The Falcon Fire Protection District held its regular monthly board meeting Feb. 17. All board members were present except for Joan Hathcock, who was excused. Richard Shearer, legal counsel for the district, did not attend the meeting but was available by phone.Treasurerís reportFire Chief Trent Harwig reported that the fiscal year was 8 percent complete as of Jan. 31. He said the district will not receive property tax monies until March or April. Nine percent of anticipated special ownership taxes have been received.Harwig said some planned expenditures occurred in January, including the annual workersí compensation insurance premium and payment for the Station 4 lot: $635,000 was transferred from the districtís general fund to its capital projects fund.Incident statisticsThe district responded to 179 incidents in January. A slightly different report format that uses maps of the district to illustrate call volume and average response times by response zone was presented to the board. A version of these maps will be used for the 2015 annual report.Chiefís reportHarwig said the Insurance Services Office contacted the district and notified the FFPD that rating evaluations are now being conducted every five years instead of every 10 years. FFPDís evaluation will occur this July, but the ISO will use the new station in the evaluation. Because of improvements that have been made since the last evaluation (such as installation of additional cisterns), the ISO representative feels that FFPDís rating can be improved, but that will depend on the evaluation results.Volunteer pension board meetingPension board trustee Mike Collins has been appointed to the FFPD board. Harwig said a replacement for his pension board seat will be sought if Collins is elected to the board in May. In that event, Harwig will send letters to eligible parties, and the appointment would be made at the pension boardís November meeting.Harwig reported that the volunteer pension fund earned $9,708 from investments. Combined with state and FFPD contributions, and including payouts, the plan ended 2015 about $50,000 less than the beginning of 2015, but it is still sound.Harwig said the volunteer whose benefits were overpaid told the Fire & Police Pension Association that she shouldnít have to repay the funds since the overpayment was not her fault, but the district has not heard anything further on the issue.Station 4FFPD closed on the land for Station 4. The board discussed matters related to fees, permits, utilities and construction. Harwig said nine contractors and three architects attended the pre-bid meeting. March 1 was selected as the bid due date to allow time for the board to review bids, create a short list and notify finalists prior to the March board meeting. A bid review committee will be established, and all bidders will be notified of selection/non-selection status.The board voted to change the March regular board meeting start time to 2 p.m. to allow time for the board to meet with contractor finalists.Resolution for polling place electionThe board adopted a resolution for a polling place election to occur May 3 for the purpose of electing directors to the FFPD board. HQ/Station 3 will be the official polling place, and Mandy Kirk will be the designated election official.
