1.0 Call to Order / Roll Call
The Regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Red, White & Blue Fire District was called to order by Director Griffin at 0701.  In attendance were Directors Perkins, Griffin, Gothard and Krugman.  Chief Green, Chief Miller, Finance Officer Carmen Modglin, Chief Kuhn, Captain Lynch, Captain Scott and Wendy Peters were also in attendance.  Wendy Peters served as Recording Secretary.

2.0 Approval of Minutes
Director Perkins noted two changes requested from the January 23, 2009 board meeting minutes.  M/S Perkins, Krugman to approve the minutes from the January 23, 2009 board meeting.  Voice vote unanimous.  Motion carried.  M/S Krugman, Griffin to approve the minutes from the March 9, 2009 special board meeting.  Motion carried.

3.0 Approval of Changes to the Agenda
Chief Green stated that Steve Hill had called him to discuss the status of the IGA and asked if he and Gary Martinez could attend the board meeting.  Chief Green wished to review our current position relative to our ambulance license application.  He recommended going forward with plans to apply for an ambulance license in May, still allowing ample time to continue to work on the IGA in the meantime.  If by the May meeting the IGA addresses our immediate concerns we may wish to discuss delaying the submission of the application.  Director Gothard questioned the County’s ability to limit our authority in the IGA.  Chief Green also reaffirmed Red, White & Blue’s patient care and service efficiency interests regarding ambulance service in the Breckenridge area.  It was noted that County ambulance coverage has been slightly better since Red, White & Blue started pursuing a license, but Captain Lynch said response time was only improved by seconds.  Director Perkins questioned how often there is not an ambulance available in the County.  Captain Lynch answered that it was difficult for us to track all instances but closely monitors this when needed locally.  Director Griffin noted that Red, White & Blue has offered to help the County when they are in need, but Chief Green stated they have only called us one time, and continue to call other Counties instead.  Director Gothard believes that the County will not give their ambulance service the resources that they need and are ignoring the issue of funding, and currently Red, White & Blue is filling in the holes.  Director Griffin also noted that Lake Dillon Fire is concerned about these issues and how it will impact their coverage.

4.0 Citizens Comments and Other Communication
County Manager Gary Martinez and Assistant County Manager Steve Hill joined the board meeting at 0730.  Chief Green started by updating the status of Red, White & Blue’s position on the IGA.  He stated concern over the amount of changes to the IGA that had been struck out by the County’s attorney.  Gary Martinez recognized there could be different views of the legal language used in the IGA, but asked if the basic concept would work.  Chief Green answered yes, but the sections that were struck could limit the authority that we already have in place.  Steve Hill said they had not had time to fully evaluate the IGA.  He went on to say that it had not been their intent to instruct their attorney to have these sections struck and to limit our authority.  Chief Green expressed understanding in that the IGA is just an interim step and not the answer for the long term.  Chief Green said that he does believe that the attorneys can work out the smaller details, but still needs to understand what the County is trying to accomplish.  Steve Hill said that the IGA is a temporary solution to work together to allow mutual aid and transport when it makes sense.  Chief Green asked what “temporary” means in this case, and questioned the long term funding mechanism for the future.

Gary Martinez explained that currently they are working on the budget and then can evaluate how to provide services in the future.  Steve Hill stated that after several meetings and looking at all the alternatives, fire based response could be viable and he would like a consultant to look at it.  Chief Green said that we are partners and we would like to mesh with County interests.  Chief Green also stated that he believes that the Upper Blue Valley should have an ambulance available at all times and if the County can not provide that, then Red, White & Blue can.  Gary Martinez said that he was very pleased with the IGA and if we can get the little matters resolved than this could be a true mutual aid agreement.  Chief Green expressed concern over the medical direction issue.  The County and Red, White & Blue have different medical directors and under the IGA we would be operating under the County’s license.  The County has mutual aid agreements with other Counties, but they have licenses and we do not.  Steve Hill recommended a future meeting with a representative from all the Board of Directors to sit down and discuss intent.  Director Griffin asked how many times an ambulance has been requested when none were available.  Steve Hill does not have these numbers.  Gary Martinez and Steve Hill departed saying that they will stay involved with their attorney in working with the IGA from here on.

5.0 Chiefs Report & Discussion Topics
Emergency Response Activity
Chief Green stated that incident calls for February were slightly down in all categories, but there were a few significant events.  One incident involved a resident putting a Christmas tree up their chimney.  Burning the tree led to the fire breaching the chimney pipe and spread into the chase.  There was a fatal car crash in Blue River and the Sheriff’s department was very impressed with how well our crew handled the scene.  Chief Green then described a major incident that showed what can happen when all the agencies work well together.  B shift was called to respond to an unresponsive 23 year old male, who then worked with the Police Department and the Summit County Ambulance Service to perform CPR and Advanced Life Support to revive him, then used the ladder truck to lower him from the third floor and he was saved.  Lastly there was a head-on collision on Ski Hill road between a jeep and a Vail Resorts vehicle, and deemed a mass casualty incident.  Red, White & Blue transported three patients and Chief Austin did a great job managing the scene.

Accreditation Process
Chief Green is very excited about beginning the process to initiate the International Center for Public Safety Excellence’s accreditation process for our District.  This will be a very valuable format to use to evaluate what we do well, and what our weaknesses are.  It generally takes approximately 18 months to complete the process, but we are striving to get it done by August, 2010.  This is aggressive, but we are already beginning the process in fairly good shape.  There are 128 fire departments in North America that are accredited, four of which are in Colorado: Air Force Academy Fire, Pueblo Fire, Parker Fire, and Aurora Fire Departments.  The time and materials cost is estimated at $15,000.  There are four documents: a comprehensive risk analysis for the community, standard of resource coverage, self assessment manual, and strategic plan.  Director Perkins noted that we looked at this about 12 years ago to which Chief Green stated that the process is much more refined now.  We will be assigned a mentor, submit plans, have peer reviews and make revisions.  We hope to start the process in April or May and have already begun assigning people to specific roles.  Director Perkins believes in order to be more effective we need to assess where we are, and Director Griffin just asked that the Board stay informed of the progress.

With wildfire season approaching, Director Gothard brought up the Town’s evacuation plans and noted he has never seen a written plan.  Chief Green stated that there is currently not a written plan for distribution to the public, but there is a plan for emergency responder decision-making.  In the event of an evacuation the public would receive a reverse 911 call, followed by law enforcement/fire department coming to your residence if evacuation was warranted.  The next step would be telling the public where to evacuate to, and this would be dictated by where the fire was located.  The Summit County Alert System was also brought up as being a valuable tool in getting information to the public.

Upcoming Meeting Dates
Chief Green noted that the next board meeting scheduled for April 16” is during spring break.  M/S Perkins, Gothard to cancel the April 16th meeting.  Voice vote unanimous.  Motion carried.

6.0 Approval of January/February Claims Detail 2009
Chief Green noted that the income statement is in a different format now.  Director Gothard stated that we should use the same reporting for management purposes so everything is consistent.  Carmen noted that with Black Mountain software the people who manage their budgets can get much more detail now.  Director Perkins said she would like to continue to get footnotes about items and Director Griffin said he would like to get the income statement emailed every month even if there is no meeting.  Chief Green stated that he is pleased with how expenditures and tax revenues are tracking thus far.  Director Griffin asked when we would get Safer Grant Revenues, to which Chief Miller explained that she just sent in the first quarterly report on February 15th.  Director Griffin asked about the specialized training budget as half of the funds were already used.  Carmen answered that the High Country Training Center manages that account.

January 2009 Claims Detail
M/S Griffin, Krugman to approve the January 2009 claims list as presented.  Voice vote unanimous.  Motion carried.

February 2009 Claims Detail
Director Gothard questioned the Colorado Best Plumbing on page 2.  Chief Green explained that this was for the connection to the natural gas line for the South Station.  He went on to note that switching to natural gas should decrease costs, and we can use any provider so we are looking into other providers.

M/S Griffin, Gothard to approve the February 2009.claims list as presented.  Voice vote unanimous.  Motion carried.

Director Griffin asked about efforts into going “green” and becoming sustainable.  Chief Green noted that Chief Rosenberger has been working on this and has a long list of ideas and things we can do to improve our energy use.  Director Gothard inquired about solar power and the large solar power conversion credits.

7.0 Adjournment
M/S Perkins, Krugman to adjourn the regular meeting at 0918.  Voice vote unanimous.  Motion Carried.

The next Board of Directors meeting will be held on Thursday May •14th 2009 at 0700.

Respectfully Submitted:

Wayne Randall, Secretary/Treasurer
Wendy Peters, Recording Secretary