WISCONSIN FIRE INSPECTORS ASSOCIATION
QUARTERLY BOARD MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004
PIONEER INN, OSHKOSH WICall to order by President Vajgrt at 1012 hours
Roll Call
President Bob Vajgrt present
1st Vice President Dave Lind present
2nd Vice President Steve Koback present
Exec Sec Treasurer Gil Hucek present
Recording Secretary Tim Rasmussen present
Past President Janet Harter present
Parliamentarian Jeff Pollard present
Area 1 Chair Bob Gower absent
Area 2 Chair Tom Weber absent
Area 3 Chair vacant
Area 4 Chair Mike Boehmer excused
Area 5 Chair Tod Doebler excused
Area 6 Chair Paul Voigt absent
Area 7 Chair Dick Trilling present
Area 8 Chair Bill Becker excused
Area 9 Chair Ron Omernick alternate Steve Koback
Area 10 Chair Paul Wirth absent
Area 11 Chair Jerry Paulson excused
Area 12 Chair Gary Puljas present
Area 13 Chair Dave Krupich absent
Area 14 Chair Ed Jeffries absent
Area 15 Chair Arthur Gil de Lamadrid absent
Area 16 Chair Mark Hoppenjan excused
Dept of Commerce Cathy Cliff alternate Sue Birren
others present Kevin Timm committee representativeSECRETARIES REPORT
Motion by G Hucek, seconded by S Koback to accept the secretaries report as distributed. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
G Hucek reported that we have:
checking $ 5422.74
savings 47604.03
Total 48146.77
Motion by J Harter, seconded by D Lind to accept the treasure’s report as read. Motion carried.SPRING CONFERENCE
S Birren handed out the final schedule for the spring conference. It is attached. S Birren also reported problems contacting the Juvenile Fire Setter Personnel and getting help from their organization.
S Birren described each of the upcoming classes in detail.
The Association will hold a board of directors meeting on Monday Evening March 22 before the conference starts on Tuesday. K Timm reminded the President that he will need to inform the board members when they will need to be at the conference and the meetings.
S Birren questioned conference cost and they were explained to her that the cost remain the same as last year for a four day conference.ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
J Pollard reported that Don Fredrickson from Pine Lake Fire Department and Area 7 are both looking at the educational program to be held sometime in the near future.
J Pollard also reported that some of the CD’s with the program on do not work well when you go to print the program. New CD’s will be sent to all board members.
Motion by K Timm, seconded by D Trilling to have the committee start developing a second course with more advanced inspection material.
Motion carried.FIRE SERVICE/COMMERCE LIAISON COMMITTEE
K Timm reported that the 2% sub-committee is looking at the statutory requirements of the 2% dues program and is working on the audit procedures. K Timm also reported that Commerce is looking at a definition of the statement “substantial compliance” as it applies to the audit process.
S Birren reported problems with the present language in the requirements for 2% payment and compliance. Some changes will need to be made to correct problems from the last revision that eliminated language requiring fire prevention activities in the bill.
K Timm reported that the 2% process should already be implemented in the State and training should take place before August 2004. The first audits should take place in January 2006.
K Timm mentioned that the next meeting of the committee is next week. Minutes from last meetings are attached.
J Harter questioned code adoption and the allowances allowed under the fire code and not the building code.
S Birren mentioned some buildings are being built under NFPA codes.SOG AND BY-LAW COMMITTEE
No report.
FIRE SERVICE JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
J Harter reported that a new person is in charge of the committe and there is nothing else to report at this time.
INSPECTOR CERTIFICATION
No report
VENDORS
K Timm requested that the vendor chair provide a list of the vendors and who the contact persons are to the attendees of the conferences. He also suggested trying to get vendors who have more to offer the fire inspectors such as software companies.
D Lind suggested looking into raising the amount charged per table from the vendors.WEARS AND NOVELTIES
G Hucek reported that the wears and novelties have been counted and some changes in inventory need to be updated before the reports go to the auditors.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
G Hucek reported that the new mileage rate for the Association is the same as the federal rate of 37.5 cents per mile.
He also reported that an outside audit will be performed in February. He is looking for information from the areas on who their treasurers are and inform them that quarterly audits of the areas must be completed.
Motion by G Hucek, seconded by S Koback to change the by-laws to recommend an annual outside audit each year. Motion carried.MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
G Hucek reported that we are presently down 190 members and the new membership list has been sent to the Wisconsin Fire Journal for their updating.
K Timm recommended checking the list of area chairs to see who is making the meetings and who needs to be reminded or replaced.SITE SELECTION COMMITTEE
T Rasmussen reported that Tom Clark from Wisconsin Dells has contacted several hotels in his area and the site selection committee will be checking these out before the fall conference.
J Harter suggested getting the by-laws changed to allow the board of directors to select the sites for upcoming conferences based on the best interest of the Association.WEB SITE COMMITTEE
J Harter brought two proposals to the board from web site creators.
Motion by S Koback, seconded by D Lind to go to Jon Holcomb as the creator of the web site for the Association. Motion carried.
J Harter will be the contact from our Association at this time. Any articles or suggestions should be sent to J Harter.
D Lind suggested bringing Jon Holcomb to a board meeting to clarify what we expect from him.
Motion by J Pollard, seconded by G Hucek to authorize J Harter to spend money not to exceed $2,000.00 to get the web site up and running and user friendly. Motion carried.SPRINKLER TRAILER COMMITTEE
D Lind reported that the sprinkler trailer will be moving to the sprinkler fitters new building as its new home.
AWARDS COMMITTEE
S Koback reported that some nominations have been received for the Fire Safety Educator of the Year and the Fire Chief of the Year awards. S Koback also reminded the board that all nominations should be sent to 1609 Sand Hill Lane, Stevens Point WI 54481.
UST COMM 10 COMMITTEE
S Koback requested that the comment sheets at this years fall conference contain suggestions for next years conference. He also reported that Randy Shervey is the chair of the committee.
COMMERCE REPORT
S Birren reported that Commerce will be teaching three classes on the 2% process at the state fire fighters conference.
S Birren also reported that fire chiefs and fire marshals from the cities and towns that adopted the IFC as their fire code will be invited to Madison to get clarification on how they must use the code. Options on using NFPA for these municipalities will be explained.
K Timm mentioned the 2% committee and their need for input from the fire service. Any comments to the committee should include suggestions on how to improve the code.OLD BUSINESS
K Timm reported that the hotel in Wausau is ready for us for the fall conference and some area businesses may be offering coupons for our use while in Wausau. J Harter will be asked to provide a link on the our web site to the Wausau web site.
K Timm also reported that the comment sheets from last years conference were very valuable.
B Vajgrt sent our logo to Dan Gengler from the Alliance for Fire Safety for their use of our logo on a fire safety brochure.
T Rasmussen distributed a new list of board and committee members. These were looked at by the board and several changes were made.
NEW BUSINESS
D Lind presented B Vajgrt with a plaque proclaiming us the 23rd chapter of the International Fire Marshals Association.
D Lind also reported that the new edition of NFPA 1 has been combined with the Uniform Fire Code to provide a very useful document.
D Lind reported on his trip to Reno NV as a representative of our Association and suggested that any future attendees of conferences from our Association provide a written report to the board of directors of what they learned at the conference.
B Vajgrt and D Lind will be attending the NFPA conference in Salt Lake City from our Association.
D Lind reported problems with a bill received from the ICC for an instructor at our fall conference. He is working on getting the problem resolved and then getting the final bill paid by us.AROUND THE TABLE
Area 5 will have a training session on the new palm pilot software for fire inspections on February 4 at 1130 hours.
G Puljas questioned when county code seminars will be held. S Birren advised that 2% material is not ready for distribution and only Carl and Dave are doing county code seminars at this time.
S Koback reported that the Fire Fighter Memorial final alarm will be held on October 2. More information will be available at a later date to explain the parade and dedication of the statue times.
Motion by J Harter, seconded by S Koback to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned: 1437 hours
Respectfully submitted,
Tim Rasmussen
Recording Secretary