Firewise Meeting January 8, 2025
LCMC Board Room
Zoom meeting was called to order at 10:03am by President Alec Pennington
Present were board members: Alec Pennington, Kathy Stafford, Gary Nelson, Dave Peterson and Dennis Wicks.
Special guests attending were Chevon Brownell and Jes Mathews, from LCMC Public Works.
VIP guest attending, from the community, was Larry Hutchings, a former LCFC Board member.
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With a motion by Gary and a second from Kathy, the minutes of the December 11th, 2024, meeting were approved.
Treasurer Report – Gary Nelson.
The Treasurer’s Report had been previously published separately.
Dennis questioned the Kroger Rewards income entry and how we might expand the knowledge about the program and get additional Lake Cushman property owners to sign up for it. Dave said it could be added to the Firewise website à-> or did he report it was already there? <-<- Alec said it could be included in a Firewise Newsletter should we get that up and running. Dennis will research the mechanics and then see if Lisa might publish something in her newsletter. Dennis moved to approve the report, Dave seconded, a vote was taken, and the report was approved.
Realty Sign
Alec said that if the weather holds, he and Gary will set the sign’s posts tomorrow.
Website Change Over
Dave has turned this all over to Gary who now is comfortable maintaining it. There is still a small bit of email address cleanup to changing from personal email address to functional area email addresses that Gary will complete.
Wildfire Preparedness Day
Speakers:
- Bob Burbridge from the county’s DEM,
- It was previously suggested we have a women presenter; Alec has a possible candidate in mind, an Emily? I did not capture what you said about her. Is she from the Mason County Conservation Center?
- Would Dawn Lower be a potential speaker?
- Jesse Duval (DNR) and our Jes Mathews from public works were suggested. What needs to be done and what are we doing to get it done as a possible subject.
- It was said the county Sheriff is a good speaker.
- Considering the current destruction of Los Angeles, would a FEMA speaker be a possibility?
Dennis is to build a model home and landscaping display play station.
Alec suggested we get a couple of the CERT Emergency Kits for raffle prizes https://www.emergencykits.com/emergency-kits/c-e-r-t-kits/pro-cert-kit
Dave suggested we use one for Wildfire Preparedness Day and save one for the planned Disaster Preparedness Day event in the fall.
Property Firewise Assessment Training
Here too I didn’t catch what was said or discussed.
Storage Tubs
The tubs have been delivered and are in the storage shed waiting to be filled.
Stump Dump/Chipper Day
The Spring 2025 Stump Dump days will be May 23rd, 24th and 25th.
Jessy Duval of the DNR has a chipper and we can set up our own chipper days if we have a location to hold the event (disc golf course? Dog park?) and a way of disposing of the chips. This is a perfect segway into the next topic.
$4,000 Grant Opportunity
Kathy suggested we apply for another $4,000 grant Firewise would use to purchase fire resistant plants which we could make available for individual lot owners Kathy will check with Hunter Farms to see if they might be interested in bringing a big, flatbed trailer to our Firewise Preparedness Day to distribute the plants.
Kathy will also ask Hunter Farms if they’d be interested in the wood chips from the DNR potential event (line 77).
US Forest Service Wildfire Defense Grant
I am way too heavily invested in this topic. I stopped recording the minutes and became a more active meeting participant. All I remember is that Alec reported he’d be meeting with LCMC board member Vicki Knox on the afternoon of Friday, January 10th.
Miscellaneous
At the local area’s CERT meeting later in the day, Alec will propose bringing CERT under a Firewise umbrella allowing them to share the benefits of our 501-C3 status.
At 12:00 Gary motioned we adjourn, Dave seconded, all approved and the meeting ended.
Next regular meeting will be on February 12th at 10 am in the LCMC boardroom.
ACTION ITEMS
Dennis:
Line 20 – Dennis will research the mechanics of a Firewise Newsletter
Line 54 – Will build a home and landscaping play model for a fire wise assessment
Gary:
Line 28 – With Alec, to set the posts on the realty sign.
Line 36 – Will complete changing the personal names on the website to the functional names.
Line 56 – Obtain a couple of the CERT Emergency Kits
Alec:
Line 28 – With Gary, to set the posts on the realty sign.
Kathy:
Line 86 – Kathy will check with Hunter Farms to see if they might be interested in bringing a big, flatbed trailer to our Firewise Preparedness Day to distribute the plants.
Line 90 – Kathy will also ask Hunter Farms if they’d be interested in the wood chips
TABLED FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION
Giving Gary a pre-approved spending limit.
Working on next year’s Disaster Preparedness Day.
Hosting a Wildfire Home Assessment training Ray will check into using the play sand table for the WFPD event