TOWN OF SOMERS

FIRE COMMISSION

REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

Thursday, March 17, 2006

The meeting was called to order by Mr. Lawlor at 7:10

Members present:

Father Bruno, Mrs. Van Tasel, Mr. Rohrbach, and Mr. Lawlor. Also Fire Marshal Walter Sommers, Fire Chief Bill Meier, Lt. Glen Reynolds.

Approval of Minutes:

A motion was made by Mrs. Van Tasel and seconded by Fr. Bruno to accept the minutes of the February meeting.

Fire Marshal:

· Construction schedules are being adjusted on the MBA school project in the hopes of finishing the project a couple of weeks earlier than planned.

· Walter and Glenn have been working with the Connecticut Water Company to determine the appropriate placement of the 5 new hydrants which we have contracted. The planned sites were discussed along with possible sites for our next and final year of the contract.

· The Fire Commission would like to work closely with the Town Planner and Board of Selectmen to enact a new Municipal Ordinance and/or an addition to the Planning Regulations that would require all new developments to include a plan for adequate water and fire protection

o We envision this ordinance to be similar to an existing ordinance in Ashford which requires developers to:

1. insure a hook up with municipal water, or

2. provide a dry hydrate system, or

3. provide cisterns

· “Age restricted” developments are already required to provide municipal water hook-ups.

Fire Chief:

· The current year’s (05-06) budget is getting “tight”. Fuel, heat and electricity accounts have been very problematic. Adjustments have been made within specific line items to deal with the additional utility costs. We continue to expect that we will be able to finish the year within our budget.

· Furnaces within the Fire House continue to be a source of major problem and expense. After almost 5 years the heating system continues to break down regularly. Currently the oil tanks are being tested to check on sediment and sludge in the system.

· The Fire Department has made a commitment to purchase new Scott Air-Packs using the 2005 Federal Grant of approx $107,000. The new packs will be state-of-the-art with attached safety ropes and a computerized “accounting” system. This grant requires a 5% Town match that the selectmen are aware of and have approved.

· The Department intends to apply for another grant this year and if awarded funds will use them to upgrade the radio service and equipment.

· A new Service Truck and Hurst Tools have survived this year’s CIP process

· After discussions with the Career Staff the Chief hss made adjustments to the weekly schedule to assure the community that a career Firefighter/ EMT will be on duty from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends between April and September. These months have traditionally represented a challenge in volunteer coverage. These adjustments will require no additional funding.

· The Truck Committee will be holding its initial meeting with the manufacturer in late March to review scheduling etc. for the new pumper.

2006-2007 Budget:

· The budget process is continuing on course. At the request of the selectmen the Utility line items have been increased by approximately $18,000. The “Officer Stipends” have been eliminated and other line items adjusted to cover these increases. The Selectmen approved an overall increase in this year’s growth rate from approx. 3.5% to 4.5%.

· The Fire Commission reiterated its longstanding policy to allow the Chief and/or Commission chairman to approve changes in our budget proposals during the Selectmen’s review process.

· The Commission agreed that in a spirit of cooperation the elimination of the officer stipend was necessary but accepted these budgetary changes will significant reservations. It is important to note that the Fire Commission continues to feel strongly that the officer stipend program is an important incentive and tool in our future planning and growth.

Fire Marshal Position

In discussions with the Chief, all agreed that there remain two possible strategies to replace Mr. Sommers the Fire Marshal.

1. Move an existing career firefighter to that position and replace him with a new full time firefighter. This would mean that the Fire Marshal would serve as a firefighter and would increase the community protection to 5 ½ paid staff. We would partially pay for this new ff by combining the current Fire Marshal’s salary and some of the funds in the overtime account which would not be needed with the additional staff member. The Department’s budget cannot cover the entire cost of this new position. Additional funds of $20-$30M would be required from the Selectmen.

2. Keep the current structure in place by hiring a new part time Fire Marshal. This would eliminate (or at least make very difficult) the possibility of moving a currently employed full time firefighter into that position.

The Fire Commission will work closely with the Board of Selectmen in the coming weeks to determine the appropriate course of action.

At the time that a new Fire marshal is appointed the Fire Commission will develop a set of guidelines and expectations for the position.

Future Plans:

During the Commission’s November meeting we presented a proposed five-year plan to the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance. At that meeting we promised to continue our discussions with these groups by supplying them with concrete manpower and cost estimates. These discussions will take time and will be on our April agenda. Initially the Chief recommended that we plan on adding one new substation during the 2008-09-budget year and the second during the 2009-2010 year. The chief also suggested that we plan minimum staffing levels on these substations to be 2 professional firefighters from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. It was proposed that we plan for the addition of 4 new fulltime staff members between now and 2010.

The addition of these staffed substations will be important to the improvement in the department’s response times. As the population of the community continues to grow and town wide “sprawl” continues, keeping response times at acceptable levels will require the placement of manpower and equipment at critical locations in Somers.

For these proposals to become fact there will have to be a major commitment from all levels of government within the community.

Proposals from the Fire Commission will only succeed if the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance and the Community as a whole commits to providing the necessary funding to assure the continuation of superb fire protection within Somers.

Adjournment:

A motion was made by Fr. Bruno, seconded by Mrs. Van Tasel and unanimously approved to adjourn at 8:45.