Roll Call-John Boyd Jr,, Arturo Pierera, Elizabeth Carr, and Carolyn Towsley. Greg Babbit arrived shortly after the meeting opened. Absent. John Johnson.

Additions to the Agenda- Under New Business: Ron Palmer - 4) SOG and Carolyn Towsley - 5) Countywide battery exchange program.

Approval of the Agenda- Elizabeth Carr moved that the Agenda be approved as amended supported by Arturo Pierera. Motion carried.

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

Treasurers report and bills-Firemen Checking $57,660.67– Firemen Fund $949.97 Independent Bank $14,830.71 Total Assets $73,441.35.

ISO Update –The package was mailed to the Chicago office after it was signed on August 26, 2009. It took a while to compile all of the material from the other fire departments in the area. But it has been completed and mailed. John Boyd, Jr. will give them until the end of the month before he will call to follow up on the status of the application.

Fire Chief’s Report-See attached report. Truck alternator went out on the Freightliner. They had to purchase it directly from Freightliner. It cost $1,700 and they put it on the truck themselves. Since then they have gotten costs from others in the area to rebuild the broken one so that it can be ready if this happens again. Grant can rebuild it in one day and a new one would cost $1,250. Then the rear brake

Safety and Training Report-See attached report

Maintenance Report- This was discussed under the Fire Chief’s Report.

Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG) – Under new members the Fire Department wants to add two subsections: a) New members that already have Firefighter I Certification shall be on a minimum 1 year probationary period. For 90 days only their rate of pay shall be $4.00 less than a non-probationary Firefighter. b) Probationary pay for non-certified firefighter shall be $4.00 per hour less than pay given Certified Firefighters. The reason is because too often someone is trained with our dollars and gear purchased and then they leave. Hopefully this amendment will deter this action. Discussion resulted in having the wording fixed to note in a) that the $4.00 is per hour and under b) that probationary pay for non-certified firefighters will be until they have obtained their certification and have completed the 90 days after certification as stated in a). Also it should be checked to see if this is a fair labor practice. John Boyd, Jr. moved that we revisit this issue at the November business meeting and supported by Carolyn Towsley. Carried.

Countywide Battery Exchange – Carolyn Towsley brought up the suggestion of a countywide battery exchange program to be reviewed by the fire departments in the area. Marv Bell will take this to the next fire chiefs’ meeting which is the second Thursday of every other month. Next meeting will be November 12 at Morton Township. Also at that time they will discuss the idea of a countywide or regional recycling program. Mecosta Township does the recycling program the first Saturday in May.

MF Fire Report – There is now a countywide report format in place for reporting. All fire and first responder personnel will be given free of charge a H1N1 vaccination. If anyone doesn’t want one, they will have to sign a waiver.

Other – It was agreed that the broken alternator should be rebuilt and put on the shelf for future use. But will wait see how the budget looks later in the year before doing this.

Brief Public Comment - A smokehouse will be brought in the week after fire prevention week. It will be in Morley for two days and Stanwood for two days. It will cost $200-$300 for each location.