress but no DNR funds can be spent for privates. Discussion followed. It is difficult to get us involved because of the public vs. private funds. Gordy shared an idea about improving initial attack with DNR and FS for the PAC team to look into. More discussion followed. All agreed that training jointly would benefit all of us.
Kevin shared his unfortunate experience at the last Fire Chief’s conference where he was not included in the agenda for the event and no one attended his seminar. In light of this he will not go back. He will follow up with a meeting with Chief Walkowski.
We meet 2 times with the Fire Defense Committee via conferences calls. They were not very helpful. Todd will continue to call in.
It is important that we continue to make our presence known at the Cohesive Strategy Planning Meetings with DNR. Kevin explained what each meeting consisted of; brainstorming ideas to improve National Wildfire Plan. More discussion followed.
Kevin explained the problems we have been having with our database. We have a now have a new host. So far it has proved to be a great upgrade. This will continued to be worked until we make a final move to the new host later in the year.
New Business
Election of officers: President – Currently Kevin Curfman, VP – Currently Shayne Poland, EB #1 – Currently Todd Graves. Shayne is planning to resign since he is no longer in the fire service. Since we have never had a member of the EB resign mid-term much discussion and review of the by-law ensued. It was decided that the EB needed to first change the by-laws to give the President permission to appoint a member to fill the position until the next meeting where it would be voted on by the membership. This was brought to the membership for approval. Motion to change the wording about appointment of EB or officers was made by Greg Bailey, seconded by Tim Logozzo, motioned passed. Todd Graves was appointed by President Curfman to fill the remainder of the VP term until May of 2019. Todd accepted.
Kevin Curfman was nominated to continue as president by Jerry Lease, seconded by Gordy. Motion passed.
Greg Bailey and Will Judkins were nominated to fill the EB#1 position left vacant by Todd Grave’s acceptance to the VP. A vote was taken by a show of hands and Greg Bailey won. Motion to accept Greg Bailey as EB#1 was made by Tim Logozzo, second by Reed Gracie.
2017 Season-Problems or suggestions: Kevin reviewed 2017 season problems listed on the agenda. He talked with Katie Mergel about Canyon Creek fire and also brought it to the state. Discussion followed. Greg Bailey shared that he went to a meeting at the NWSA conference where they were discussing changes that will be coming down from R-6 with the new contracts. Much discussion followed.
We discussed having a Facebook page. Danielle had started one a few years ago. See if we can’t get it going again. Kevin thinks it would be a good tool for our members to keep in touch. Will Judkins will take this on.
In the board meeting we discussed if we should continue to have fall meetings as our by-laws require. All decided that we think so. The membership today agreed.
In other new business, Danielle shared about the new requirement in SAM to have a notarized letter in order to have access to SAM. This has been implemented because of fraud that has occurred in this system.
Two new members were presented. DeLuna’s Enterprises and Tri State Fire. Deluna was voted in. Tri State Fire was tabled because of questions that came up in discussions that needed answered before we could finalize it. Kevin will follow up with owner, Lance Chipman and a vote will be sent out to the membership via email. Update: The follow up vote has approved Tri State Fire into membership.
The membership was asked to approve paying Community Covenant Church $300 annually for the use of an office for WCFA business. Motion to accept by Will Judkins, seconded by Tim Logozzo, motion passed.
Shayne Poland officially resigned as VP. Kevin expressed our appreciation for Shayne’s many years of service to the WCFA. Motion to give Shayne a $250 gift certificate was made by Scott Darwood, Jerry Lease seconded. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned at 1903hrs.