Firewise Meeting                                                                                                                                 April 8, 2026

LCMC Board Room

Meeting was called to order by President Alec Pennington at 10:00 a.m.

Present were board members:  Alec Pennington, Gary Nelson, Vicki Knox and Paul Bogacz.

Uriel Hansen, Cheryl Allagree, Linda Breitzke, Lynne Moran, Mike House, Boyd Lusarreta, Patty Anderson, Chuck Moran, Karen Prows and Vicki Turner attended in person.

Wilkey attended via Zoom.

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Review and Approval of March 11, 2026, Minutes

Vicki Knox moved to accept the minutes as presented.  Gary Nelson seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report

Financial report was distributed prior to the meeting.

Gary Nelson, Treasurer, explained recent expenses for supplies and advised the current balance is $15,544.07.

(Alec advised – regarding the Emergency Preparedness ‘earmark’ of $1500 – that CERT is in disarray, and we don’t expect any action from them until later in the month.)

Vicki Knox moved to approve the financial report.  Alec Pennington seconded, and the motion carried unanimously.

(Quick discussion occurred about possible Insurance discounts for Firewise Certification.  Lynne Moran volunteered to do some research on that issue.)

Gary made a statement about the Treasurer position:  From what he has learned from filling the position over the past 3 years.  Procurement was a task that he was able to include with his Treasurer duties, but it could be broken out as a separate task.  He suggested we have one of the directors take care of purchasing and work closely with the Treasurer, rather than having one individual responsible for both tasks.  The rest of the team agreed that this is a good idea.

OLD BUSINESS

Google Workspace Updates

Uriel gave updates on her work on the Firewise Google Site.  Uriel asked for more recent event photographs.  She requested further direction on what we want to see on the Firewise Website.  Karen Prows volunteered to help with completing Agendas and Minutes.

Procedures Outline Project

We have been working on creating a procedure outline for the projects we do for Firewise.

It will be searchable and on the Drive.  This is an action item we hope to develop further in the near future.

Wildfire Preparedness Day – May 2, 2026

Gary provided the list of proposed plants and asked for comments from those in attendance. 

Uriel offered to do some research on deer resistance for the plants listed.

We will have only 1 speaker on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Fire Marshall Randy Collins.

Raffle items have been ordered by Gary.

Address Markers

Up-to-date – Paul has one to install.  Alec has one to install.

Phillip and Wanda Torres request was completed by Paul.

Shed Repair

Stone veneer repair will be done in the next couple of weeks by Gary.

NEW BUSINESS

Board Recruitment Progress

Alec provided an overview of what the Firewise Board and Volunteers do.  As the Board we administrate the requirements for keeping our Firewise Certification current.  There are events during the year, educational efforts as well as getting address markers installed, assessing and advising property improvements and tracking community involvement in cleaning up their properties. 

The following community members volunteered to be on the Firewise Board:

• Cheryl Allagree – As an applicant for Treasurer and helping with Wildfire Preparedness Day
• Linda Breitzke – Grant writer retired from fire department dispatcher 
• Boyd Lusarreta – Willing to be on the Board
• Lynne Moran – Willing to be on the Board (Insurance background)
• Mike House – Just moved here, Vet – worked in tech. Working on getting Drone license.  Willing to donate his capability to the committee.  Willing to be on the Board

The following community members volunteered to become active Firewise volunteers:

• Vicki Turner – volunteer / physical work, not computer savvy
• Chuck Moran – volunteer / construction and automotive repair
• Patty Anderson – Willing to be Web understudy, has Computer background
• Karen Prows – Volunteer still working remotely from home (interested in Grant writing) could do committee minutes and agendas.  Interested in the plant give away and Wildfire Preparedness Day.

Vicki moved to appoint Cheryl Allagree, Linda Breitzke, Boyd Lusarreta, Lynne Moran and Mike House to the Lake Cushman Firewise Board.  Gary Nelson seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

Uriel reminded Alec that we will need to set up G-Mail accounts for all of the new Board Members.

Normally we meet on second Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. – that time will continue to work for everyone.

Uriel Hansen volunteered to be Webmaster, Patty Anderson agreed to assist her.

There was discussion about further community involvement.

Next regular meeting will be on May 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m. in the LCMC Boardroom.

Agenda Items will include:

• Review of Wildfire Preparedness Day
• Confirmation of new Treasurer
• Confirmation of new Procurement position
• Website update report
• Future Project Planning

Paul Bogacz moved to adjourn the meeting at 11:40, Gary seconded and the motion carried unanimously.