Wallingford Fire District No. 1 MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING The
moderator Kurt Brown called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Those present were
the Prudential Committee members: Dennis Stocker, Scott Sendra, Alicia Sharp,
and Maureen Duchesne the Clerk/Treasurer. There were twenty-five (17) Fire
District Residents, along with six (6) visitors in attendance. Moderator Kurt Brown read the
warning. The legal voters of Fire
District No. 1, Article 01. Will the
District vote to approve and authorize the Prudential Committee to expend the
specific amounts of monies to be appropriated for all necessary Water Fund
expenses and apportioned by the Prudential Committee for the several purposes
provided as per the proposed 2011-2012 Fiscal Year Budget contained in the
Annual Fire District No. 1 Report. (Australian
Ballot) Charlie Baker made a motion to
open the floor for discussion it was seconded by Dennis Stocker.
The voice vote was called for and it carried. Rose Regula asked a question as
to why there was no beginning and ending balance shown for the budget.
Alicia explained that the dollar amount at the very end of the budget
under income or loss will be the ending of one budget and the beginning of the
next one. Rose asked what the estimated
budget column is. Alicia
stated that it is because we have not gotten to the end of our budget year and
we are estimating what will be spent. Scott
stated that we are tracking the expenditures to date and trying to see where the
revenues and expenditures will be at the end of the fiscal year.
This will also give a reference for a proposed budget for the next year.
Rose then wanted to know why then are our taxes going up?
Scott did say that the expenditures are up, but did state the overall the
combined water and sewer budgets are only going up a little over $1300 from last
year. Rose wanted to know what was
uncollected receivables was? Alicia
stated that they are bad debts that we will not ever be able to collect. Rose then wanted to know why
there was no delinquent tax report in the Annual Report.
Scott stated we had to go to print and we did not have the report at that
time. Alicia stated that we do have copies of the report now. Noreen Booska made a comment
that she felt if you know it has to go to print at a certain time every year
than it is a lack of responsibility on those people not to have it ready, but
she did thank us for having copies to hand out at the meeting tonight. Rose then asked why there was no
breakdown of how much was water and how much was sewer on the delinquent report
and how far back in years? Kurt then stated that unless it
pertained to the water budget it was not the time to discuss the delinquent
taxes that comes under article 9. Rose then stated she wanted to
know how much was collected under water. Alicia said that a delinquency is
delinquent and it makes no difference whether it is water or sewer. Rose then
asked if it goes back to far why we are not pursuing it.
Scott at this time stated we will be doing that this year. Kurt then again stated we would
not get into delinquent tax procedures now but can be asked under article 9.
Kurt did ask the board how the $89,000 in delinquencies affected the budgets.
Both Scott and Alicia stated if all money was collected it would decrease
the budgets. Kurt asked if there were any
more questions on article 1 and with no Charlie Baker made a motion to cease
discussion, it was seconded by Kandi Stocker.
The vote was called for and with none opposed the motion carried. Article 02. Will the
District vote to approve and authorize the Prudential Committee to expend the
specific amounts of monies to be appropriated for all necessary Sewer Fund
expenses and apportioned by the Prudential Committee for the several purposes
provided as per the proposed 2011-2012 Fiscal Year Budget contained in the
Annual Fire District No. 1 Report. (Australian
Ballot) Dennis Stocker made a motion to
open the floor for discussion and it was seconded by Charlie Baker.
The voice vote was called for and the motion carried. Rose wanted to know what the
office equipment line item was for. Scott
stated it was for the printer rental. Kurt then asked if there were
any more questions on article 2 hearing none Kurt then asked for a motion to end
discussion. Charlie Baker made the
motion and it was seconded by Noreen Booska.
The voice vote was called for and with none opposed the motion carried. Article 03. Will the
District vote to approve and authorize the Prudential Committee to expend the
specific amounts of monies to be appropriated for all necessary General Fund
expenses and apportioned by the Prudential Committee for the several purposes
provided as per the proposed 2011-2012 Fiscal Year Budget contained in the
Annual Fire District No. 1 Report. (Australian Ballot) Charlie Baker made a motion to
open floor for discussion and it was seconded by Kandi Stocker.
The motion carried when the voice vote was called for. Rose wanted to know why the
Prudential Committee was not doing the same as the town and level funding the
salaries. Scott stated that the town
did give their employees bonuses last year that were not in the budget.
Bill Brooks did confirm this. Scott
said this is the first increase in two years. Rose then wanted to know why the
Prudential Committee gave themselves a raise.
Alicia stated they get a stipend and not a salary and they were not
getting an increase. The dollar
amount includes the FICA tax for all the salaries and stipends.
This is new this year to the budgets as it is not a separate line item. Rose asked what we paid the CPA.
Scott stated that Jeff Bradley was the most reasonable at about $6900 as
the board did get quotes from other CPA’s and they were well over $10,000. Rose stated that she felt the
financial aspect of the district was not being done properly as she was paying a
lot of money but she did not see anything being done, like new water lines, no
sidewalk work. Where is the money
going? Alicia stated that the money
being collected is just to keep the systems running as well as all the legal
government mandates. Scott stated he totally agreed with the fact that we have
not been able to do any work on the systems, but that we had a tough year with
employees out hurt. He does hope to
be able to do some work this year. Rose wanted to know why nothing
is being done to the sidewalks and where is the sidewalk fund money.
Scott stated we used to get $2000 from the town for maintenance of the
sidewalks but that has been stopped. Alicia
stated we do not have a separate account for the sidewalks. Noreen Booska asked why we no
longer are getting the money from the town for the sidewalks.
Scott said he did not know the reason they stopped. Kurt asked if there were any other questions on article 3 hearing none Charlie Baker made a motion that discussion cease and Kandi Stocker seconded. A voice vote was called for and the motion carried. Article 04. Will the
District vote to approve and authorize the Prudential Committee to expend the
specific amounts of monies to be appropriated for all necessary Fire Protection
Fund expenses and apportioned by the Prudential Committee for the several
purposes provided as per the proposed 2011-2012 Fiscal Year Budget
contained in the Annual Fire District No. 1 Report.
(Australian Ballot) Charlie Baker made a motion to
open the floor for discussion it was seconded by Noreen Booska.
Motion carried after a voice vote. Rose wanted to know that when
grant applications are being done whose signature goes on as authorized to file.
Scott said that the Fire Chief comes to the board and asked for
permission to apply for the grants and it is the grant writer that signs them as
there is no paperwork. Stephane
Goulet is the grant writer and he is responsible for any grants that are
awarded. Kurt then asked if the grant
money awarded that shows in the budget if we have to pay any of that back.
Stephane stated that it depends on the grant itself as some have a
matching funds amount. Rose
wanted to know then where in the budget do we get the matching funds. Stephane
said like the equipment grant they took the $4700 matching funds from the
equipment line item. Scott then
asked and was told they received $87,000 of free equipment that the people did
not have to pay for. Scott then gave
Stepane Goulet a thank you for all his work on the grant writing. A guest Mark Tessier asked who
votes on the Fire Budget, and why voters outside the district vote on the fire
budget can’t. Scott states we have
contacted the Secretary of State and there are laws that do not allow this to
happen. Scott then gave the names of
the three representatives from outside the district that work on the budget. Kurt did then state that the
only way everyone will get to vote on the fire budget is to have the fire
district be absorbed by the town, and that is a very lengthy process. Charlie Baker made a comment
that it is a lengthy process to come up with a fire budget and takes a lot of
give and take on both sides. Kurt
said that maybe one of the three representatives should attend the annual
meeting to answer questions. Rose wanted to know what is
included in the equipment line item as it is $10,000.
Stephane gave a brief description and also stated that they are being hit
with a lot of mandates that cost more money. Rose wanted to know what line
item 5435 Fireman’s Stipend is? Scott
explained that this is to try and get some new members and give an incentive to
keep the ones we have. He also
stated this is done in several different towns and it is done with a point
system. This is a common practice in
several towns. Kurt asked if there were any
further questions on article 4 and hearing none Charlie Baker made a motion to
cease discussion, it was seconded by Kandi Stocker.
A voice vote was called for and with none opposed motion carried. Article 05. Will the
District vote to have all Fire District Taxes, Water Bond, Water/Sewer Rents
payable to the Fire District Treasurer when due? Charlie Baker made a motion to
accepted article 5 as presented and it was seconded by Donnie Boyd.
Kurt then asked if there was any discussion and hearing none a voice vote
was called for and with none opposed the motion carried. Article 06. Will the
District authorize the Prudential Committee to borrow such monies as may be
necessary to meet the operation expenses of the District? Donnie Boyd made a motion to
accept article 6 as written and it was seconded by Dennis Stocker.
Kurt asked if there was any discussion. Rose felt that it needed to go
before the voters in order to borrow money.
Kurt then made a statement that this does not mean they can just go and
borrow money whenever and it can’t be above the budgeted amount and the board
agreed. Noreen Booska then asked how
many times in the past 5 years have we had to borrow money.
Scott stated none. With no more questions a voice vote was called for
with none opposed the motion carried. Article 07:
To elect all Fire District Officers required by law. Dennis Stocker nominated Scott Sendra for the 3yr. term on the Prudential
Committee it was seconded by Charlie Baker.
Bill Brooks nominated Charlie Baker who then declined the nomination.
With no further nominations Kurt called for a voice vote and Scott was
elected with only 1 opposed. Dennis Stocker nominated Kurt Brown as Moderator for 1yr and it was
seconded by Melissa Boyd. With no
other nominations a vote was called for and Kurt was elected with none opposed. Donnie Boyd made a motion and it was seconded by Jeremy Duchesne to elect
Jeff Duchesne as the Fire Chief. The
voice vote was called for and with none opposed Jeff was elected. Charlie Gauthier made a motion and it was seconded by Jeremy Duchesne to
elect John Thomson as the 1st Assistant Chief.
A voice vote was called for and with none opposed John was elected. Dennis Stocker made a motion and it was seconded by Melissa Boyd to elect
Stephane Goulet as the 2nd Assistant Chief.
A voice vote was called for and with none opposed Stephane was elected. Article 08:
Will the District vote to approve the reports as submitted? Charlie Baker made a motion to
accept article 8 as written and Donnie Boyd seconded the motion.
Kurt asked if there was any discussion and hearing none a vote was called
for. The motion carried with none
opposed. Article 09:
To act on any legal and necessary business. Charlie Baker made the motion and it was seconded by Noreen Booska to open
the floor for discussion. Kurt then
asked if there was any discussion on article 9. Alicia Sharp then made the comment that at last year’s annual meeting we
voted to add the 8% penalty to the bills right after the due date and we found
out this is illegal to do so we need to change it back.
Kurt then stated a vote was not needed but we will be going back to
adding the 5% late fee after the due date and then the 8% when the bills go
delinquent at the end of the fiscal year. Rose then wanted to know why in the fire chief’s report it stated that
station 2 is in need of new doors and the approximate cost of $13,000.
Scott said that according to our lease we are responsible for all
maintenance issues. Rose then wanted
to know why the station is not closed down.
Scott then stated that if we closed it down the ISO rating would go up to
the highest level for homeowners insurance and we are trying to not have that
happen. Scott then let them know
that this is not in the budget it is only a heads up to let people know it is
coming down the line. The doors are
not safe and need to be replaced. Rose then had a question about the remodel at the fire station.
Scott explained it was not a remodel but a repair due to the water tank
upstairs breaking and flooding the chief’s office.
This was done through the insurance all except the water tank which was
not covered by the insurance. Noreen Booska asked about how much it cost for the new water heater.
Maureen stated it was about $1000 for the new tank and installation. Charlie Baker made a motion to end discussion and it was seconded by Kandi
Stocker. A voice vote was called for
and with none opposed the motion carried. Kurt then asked for a motion to recess the legal meeting until 10am
Wednesday for the purpose of voting by Australian Ballot.
Noreen Booska made the motion and it was seconded by Charlie Baker. A
voice vote was called for and with none opposed the motion carried.
The meeting recessed at 8:10 p.m. Respectfully Submitted,
Approved: February
26, 2011 (by moderator) Maureen
Duchesne Clerk/Treasurer
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