Fall meeting minutes October 1^st 2011

1.       Meeting Called to order by Chief Caudill at 10:03 at Labelle’s in Spalding

2.       Membership present by the sign in sheet: Alpha-Mastodon FD, Breitung Twp FD, Republic Twp FD, Crystal Falls FD, Wakefield FD, Watersmeet FD, West Iron FD, Ironwood VFD, Munising City FD, Rock River Twp FD, Ford River Twp FD, Spalding Twp FD, Sagola Twp FD, Marquette Twp FD, Skandia West branch FD, Richmond Twp FD, MSFA Jim Rose, OFFT Dan Hammerberg, State Fire Marshal Ron Farr.

3.       Pledge of allegiance was said aloud

4.       Roll call of Board Members, President  Caudill – present, Vice President Perlongo – present, Trustee Yon – present, Trustee Jacobson – present, Secretary Seppala – present.

5.       Introduction of guests: State fire Marshal Ron Farr, OFFT - Dan Hammerberg, MSFA - Jim Rose.

6.       Members in attendance introduced themselves.

7.       Approval of the agenda: Motion by Marquette Twp with support from Breitung Twp, all was in favor.

8.       Minutes of the Annual meeting July 28^th 2011 were read aloud. A motion made was made by Breitung Twp with support from Republic Twp.; all were in favor with corrections.

9.       Treasurer’s report was read aloud and a motion was made by Ironwood VFD (Peitie) with support from Sagola Twp, to accept as presented, all were in favor.

10.   Communications: None, guests will be under reports.

11.   Unfinished business:

a.        Secretary Seppala made mention that the web site was filled up and he could not post the annual meeting minutes. He asked that the older minutes be deleted to create space. It was the consensus that just the current years minutes are on the site to save space since they are on paper and computer files for back up.

b.       Chief Caudill spoke of the training in February at the Tailwinds center. He has an instructor, Doug Doffer, for the seminar, who has taught at the Tomahawk fire school. Dick will get the information to Jeff so we can get a program in the mail to save the date of February 4^th 2012.  It was decided and a motion was made by Skandia with support from Breitung Twp that the price be $10.00 per student for the class, all were in favor.

12.   New Business:  None

13.   Reports:

a.       State Fire Marshal Ron Farr was welcomed to the UP by President Caudill. Fire Marshal Farr touched base on the consumer fire works bill and how it will benefit the fire service; there was some discussion on the issue of enforcement. Ron stated that if the local fire department did not want to get involved that the State would be doing the enforcement anyway. Fire works permits must be approved by resolution of the governing board in the jurisdiction.

b.      Ron touched base on the NFIRS reporting and we are holding on 83% at the moment and he thinks there is still a problem with some thinking they are reporting and they are not. He will be sending out letters.

c.       Ron spoke about the reciprocity issue and it is working for firefighters and it is also going to benefit fire investigators as well.

d.      Ron touched base on the issue of policies and rules within the State. He stated that the fire instructor policy is being rewritten.

e.      Ron stated he wants to brag about saves in our areas, weather it is a save or a program you are doing, send him an e-mail and it will be put in the newsletter to  help promote our fire departments.

f.        Ron touched base on the new born baby program within the State. There is a power point program on the bureaus web site for training on how to accept the baby.

g.       Ron spoke about fire training money. Only about 7% of the cost of training a new fire fighter. Senate bill 193 was mentioned. Were the schools can participate with the fire service and allow credit for going through fire training and allows fire instructors to teach within   the school system. He also touched base on the construction code bill to change/ rewrite it.

h.      Ron touched base on the fire investigator issue and he knows we are hurting especially up here. There are only 6 investigators in the state and one will be retiring shortly leaving only 5. He is working on a fire investigator training program that will be tuition based at this time.  He asked that we let our voice be heard up here on the issue. It was asked if Ron has a basic class that could be done up here to teach firefighters how to recognize a possible crime scene. Ron will get with MSAP and see if we can put something together.

i.         OFFT -Dan Hammerberg talked about training funding and giving up your funds to other Counties and about the fire instructor pilot program, and reminded the instructors to fill out their BSF 250 forms on the IMS system and get your members to use the system as well, print out their numbers etc. Dan touched base on the chimney fire training program and will see if we can rejuvenate this class. Fred Chamberlain was the only instructor for this type of training, with him holding the only training program materials. Dick asked that we recognize Fred in the new program if we can put one together with his material.

j.        Jim Rose from the MSFA spoke about the fall school in Alpena. He touched base on the on the fall memorial that was held two weeks ago in Roscommon and recommended that if we get the chance to attend it.

k.       Jim spoke about MIOSHA Part 74 being reviewed and rewritten, in depth. There was much discussion on the subject.

14.   Member Comments: Ken Jacobson mentioned the tournaments next year in Ironwood. Al  Pelongo had nothing to say. Mike Yon mentioned the spring training session; he thought it is always a good class and urged all to attend. He mentioned the arson training class as well. Jeff Seppala had no comments and Dick Caudill said we will try to get the notice for the February training out early. It was brought up about the UP Tournaments that some teams are dragging out the races because they are not competitive and asked that the UP Chiefs write a letter to the UPVFFA about the issue or to some how get on the UPVFFA agenda in February so it can come to an end in July. Dan Hammerberg thanked everyone for coming.

15.   Next Meeting will be held at Marquette Township FD April 21^st 2012 10:00 am Local time.

16.   Motion to adjourn by, Marquette Twp. With support from, Wakefield FD all were in favor.