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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 Enfield Volunteer Fire Company public hearing feb 13 fire contractPublic Hearing Enfield Volunteer Fire Company 2008 Contract with the Town February 13, 2008 Diane Aramini [DA] When did full board meet to review this contract? Frank Podufalski [FP] In the process of reviewing it now. DA What is memo of understanding referred to in Ithaca Journal between Town and EVFC so that call would be answered and school wouldn't be closed? FP Nothing in writing. Handshake. No Board meeting since then. All board members were notified. Rob Harvey [RH I was never notified. DA #9C Fire Co. was to provide written report 7/07 re: proposed refinancing. It's in new contract. Rob gave a copy to all board members via Town Hall mailboxes. (Herb, Roy and Frank all looked at each other and said they never got it.) DA Suggested that 5 -year truck replacement plan be changed to 7 years FP This may very well be the last fire contract we review. May go to Fire District. David Dimmick [DD] FP asked if David was recording the minutes. David said yes. FP acknowledged that the meeting could be recorded and apologized to Jack Hubbell for saying they couldn't at the January meeting. FP Conract is give and take. It's less than they'd like. DD They gave us a long financial report of several places where they went over budget, but chose not to refinance debt to save money ... even though there's a 7/07 memo stating they were going to look into it. All the taxpayers ask for is accountability in spending their money. FP Fire Co. is. a private entity just like the SPCA. We don't ask the SPCA. DD Not a private entity. A non-profit annual audit is mandatory and must be presented to the Town Board. DD Paragraph 16 How does the fire company indemnify the Town? If the fire company can answer calls at their own discretion... how do they decide which calls to go to? John Rancich [JR] Does the fire department have fire insurance that will cover the Town? Sandy Small [SS] Why pay all monies to the fire department in the first 4 months. FP The taxes are collected in the first 3 months so the money is there. SS Trumansburg had an article in the paper about all the grants they have applied for and received. Does Enfield apply. RJ Switzer [RJ] We submit several grants each year but haven't received any since 2002. RJ Commented that written report on refinancing was done 7/2007. (Roy says it was a typo ... who's correct?) They talked about it but did not refinance. Art Howser [AH] Said it was not in the best interest of the Town and the taxpayers to refinance. They would be refinancing an almost paid off truck for 15 to 25 years. Someone asked the life expectancy of a fire truck. The answer was about 20 years. theithacajournai.coml Monday, February 4, 2008 NOTICE OF PUBUC HEARING TOWN OF ENFIELD NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a public hear- ing will be held before the Town Board of the Town of Enfield at the Town of Enfield Town Half 168 En- field Main Roar Ithaca, New York; on the 13th day, of February 2008, at 7:00 pm., to consider the " proposed 2008 Enfield Volunteer Fire . Company- Contract. At such"-fime and place, all persons interested in the subject matter thereof will be heard. 200BMA Id bo jnteer Fire Company contract are available at the Enfield Town Hall, 168 Enfield Main Road, Ithaca, NY during the Town Clerk's regular business hours. Hours are Tuesday 8-11 A.M.; 3.8' P.M., Wednes- dayy 47 P.M., Thursday 2- 5 P.M: Alice Laue Town Clerk By Order of the Town of Enfield Town Board PUBLISH: February 4th; 2008' POSTED. February4th, 2008 2/4/2008 PUBLISH: February 4th, 2008 POSTED: February 4t', 2008 David Dimmick From: David Dimmick [bigg dadChughesnet] Sent: Monday, Februaryl 1, 20081:44 PM' To: 'Bigfrank1876@aol.c om' Frank: have a some questions about the proposed fire contract: 1) Will the Town Attorney be present at the Public Hearing?' 2) Has he reviewed this document yet? Has he approved it? 3) 1 believe that paragraphs 15 and 16 are illegal under Town Law.1 cite sections of Town law below to make my case. Certainly they should be passed by the Town Attorney. a) To the best of my knowledge, the fire company is chartered as a not-for-profit corporation:formed for the purpose of providing fire protection to the town. According to Town Law Section 9-18( 222 "If the contract is with a fire company located in the fire protection district, that company must be: incorporated. This requires the consent of the town board and a public hearing notice. The persons named in the certificate of incorporation of such -a fire corporation constitute the original membership. Thereafter, other eligible persons may be elected as members of the fire corporation, but such election must be confirmed by the town board. Where any such fire corporation furnishes fireprotection, outside of the boundaries specified in its certificate of incorporation, it and the members thereof shal[be under the exclusive control of the town board of the town in which the fin=_ corporation maintains its apparatus, and the town board my restrict the service of such corporation outside the boundaries _ described in its certificate of incorporation. It seems to me that paragraph 15 goes directly against this provision of Town Law. b) 1 don't see how the Fire company can indemnify the town. A limit of 1,000 seems ludicrous. If they cannot indemnify the town i believe they cannot set limits either. Paragraph.5 talks about insurance and then paragraph 16 seems to overcome it. I also quote town law Section 9-3130)m 223 states "'a court decision has held that a town may be liable for the negligence of a volunteer firefighter who was a member of a fire company with which the town board has a fire protection contract on behalf of a fire - protection district. At the time of the claimed negligence, the volunteer firefighter was responding to a mutual aid call in his own vehicle. in order to protect the town against possibie'similarllability, the town board entering into afire protection contract with a volunteer fire company should consider -requiring the fire company to obtain liabilityinsurance naming the town as insured, or else obtain its own insurance coverage at district expense. (Cuddy vown.of Amsterdamm, 62 a.d.2d 119)" 1 don't believe that any Fre corporation can speak for the residents of this town or the Town;Board and limit the towns liability for damages caused by the EVFC's failure to .act or improper. acts If this fire company fails to provide fire protection services for all citizens of this townthan I believe that It is the town who Will be sued along with the EVFC. It seems that it would, be prudent for the Town to insure itself against any damage claims that may be caused bythe EVFCs actions or lack thereof c) There appears to be many contradictions in this fire contract. For instance, Paragraphs:1,2,%and.4 says that they will provide all necessary fire protection services as required and then paragraph 15 states that 1 I have several items about this contract that cause me some concern. But before I discuss these items I want everybody present to understand where I am coming from. I absolutely believe that the Volunteer Firemen in the Town of Enfield must have all the equipment that they need to safely provide fire and rescue services for this town. Equipment to insure that their safety and the safety of those people and equipment that they are trying to rescue. That being said I believe that the BOD of the EVFC must look to the town for the moneys they need and additionally use all other methods to help them to raise that money. I also believe that it is this Town Boards Right and Duty to all of the citizens of this town to insure that money spent on fire protection is used wisely and is completely justified. That being said I believe the below suggestions and comments must be taken into consideration before any approval is taken on this contract. 1) In looking at the proposed fire contract I have to wonder if anybody on this board looked at it before putting it out for public comment. Can I be assured that you all have actually read it now? One of the things called for in this contract was that the EVFC (based upon their lawyers proposal ) would refinance their $820,000 plus debt. According to their lawyers proposal that would save the EVFC approximately $41,000 per year. Has the EVFC done that yet? The plan to do it was supposedly to be done in July of 2007. If they have then they should be requesting some $41,000 less for this year. If they have not. Why not? Have they dropped the ball and not done it? Why? 2) In Reference to paragraph 9. What exactly does this mean. I have seen little over the last year in terms of working with the previous town board to engender public trust. In fact they went out of their way to repeatedly avoid negotiating with the previous town board . Will they refuse to negotiate with this town board when they don't get what they want? Or things don't go their way? Will they threaten this town again with a loss of fire protection to get what they want? Para 9(a)iii says that they will provide quarterly reports including income and expenses as they relate to the activities of the fire company. If those are the same reports that they have provided in the past 1 think that they are inadequate. Mainly they lack detail of what they spent the money on. I will grant that their reporting has been better over the last few months but they still lack sufficient detail, in my opinion. This Town Board has the right and the citizens of the Town have the right to know exactly how this money is being spent. What reports are required should be stipulated by the Town Board. After all, it is the board that must respond to citizens requests as to how the money is being spent. 3) Para 9(b) of this contract stipulates that an audit may be performed of the EVFC's sole use of public funds at a cost of $3,000. NY State Comptrollers decision 2007-8 requires that all Fire Companys with funds received of $200,000 or more must submit a COMPLETE audit of all of their funds to the state comptroller with a copy to the Town Board within 180 days of the end of the FY. So why should the town board pay for this audit since it is required by state Comptroller decision. 4) Section 9-3 (B)(1) Town law requires that the following must occur. All new members must be approved by the Town Board. To my knowledge no such approval has been rtquWL&d df new EVFC members. Why is that. 5 6) 7) 8) Ref item 13. Why should surplus funds ever occur.If the Fire company prepares a sound budget and at the end of that budget year there is excess funds then those funds should be used either to offset next years budget Not used at their discretion but for:some set purpose, equipment maintenance, equipment replacement or some other valid need that may offset next years budget. I believe that at their discretion is just too broad of..aAerm_ , If I read para 15 correctly, the fire company wants town tax money but will leave it:to their own discretion as to whether they provide services or Will respond to any fire or emergency. This is crazy. Why are we giving them money to'provide fire protection acrd emergency services for the entire town and then allow them to use their•"own discretion" as to whether they will respond or not. So if -my house was to catch on fire the EVFC may choose to just not respond and that is ok? If.this were to occur you can beta will file a suit not only against the EVFC but the town. Whether it has merit or not will be up to the courts to decide. This seems like just one of those catch all paragraphs to give them. an out: It also seems directly contradictive of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this contract. I believe that Town Law intended that Not-for-profit fire companies providing fire protection services be responsible . to the town for those services. That's why flown law insists on' liability insurance"to protect the town. That's why Town Law says that the Town Board should approve all new :members of the Fre Company. "That's why The comptroller wants a copy of all audits to be presented to the Town Board. Fire companys are tied to the town via Town. law and I believe that is the way it was intended to be: Para 15 should be pulled -from this contract. I think that para 16 is illegal by town law. Section 9-3 b(2)of Town Law states that "a court decision has held that a town may be liable for the negligence of a volunteer firefighter who: was a member of a fire company with which the townboard has a fire protection contract on behalf of a fire protection district. At the time of the claimed negligence, the volunteer firefighter was responding to a mutual aid call in his own vehicle. In order to protect the town against possible similar liability,.the town board entering into a fire protection contract with a volunteer fire company should consider requiring the fire company to obtain. liability insurance naming the town as insured, or else obtain its own insurance coverage at district expense. (Cuddy v Town of Amsterdamr% 62 a.d.2d 119)" This fire Icorporation cannot speak for the residents of this town and II irnit the towns liability for datneg" caused `bythe EVFCs failure to act. If this fire company fails to provide fire protection services forall citizens of this town than' you can. befieve that It is the town who will be sued along with the EVFC. Finally, I as a citizen of this town, find it hard to believe that this fire company has the. best interests of this town at heart. If you sign this contract without suitable- modifications to protect the citizens of this town I believe that you also do not have the best interests of the citizens of this town at heart. either. I close by saying that there is not a citizen in this town that does not want this. fire -company continue to provide fire protection to this town. We want them to protect us'as neighbors protecting neighbors. However, they must be accountable for Taxpayerfunds, they must be accountable to the citizens of this town via the Towns elected representatives. We want the fire company as a part of this town to be deeply a part of this community but we want accountability and we want a say in how much fire protection we can afford. Quarterly Report 4:44 PM Enfield Volunteer Fire Company 10/06/08 Profit & Loss Cash Basis July through September 2008 Jul - Sep 08 Ordinary Income/Expense Income 4200 • Interest -Savings, Short-term CD (interest received from savings, CDs, and other short-... 12.24 Total Income 12.24 Expense 5100 - Loan Payments 5110 • Building 5,030.74 5120 • Building Interest 6,430.73 Total 5100 • Loan Payments 11,461.47 6100 • Office & Supply Expenses (Expenses related to providing program services and maint... 6120 • Postage, Mailing Service (Postage, parcel delivery, local courier, trucking, freight, o... 9.70 6130 Supplies (Supplies, materials, food and beverages, plaques, medicines) 496.28 6160 Dues, Subscriptions 117.94 6170 • Office Machine Maint 395.41 Total 6100 • Office & Supply Expenses (Expenses related to providing program services and ... 1,019.33 6200 • Maintenance Expenses 6210 • Building Maintenance 293.77 6215 • HVAC Maintenance 150.00 6230 • Cleaning 152.03 6235 • Pest Control 96.00 6260 • Grounds Maintenance 143.10 Total 6200 • Maintenance Expenses 834.90 6300 • Fire Equipment 6310 • Equipment Maintenance 1,599:40 6330 Extinguisher Maint 232.00 6350 Equipment 640.17 6370 • Fire Prevention 407.49 6380 Fire Police 56.00 6300 Fire Equipment - Other 529.97 Total 6300 • Fire Equipment 3,465.03 6400 • Utilities 6410 • Telephone, Telecommunications (Telephone equipment and service, telegraph, inte... 993.03 6420 • Electric 2,862.05 6440 • Heat 843.80 6450 • Online 159.80 Total 6400 • Utilities 4,858.68 6500 • Travel and Meetings (Expenses related to travel, meetings, conferences) 6520 • Travel (Hotels, airfares, local transportation, car rentals, taxis, per diems, meals) 405.02 6530 • Meals 106.43 6540 • Lodging 38.00 6560 • Misc 46.05 Total 6500 - Travel and Meetings (Expenses related to travel, meetings, conferences) 595.50 6600 • Vehicle Manitenance 6610 • Fuel 968.10 6615 • Maintenance 01 182.32 6640 • Maintenance 22 132.67 6650 • Maintenance 42 83.53 6655 • Maintenance 43 366.90 6660 • Maintenance 141.11 6670 • Supplies 110.00 Total 6600 • Vehicle Manitenance 1,984.63 6700 • Contract Services (Fees for outside services) 6720 • Legal Fees (Outside (non-employee) legal services) 2,262.32 6725 • Late/overdraft fees 65.46 Total 6700 • Contract Services (Fees for outside services) 2,327.78 6800 • Insurance 6810 Building & Vehicle Insurance 4,710.00 Page 1 4:44 PM Enfield Volunteer Fire Company 10/06/08 Profit & Loss Cash Basis July through September 2008 6830 • Accident/Sickness Total 6800 - Insurance 6900 • Rescue 6910 • Equipment Maintenance 6920 • Oxygen Refills Total 6900 • Rescue 7100 • Health & Safety 7110 . Maintenance 7130 • Physicals/Shots 7140 • Rehab Total 7100 • Health & Safety 7200 • Clothing 7210 • Uniforms Total 7200 • Clothing Total Expense Net Ordinary Income Net Income Jul - Sep 08 2,718.00 7,428.00 925.20 347.64 - 1,272.84 46.25 107.00 99.90 253.15 465.45 465.45 35,966.76 -35,954.52 -35,954.52