WCFA General Meeting – Online Zoom 1500 – 1630
December 12, 2020
Todd Graves called the meeting was called to order at 1509 hours
Present were: Will Judkins, Todd Graves, Tim Logozzo, Saul Labanauskas, Greg Bailey, Reed Gracie, Dave Rains, Danielle Sims and 12 member companies.
Minutes from last meeting were review. Members had been sent a copy via email prior to the meeting. Motion to approve minutes by Gordy Reynaud, seconded by Mike Meyers, motion approved.
Treasurers Report was presented by Danielle. Financial summary had been sent to the members via email prior to the meeting. Account Balances as of December 12th are as follows: Checking – $9,692.36, Savings – $60,072.51 for a total of $69,764.87. Compared to same date last year we had a total of $89,616.57 in the bank. Profit and Loss for this year to date is: Income – $44,990.99, Expenses – $57,825.60 leaving a negative net income of <$12,834.61>. Compared to same date last year we had a positive net income of $14,414.03. Discussion followed. Motion to accept financial report by Gordy Reynaud, seconded by Greg Bailey; motion passed.
Training Committee Topics were discussed from the earlier board meeting. Greg let us know that he heard from NWSA that they are not waiving training or fitness tests in 2021. All agreed that we could continue to use the online Zoom platform classes when possible. It saves a lot of cost for both members and WCFA. R6 is still working on the in person class guidelines. Our biggest challenge is finding locations that will allow us to meet. We will address this as training times approach. We decided to table raising class prices until January when we hope to have a TC meeting to further discuss training options. We discussed how to provide shelter training for the online classes. We need to ask the FS if they would allow company owners to video students deploying as long as the administrator of the deployment met the training requirements of being 200 level SRB. Greg said he would like an in person RT-130 in February. He also said he would teach for free to keep our class prices down.
Old Business:
Review of Covid-19 Standards was discussed. Most agreed that the guidelines set out were not followed consistently and changed with location. Stories were told by several members.
IRS 990-N filings and getting non-profit status is turning out to be a difficult task for Danielle to handle alone. She would like to get some professional guidance. Discussed using Bart Bradshaw but are concerned with his fee. Danielle has a relative that is a CPA and she is going to start there to see what to do next.
We don’t have time to Review/Update of By-Laws so it will be tabled to our spring meeting.
In our discussion about Professionalism/Ethics provision and adaptation; the board needs to review and approve the Ethics policy so we can get it finalized. This is tabled to the spring meeting. Chad Sheets asked if Todd is discussing complaints with the members who make them. Todd said it can be difficult to police conduct because of possible lawsuits; it’s difficult to make a member aware of the criticism without opinion. Much discussion followed.
The follow topics were briefly touched on because we were running out of time. They will be discussed at the General meeting in a few minutes.
Committee Reports:
o PAC – No action, busy season. Todd wants to write a letter to Hilary Franz, DNR, to be sure we are not excluded. Reed Gracie pointed out that Hilary’s Facebook page never comments on contract resources. Mike Meyers shared his experience speaking to Hilary’s staff about State Mob.
o Medical Services Advisory Committee – Todd will follow up with a meeting of this committee, Lifeline, Advance Life Systems and Ballard Ambulance.
o Legal Advisory Committee – Jake Burkhart came to the earlier board meeting and shared his knowledge about legal complications in this industry. Todd will work with Jake to keep us informed. Jake shared his recommendation that the WCFA pays Legalzoom.com a $1000 fee/year to get help putting together a generic employee handbook that would be available to members to download and customize for their companies. Question was asked if legalzoom.com would provide a blank handbook. Todd said we will look into this and other resources that would help members. Thanks all around to Jake for sharing this with us.
Todd shared Kevin’s concerns at the last meeting that is it critical 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. Todd plans to write a letter to DNR concerning State Mob.
No other Old Business
New Business:
Todd shared his take away from the PNWCG meeting in November that he and Saul attended via Zoom. The committee was very quiet and only the questions that were prepared in advance were discussed. Todd reviewed the questions and there was some discussion. One concern was contractors not being used on State Mob. Todd will follow up on this.
Compliance with Farm Labor and DOL laws was discussed. Keeping the membership our members educated and doing business in a professional way seems to be the best option.
What went wrong and what went right / concerns this summer. Stories were shared. Several did not get paid. Gordy shared the difficulty in the online check in/check out process, no final confirmation of invoice. Jake had a similar experience. Reed shared how he got paid. Much discussion followed.
New member – Bailey Logging (June 2020) Letter submitted from Bailey Logging was shared. Discussion and a vote to approve Bailey Logging as a member, all approved! One year probation to be review at the spring meeting.
Record Review Prices – tabled until spring.
No other New Business
Spring meeting date May TDB
Meeting Adjourned 1645 hours