The swearing in of two new firefighters and further discussion of construction details were highlights of the Falcon Fire Protection Board of Directors meeting on Aug. 11.New firefightersFire Chief Trent Harwig swore in Jacob Higdon and Ryan Feng as firefighters.FinancesAccording to the chief’s financial report, the end of July marks 58% of the fiscal year. As of that date, the general fund had received 93% of budgeted revenues and spent 49% of budgeted expenses. While the ambulance transport fund had not received all of its anticipated fees for transports, the fund was at 49% of budgeted expenditures. Because the lease purchase agreement had not been approved as of the end of July, the capital projects fund was at 23% of revenues and 31% expenditures.Fire and ambulance callsDeputy Chief Jeff Petersma informed the board that there were 12 reserve hours in July and 276 calls. As of the end of July, the total calls for the year were 1,961. He noted that the response time for station 3 was slightly over five minutes despite the road construction outside of the station. There were 121 ambulance transports in July. Petersma said there was an uptick in COVID-19 cases but firefighters were exercising precautions.New administration buildingAt last month’s meeting, the board awarded a contract for the remodeling of the current station 3 into an administration building to iiCON Construction Group. At the August meeting, the board spent time discussing the details of the contract, such as payment schedules and delivery schedules of materials, with the construction superintendent for the project. The August meeting had been moved up one week to accommodate this discussion.In connection with this project, the board approved a lease purchase agreement from Farmers State Bank in the amount of $2.1 million to finance the construction.New station 3Harwig informed the board that the exterior work on the new station 3 was almost done and final interior work like painting is almost completed. The board ratified a draw of $153,519 to Hammers Construction Company for work done on the building.Executive sessionThe board held an executive session to receive legal advice on a potential land transfer.
