Firewise Meeting September 11, 2024
LCMC Board Room
Meeting was called to order at 10:06am by President Alec Pennington
Present were board members: Alec Pennington, Gary Nelson, Dennis Wicks, and Dave Peterson. Kathy Stafford excused absence – ill. Gregg Dahmen excused absence. As there was not the regular LCMC weekly Blast newsletter announcing our meeting and, in addition, there were LCMC computer issues, a Zoom meeting was not possible, therefore there were no Zoom community attendees.
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The minutes of the August 14, 2024, meeting were considered, slight modifications were suggested by Gary, and those suggestions were incorporated, amending them. The minutes were approved following a motion by Dave with a second by Gary.
Treasurer Report – Gary Nelson.
The Treasurer’s Report has been published separately.
Dave motioned the report be approved with a second from Alec, motion passed unanimously.
Shed Update
The shed is mostly done, what remains is the installation of the soffit panel on one side and painting. Alec has added some hooks and bungee cords to aid in storage. There will be another work party, but it was decided to wait for the rain to end.
General Business
Canopy
Alec reported the canopy has arrived and that it is of high quality and much better than we’ve previously used. Alec has acquired some anchoring blocks and tie downs to help secure it. A sidewall was discussed to put at the back of it as well as a Firewise banner. (Don’t we have a banner we used on the table at the Wildfire Preparedness Day?)
Realty Sign
Alec shared the artwork received from Ray Menard and Gary asked for the software used to develop it so that it might be modified.
It was decided to present the artwork to Blackstar for a bid on a 4 foot by 8 foot metal sign. Dave said it should be framed by 2 X 4’sAlec said he had some sexy pink (Red Guard) goo he’d donate for weather proofing. Dennis suggested the design include the ability to place a temporary 4 X 8 foot sign over it such as the Mason County Fire Marshall’s current burn ban sign. Dave had all kinds of ways to make that happen. Dennis will check with Chief Sexton either acquiring a 4’ X 8’ burn ban sign or the rights to use the design should we want to submit the artwork to Blackstar for a bid. Momentum was really picking up when Dave suggested we should finish the shed first.[1]
Ray Menard’s Resignation From The Board
Ray has advised he has just too much on his plate and has to free himself up from some of his commitments.
Dave suggested we have him removed from our signature list on the bank accounts. Gary will follow up.
Go Bags
Go bags will be handed out at the upcoming stump dump adventure. The Go Bags will contain:
- An Address Marker Request Form,
- A couple of the Firewise stickers, and
- The green Firewise handout,
- A volunteer sign up form
- A Western Wildlife Outreach brochure that Dennis will provide.
A bag stuffing work party was set for 10:00 Friday the 13th at Alec’s house.
Volunteer Recruitment Effort
Gary reported most of the folks that had expressed an interest had been sent an email. Dennis said he will assist in this effort and was provided with a new list of contacts. So far there’s been one response of “not right now but maybe later”.
Website Hosting
Dave would like to cease his ownership in our Firewise website and have his name removed as the contact point and have it transferred to one of the board’s title positions. Gary expressed an interest and he and Dave will follow up on the effort.
Dennis suggested ‘advertising’ our address markers in the LCMC weekly blast and Alec suggested also in the quarterly newsletter. All it takes is someone to take the effort. Dennis will follow up.
As a side note and not discussed in the meeting, on the front porch of the LCMC office there’s an address marker without a Firewise sticker so no one knows anything about it or how to perhaps get one. Gary will follow up?
Dave has suggested one of us should just go and stick one on it.
A comment from Alec:
I think Dave is correct we should focus on finishing out the shed first, but I don’t think that precludes starting the ball rolling on discussing the “Burn Ban” addition with Ray to find out how the Fire Dept feels about it. If they do not support such a sign, it is moot. I do think we finish the shed first or we create two teams with one focused on the finishing the shed and the other focused on installing a new sign. That said, we don’t have a new sign yet, we don’t know what it will cost and we don’t know the lead time to get a sign. We may very well finish the shed before we even get a sign to put up at which point this discussion is moot. For clarification, when I say “finish the shed” I am specifically talking about the trim, fascia, soffit, caulking/sealing, and paint where the stone needs to go. Due to season’s change, we might not get to painting until next year and that is okay. If we get a warm autumn we might be able to get to the paint but it is not critical.
With a motion from Dennis and a second from Dave the meeting was adjourned at 12:00.
Next regular meeting will October 9th at 10 am in LCMC boardroom.
ACTION ITEMS
Dennis:
Line 42,
Line 64
Line 69
Gary:
Line 52
Line 72
Line 77 – With Dave
Dave: Line 77 – With Gary