Firewise Meeting November 13, 2024
LCMC Board Room
Zoom meeting was called to order at 10:05am by President Alec Pennington
Present were board members: Alec Pennington, Gary Nelson, Dave Peterson, Gregg Dahman (by zoom) and Dennis Wicks. Kathy Stafford was an excused absence. There were no community member attendees.
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The minutes of the October 9th, 2024, meeting were discussed and approved with a motion by Gary and a second by Dave. The minutes were subsequently amended; page 3, line 124:
From – “With a motion from Alec and a second from Dave, Dennis has two positions”.
To – “…Dennis has two positions, Vice-President and Secretary”.
Treasurer Report – Gary Nelson.
The Treasurer’s Report had been previously published separately. Dave motioned the report be approved with a second from Alec, the motion passed.
Stump Dump
The sign-in spreadsheet was again discussed, again focusing on having a column for whether or not they had an address marker or if there was some better way of obtaining the data. This was not resolved and will be an ongoing discussion.
While on address markers, Dave mentioned there were some out there with lot numbers rather than the actual address. This could become an action item for the group, driving the divisions and recording who has a marker and that it matches the house number.
Thank You notes – Dennis will order a supply of thank you cards so that we’ll have some on hand.
General Discussion
Alec mentioned the new possible volunteer Karen had expressed an interest in Firewise on LCMC’s Volunteer sign-up page may have Facebook and website skills. Gary said he thought we should only ask her to focus on one of those two areas and get it done right.
Alec also said that Maggie may be coming back!
New Member Packet
Dave and Alec have completed the Firewise letter that will be included in the package and done a very good job with it. Alec will forward it to Lisa Wiley.
Realty Sign
Our Firewise website’s URL will be added to the sign. With a motion from Gary and a second from Dave the purchase of the sign was approved.
Gary reported the company could produce the temporary sign overlays and Dennis will discuss with Chief Sexton and ask that he email us exactly what he’d like the various overlays to be.
Website Change Over
Dave has archived off all minutes from 2/3/2021 thru 3/7/2023, moving them to our Google Workspace shared drive.
Dave has also changed the email address with the website’s host. Alec will research taking it away from an individual’s name and making it one of our positional names.
Firewise Community Annual Review and Wildfire Risk Assessment
Alec has completed and submitted our reports.
GMRS/FRS RADIOS (General Mobile Radio Service / Family Radio Service
Ham radios were discussed in addition to the GMRS radios as that’s currently what the fire station uses. But hams have a stricter licensing process and require a repeater somewhere at altitude to be effective. Alec mentioned the Zoleo product [ https://www.zoleo.com/en-us ] which sounds intriguing.
Address Markers For Businesses
Nothing more was really discussed. Dennis will reach out to the Kirby Company; the owners of the new hardware store being constructed on the 119 next to the visitors center to see if there’s an interest.
New Business
We only have about 20 address markers left, and we also need some reflecting tape. Markers come in bundles of 60 and if shipping is reasonable Gary will go ahead and place an order.
Giving Gary a pre-approved spending limit was brought up but tabled for a later discussion.
Alec suggested we start working on next year’s Wildfire Preparedness Day. This was tabled until after the new year. Gregg recommended we also start working on the Disaster Preparedness day we want to do in the fall
Responding to a question, Gary reported 44 people had expressed an interest in volunteering on the Stump Dump sign-in sheets. Gary suggested we host a Wildfire Property Assessment training to cultivate some of that interest. As it turns out, we just happen to have a shed built specifically meeting all the requirements we look for.
With a motion from Dave and a second from Gary, the meeting was adjourned at 11:35.
Next regular meeting will be December 11th at 10 am in the LCMC boardroom.
ACTION ITEMS
All of us:
Line 30 – Driving each of our communities and recording the properties with an address marker.
Dennis:
Line 34 – Obtaining Thank You cards.
Line 56 – Get Chief Sexton’s desired overlays for our new metal sign at the reality office.
Line 81 – Address markers for businesses, the new hardware store.
Alec:
Line 48 – Forward Firewise’s New Owner letter to Lisa Wiley.
Line 64 – Changing the email address with our web hosting organization.
Gary:
Line 89 – Ordering new address markers.
TABLED FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION
Line 26 – Address marker question on the stump dump sign-in form.
Line 92 – Giving Gary a pre-approved spending limit.
Line 95 – Working on next year’s Wildfire Preparedness Day.
Line 99 – Hosting a Wildfire Home Assessment training