Quincy Fire Protection District

Board of Commissioner’s Minutes     

Meeting December 10, 2020

Feather River Bulletin Conference Room via Zoom

I.   Chairman Taborski called the Zoom meeting to order at 7:30 am with Commissioner Johnny Mansell, Treasurer Andy Ryback, Chief Cassou, Fire Prevention Officer Steve Fowler, and Administrative Secretary Karrie White.

 II.                Public Comment:  None

 III.             Treasure Andy Ryback – no meeting minutes for November to approve.

IV.             Financial Report:

      a. Treasurer Andy Ryback - Karrie has provided the financials for September, October, November, September had several catch-up expenses that were higher that had not been processed in utilities, vehicle fuel, there was also a fire shelter expense, a capital improvement in structures that I did not have back upon in the amount of $27,000.00, Chief Cassou informed the board the expense was Wilcox Constructions final bill for the back end of the building.

In October, the expenses in clerical salaries were up higher with the overlap of Assistant  Jennifer Taborski. Some higher expenses in truck and maintenance, mandatory safety equipment, expenses were class “A” foam, Burton's assembly on one of the rigs, Karrie has provided back up for these.

In November we had insurance payments to Flanigan-Leavitt of $14,264.00, Wilburn Construction of $1,500.00 with no back up for that cost, Chief Cassou informed the board that we hired him out for the fire at 601 main street, the cost was for the teardown of some of the walls to get the fire out, we are in the process of billing Flanigan-Leavitt for reimbursement for it. Treasurer Andy Ryback approved the financials, Commissioner Mansell second, and the motion approved.

     b.   No Claims to be signed.

V.    Fire Prevention Officer report:

     a.   Steve Fowler - On December 2, 2016, a fire broke out in a converted warehouse in Oakland. By September 2018, California put forth SB #1205 to annually have all the fire districts in the state inspect all the K-12 schools, apartment buildings, hotels, motels, and cottage industries annually. I am currently working with Feather River College with 22 occupancies. We are nearly done, but we are still working on major things that need to be completed. Steve explains some things, like the sprinkler system that they repaired. Fire and life safety take a back seat to the things that are more important to the college and the community, it is just not Quincy, it’s all over the world.

 I started with full inspections at the college. In the first building I went to, we tested the automatic fire sprinkler system, which is a dry system. It requires a compressor to keep the sprinkler lines full of air instead of water due to freezing issues in Plumas County. I first looked at the inspection tags as to when the last inspections were done, it was dated 5 years before I walked into that building that day, that sprinkler system was out of service for 5 yrs.

What it came down to be was an air compressor that keeps the air in the system, a $700.00 part became a $1200.00 part by the time it was fixed. That system had been opened to a catastrophic fire event. I red-tagged the building that morning and that woke some people up and we had it repaired in three days.

Chairman Taborski - what is our plan when Steve finishes with the college and in terms of continuing with the safety inspection program? Chief Cassou- the plan is that it will be me until something comes along. Steve Fowler – Quincy has been pretty much a leader in all this. When we started this the State Fire Marshall said you are doing what? We are far ahead of most departments, city officials in Oakland where the fire happens is so far behind in their school, apartment, building inspections. I am proud to be associated with Quincy Fire and Chief Cassou.

     b.  Chairman Taborski - board members position and titles, there might be some confusion we have not address, it is not an issue, Commissioner  Mansell, being appointed to fill the vacated seat of  Vice Chairman Chuck Leonhardt, in that process the picked up Vice Chairman title without any discussion from the board. Without putting the treasurer position on Johnny, which historically would be the new position following the chain of command with this board.

 Next year, we will have an election of officers for the board position titles. Chairman  Taborski- Secretary white will do research and follow up with the board. Discussion regarding the board meeting times being at 7:30 am on Thursday, unanimously, the Board decided to keep the meeting time at 7:30 am for public accessibility.

VI.             Fire Chief’s Report –

     a.  Chief Cassou -  Calls we had for last month 29 ems, 6 fire calls, and 5 hazardous material responses with a total of 40 for the month which is light.

     b.  Chief Cassou -  we had elections on Tuesday night for Captains since we canceled our meeting due to the purple tier, I extend the voting, the nominations for this year were Tony Arcangeli, Kevin Errecart, Kevin Correira, Jonathan Medrano, Dale Ready, David Schmidt, Matt West, and Eric Vinyard. Frank Carey and Robbie Pierson were nominated as well, Robbie Pierson turned it down this year since he retired from Cal fire and wanted a break. Frank Carey is my Assistant Chief, was not up for the demotion. By Friday we should have the nomination of captain.

     c.  Chief Cassou - we have a new auxiliary member Riley Dupont; Captain Gay has done all the background checks for him I feel he will work out well. We brought back Savannah Arcangeli, we dropped a year ago, at 16 yrs. she had a car accident, left at the scene to respond to a call, due to poor judgment, the committee told her to come back when she turns 18 the members of the committee will look at the possibility of her returning.

Savannah’s parents kept her driver's license until she turned 18. The committee agreed to put her on the auxiliary program for 5 months, she turns 18 in March, when she turns 18, we will see if she is eligible for election as a full member.

     d.  Chief Cassou - We are down two members of the membership committee of a 5-person board, they do all the vetting for the new auxiliary members, they explain what it is like to be a volunteer firefighter. Woody Wilson has been gone for a few years, and John Gay is retiring in a few weeks, we will be going to the membership to select a few to fill the spots, we have enough for a quorum.

     e.  Chief Cassou - Quincy Volunteer Department Inc our non-profit, is also needing some members, we will be dealing with that at our next meeting on December 17 of this month, speaking of the corporate board they have made numerous purchases over the years from pancakes, and raffles, etc. they just purchased a 75-inch tv and a stand that goes with it, to replace the projection screen that we have. The price was ruffly $2400.00, Charlie and John Gay got it all assembled. 

     f.  Chief Cassou -  since the holiday party was canceled, we put together some Christmas bags with a first aid safety kit along with 2 emergency rechargeable flashlights for all the volunteers the individual captains will be taking them to their crew members to deliver and do a drop off delivery to follow the COVID-19 social distancing requirement.

     g.  Chief Cassou - on the equipment, we had a fatal accident down the canyon on Saturday, the Hurst tool ram broke and the company that does our maintenance is on lockdown When they get the parts in for it, I will have to drive down to Oakdale, meet them in the parking lot to get the Hurst tools repaired and re-certification.

     h.  Chief Cassou - I put in an order for the radio equipment for $15,000.00 that the Volunteer Fire Assistance 50/50 grant will help pay for. The bid came in $4000.00 less than expected. That was a nice surprise.

      i.   Chief Cassou - I have been doing hydrant testing for some trailer parks around town. For their license finding a few issues with the hydrants but we are trying to address them.

     j.  Chief Cassou – I am working on 8 plan reviews, the most significant one is being done at the American Valley Community Service  District they are enlarging the whole complex and putting in a sewer treatment plant it has been labor-intensive. The other is Sierra Pacific Industries, they are extended their new sprinkler system into several areas of the mill, I am excited to see.

     k.  Chief Cassou - There is a 30-thousand-gallon propane tank going onto the property on N Mill Creek Rd, I am having issues with, it sits next to a pumping station for the community service district, having dealt with propane spills in the past, trying to deal with the pumping station and other safety issues that need to address before it is installed.

     l.   Chief Cassou – we have three people going to EMT classes being held over in Greenville, it is Deirdre McCarthy, Tony Arcangeli, Savannah Arcangeli, the district is paying for the books, and for the certification fees, if they commit to doing responses with the district for one year as EMT’s if they leave prior, they are responsible for reimbursing us for the class.

     m.   Chief Cassou- regarding December's drills I have canceled the rest of them. I am sending out videos, online programs, they can work on, I am still trying to push people to sign up for the action training system Firefighter 1 curriculum program.

VII.  Other Business

     a.  Chairman Taborski - Chief you provided information about the generator do you want to talk about that? Chief Cassou- last month I handed out some material on information for the generator regarding the application that we submitted, so you could see what was involved with it and what we were asking.

The other one was the properties that Commissioner Mansell was going to look at for a possible location for station 2. Chairman Taborski complimented Chief Cassou on the package he handed out “It was done very nicely”.

     b.  Chairman Taborski – on the location for station 2, the board ensued in a lengthy discussion on the possibilities of multiple property locations and a timeline that Chief Cassou is trying to reach to complete the project.

The board decided to continue to place this on the agenda for further discussion on a possible property to have either space on a lot, or with existing buildings, to meet the future obligations and needs to house fire engines, and with the hope of having additional space for sleeper programs and storage areas.  

 VIII.       The meeting was adjourned by Chairman Taborski at 8:47 a.m.

 Submitted:

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Chairman Taborski                            Date