Meeting was called to order by President Kevin Curfman, for the last time, at 0907 hours.
Present were: Secretary, Danielle Sims, EB members, Todd Graves, Saul Labanauskas, Tim Logozzo, Reed Gracie, Greg Bailey and Dave Rains.
Minutes from the last meetings on 9/28/19 and 3/28/20 had been sent in advance for the board members to review in lieu of reading them online. Kevin has one small change to the Political Action Committee section says they met in Kennewick but it was actually Olympia. Motion to accept the minutes as revised by Todd, seconded by Greg. Motion passed.
Financial report was reviewed in a comparison of Jan – May of 2019 vs. Jan – April 2020. Expected expenses were reviewed, namely paying Dan Curfman for database work done this year. Account balances are as follows: Business Checking – $31,227, Business Savings – $60,069, PayPal undeposited funds – $9,246. Some of the PayPal monies that were transferred to business checking in February are going to be refunded for classes that were canceled in the amount of $2,660. There will be some refunds from early March PayPal funds listed above. Motion to accept the report by Greg, seconded by Saul, Motion passed.
Old Business
Training – Kevin shared how the online Zoom training classes have been going. The comments have been good some expressing that it was easier than they thought it would be. The platform is nice and we discussed the possibility of using it in the future to reduce the cost of travel and other related expenses for business owners and the WCFA. Kevin also expressed that we need to get going on some in-person classes. A few FFT2 classes have been scheduled for June. Haven’t had any inquires about doing RT-130 in person so far. Most have decided to extend rather than train.
Kevin shared about his experience doing training for Randle WA Conservation Corp in March with Kevin Weed. This group initially contacted the WCFA but when it was discovered that the WCFA doesn’t have a letter of decision with the IRS listing us as a non-profit organization, we decided that it would be ok for Kevin to teach the class under his company using the WCFA as an outside instructor. The class went very well and they plan to do it again next year. We discussed how to present the class next year; Kevin and Kevin Weed are willing to do it again. Should we do it as the WCFA or as outside instructor? If we get our non-profit status squared away it was agreed that we would do it as WCFA and split the profit with Kevin Curfman.
POC – Kevin encouraged the WCFA to stay involved with Fire Defense Committee, State Fire Marshall and Chief North because we have come so far. All agreed this would remain a priority. The Fire Defense Committee sent out a draft of handling fires during CV-19. Kevin was disturbed that Chief North said that private contractors were a weak link because they would get sick and not want to go home. However in the final draft they said anyone who got sick would get sent home. This was somewhat of a relief but Kevin will still be responding with a letter that he planned to compose after today’s meeting letting them know that it’s not just private contractors that could get people sick.
Kevin also shared that information from our DOL seminar reveled that fire departments most likely be under Farm Labor and MSPA rules. He was going to include that in the letter but Todd suggested that be a different communication. All agree that the new president would follow up on that later.
Medical Services Advisory Committee – Todd sent out a response from Kevin Toombs to the board just before the meeting today. He said the FS would not be changing anything. Todd will be working with Wayne Walker, LifeLine Ambulance, to work on a better agreement and to be present at PNWCG meeting to be a better voice.
Legal Advisory Committee – At our special meeting with Jacob Burkhart (Jake) we agreed to form a Legal Advisory Committee. Saul is the chair along with Tim and Reed. We had discussed at the above meeting whether or not to pay 50% of the attorney charges for what Jake was working on if two stipulations were met. Kevin said that neither happened on the phone call. Saul shared what Jake said happened at the meeting. More discussion followed. Reed is in favor of paying the 50% but thinks Jake should write up a report for us from that meeting. More discussion following and it was decided that this would be forwarded to the Legal Advisory Committee. Saul said that he and Jake plan to follow up with our DOL contacts from the seminar held on May 15, Tom and Karen.
Tax Exempt Status – Kevin shared that he would be forwarding any information he has to continue to get our tax exempt status with the IRS. Danielle with be working to get this taken care of.
New Business
Presidential Pay – Kevin has been being paid a salary since May 21, 2011. Each year if we have enough money he would be paid for the year complete. Last year he was paid $6000 plus $250 for some extra work that had been done. Todd suggested that as a bonus for Kevin’s 14 years of service to the WCFA and all the extra work Kevin put in getting us online for training due to CV-19 that he should get an extra $2500 on top of the $6000. A motion for the board to recommend this, at the general meeting to be held later today, was made by Todd, seconded by Saul, motion approved. Todd will share this at the general meeting.
Critical Points to follow up on – Kevin again shared that it’s important to keep in contact with the Fire Defense committee every couple of months. Keep up on our DNR relationships and the State Fire Marshall’s office. We also need to be in contact with Slosson to find out if they are using closet resources or DPL for State Mob.
Fire Response 2020 – We need to continue to look for information about CV-19. Last email about it was sent April 20th from Katie Mergel. Greg asked if anyone knew if the government would be putting a freeze on hiring contractors. Discussion followed. Kevin asked if the Federal fires send out overhead that would affect us.
New Members – Kevin presented the two new members that applied this year. Tan Industries and Olympic Ambulance. They will both be presented at the general members meeting later today.
DOL Seminar Summary – Kevin shared that the DOL seminar the day before was the best he has ever seen. We made some really good contacts with Tom and Karen and we need to continue those relationships. One strong point that was gained at the meeting was that only contractors who have employees doing physical labor, with hand tools are subject to DOL and FLC. Tender, equip, truck and driver and other support personnel are not. The Legal Advisory Committee will be following up to get confirmation before we share with the members. A PowerPoint of the seminar will be sent to NWSA and they should be sharing it with us, which we will then share with our members.
Election of Officers – The president’s position needs to be filled by retiring President Kevin Curfman. EB position #3 (Tim Logozzo) and #4 (Reed Gracie) are expiring. Tim and Reed said they would continue if they were nominated. Todd said he would accept a nomination for president, Saul said he would nominate him. Todd recommended Will Judkins or Wayne Walker to fill the EB vacancy that would be left. This will be presented at the general meeting later today.
No other new business
Meeting Adjourned at 1115 hours
Fall meeting TBD