SPRING MEETING MINUTES April 23 rd, 2011 Munising

·         Meeting called to order at 10:01 hours at the Munising Fire hall.

·         Membership represented by the sign in sheet.

·         Alpha-Mastodon TVFD, Ironwood VFD, West Iron county VFD, Watersmeet VFD, Sagola TVFD, Ironwood TVFD, Wakefield FD, Rock River TVFD, Munising FC, Tri County VFD, Richmond TVFD, Spalding VFD, Marquette TVFD, Mathias TVFD, Burt TVFD, Republic TVFD, Breitung TVFD, Skandia West Branch VFD.

·         Pledge of allegiance said aloud.

·         Roll call of board members.

·         President Caudill – present

·         Vice President Perlongo – present

·         Secretary/Treasurer Seppala – present

·         Trustee Jacobson – present

·         Trustee Yon – excused

·         Introduction of guests

·         Dan Hammerberg – OFFT & Chief

·         Approval of agenda

·         Motion by West Iron County, support by Marquette Township. All were in favor, motion carried.

·         Approval of minutes

·         Motion to accept corrected minutes by Tri County, support from Spalding Township to approve corrected minutes, all in favor, motion carried.

·         Treasurers Report

·         Accepted as printed

·         Communications

·         A letter was read by Chief Peite on behalf of the Caspian Gaastra Fire department regarding Caspian Gaastras Fire Chief Tony Tomasoski son who has leukemia and is in the hospital asking for cards and fire department patches to brighten his day. He loves the fire department and it is felt that this would pick up his spirits through his treatment.

·         Chief Caudill spoke about the seminar held in February. The turnout was down a little from last years and he and Chief Seppala apologized for not finalizing and notifying the membership in a timely manner. It was a great seminar with an excellent instructor. Notifications will be out sooner for next year.

·         Unfinished Business

·         Web Site: Chief Jacobson, Hammerberg and Seppala are keeping it as up to date as possible. It was asked that the minutes be posted sooner to the web site and Chief Seppala will try his best to do so.

·         Training: Chief Caudill as new business with Chief Malone talked about training after the meeting by Chuck Bouth on saving our own / RIT teams etc.

·         New Business

·         Ad in the Tournament book: ½ page ad motion made by Marquette Township with support from Republic Township to place the ad, all were in favor.

·         Reports

·         Dan Hammerberg: State Fire marshal Farr & Director Grutza apologized for not being able to attend. Dan spoke about the Fire Prevention code that has been updated and will be in effect 03/18/2011. There will be a training class on the code 09/27/2011 and you will receive a free code book for attending. Updates on the class will be posted on the state web site.

·         Dan also gave an update on the NFIRS reporting system and it is up to 85% of the State reporting as of now. Talked about fire software that was not being forwarded to the State when it was thought it was.

·         Dan spoke of the IMS system and that he could put on an informational class about the system at one of our County meetings. Chief Caudill brought up the issue of people signing up for classes and not attending but it shows up on their training list. Dan stated there are steps that can be taken and are implemented to be able to correct the problem.

·          Reciprocity was brought up and Dan stated that the OFFT may be accepting IFSAC accreditation from other States at the same level as Michigan. Send certificates to the OFFT and request a certificate will be issued for equal credit. Chief Caudill also asked if the other States are doing the same.

·         There will be a NFIRS class to be scheduled for the central UP this summer. Dick Caudill will try to set it up.

·         Dan also spoke about the Instructor 1 policy / Pilot program. There was much discussion on the subject.

·         No other reports from other agencies

·         Comments

·         Chief Jacobson mentioned that Ironwood now has a new Public Safety director.

·         Dan Simondsen, Sagola Township mentioned the fact that fire deaths need to be reported within 24 hours of the tragedy as this has just happened in his department and there is a lack of investigators.

·         It was talked about fire investigators for fire deaths in the UP as there are none available. It was felt that the UP Chiefs should write a letter to the Fire Marshal stating this concern. 

·         Next meeting will be the Annual meeting in Calumet July 28^th 10:00 am local time.

·         Jeff will contact the hosting agency to change the UP Chief’s meeting to 10:00 am because if it is held at the 11:00 time listed it will run into the next meeting.

·         Gary Johnson from Marquette County who is on the 911 board brought up narrow banding and mentioned that there is now grant money available for pagers and radios to EMS and Fire agencies. It was mentioned that the narrow band may interfere with pump and alarm systems so they need to be checked in your area.

·         Adjournment

·         Motion made by Tri-County VFD and support by Marquette TVFD, all in favor.