Roll Call-John Boyd Jr, John Johnson, Elizabeth Carr, and Carolyn Towsley. Absent. Greg Babbit and Arturo Pierera. Carolyn read a note from Arturo telling everyone that he was in South America with his father who recently had heart surgery. He will be back in the USA around July 16.

Additions to the Agenda- None

Approval of the Agenda- Carolyn Towsley moved that the Agenda be approved supported by John Johnson. Motion carried.

Approval of the Minutes-John Johnson moved approval of minutes as submitted supported by Elizabeth Carr. Motion carried

Treasurers report and bills-Firemen Checking $66,553.16– Firemen Fund $949.97 Independent Bank $14,815.37 Total Assets $67,503.13.

ISO Update –No test date has been set yet. They have been working very long hours on trying to get everything in order. If everything isn’t done right, they have to wait 5 years before they can apply again. Ron Palmer feels that they are about two weeks behind from submitting the paper work to Chicago. The lists that are done to date are: apparatus, hose testing, maintenance records, communication center, community contact sheets, cooperative mutual aid agreement and Mecosta County agreement. They are still trying to get information from Morley, Big Rapids Township, Morton and Big Prairie. The information is about every truck that would go to a fire. Ron has a meeting set with Morton on Sunday to check their engine, ladder and first responder truck. Our trucks are done. In two weeks he hopes to meet with John Boyd, Jr. and finalize the papers and send them to Chicago. Marv Bell reported that all of the equipment is in: lights, hose breaker, tarp and a new shut off valve.

Fire Chiefs Report-See attached report. Marv reported that they have a new member who has attended three meetings. Her name is Emily Terpstra. It was questioned whether there is enough money in the budget to keep hiring more employees and to cover turn out equipment. Training is $220 and turn out gear is $1,300. As the budget looks to date, it appears that there is enough. Mecosta Township said they would be willing to look at more funding if there becomes a financial strain to hire more employees. But also hope that the people they are training are ones who will stay with Mecosta Austin. Tracy Wester is also now on board. Fire runs are up this year. They have had 47 to date. Burn ordinances are on file for the Villages of Lakeview, Mecosta and Barryton. The Village of Stanwood will be looking a setting one.

Safety and Training Report-See attached report. Under training of apparatus, hose lays and operations they also covered entanglement training. Ron Palmer will need to rework with one person because of a fear factor. If the person cannot do it well, Ron will come before the Board and ask to have the person removed. The rescue training is continuing education.

Maintenance Report- See attached report. The front gas tank on the rescue vehicle needs to be changed out. The new one is here.

Other Information – MMR is working on different software at central dispatch. It will report on runs. MMR is working on a standard county report that they will make the fire departments purchase and use. They are working on a regional template. Also the money for runs was incorrect. Nine runs were missed because of a glitch in the attachment sent. So a check for the bi-annual budget of $3,500 and for the nine runs ($460 or $470) will be coming.

Brief Public Comment-Ron talked about the amount of time they have and will be putting into preparing pre incidents (plans) for commercial businesses. He said they have pre plans for Ice Mountain, and the gas fields. But pre plans will need to be put into place for the elevator, Citgo, school and some others. The pre incident involves how to target hazards and how to be in place to take care of incidents. It was also noted that a plan needs to be prepared on how to get water from the Morley Stanwood School when there isn’t anyone around. Also noted was that the dam water level will be lower in Morley so there will be less water available. A plan needs to be put into place to address this issue.

Announcements-Fire John Boyd, Jr. announced that the Mecosta Township Planning Commission Workshop will be meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 PM at the Mecosta Township hall.