Ochopee FCD Advisory Board Minutes 12/12/2011AFEB XURTUM Fiala i/ 1 5 L i I` 0
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Henning OCHOPEE FIRE CONTROL DISTRICT BY;
Coyle Al ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
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HELD ON DECEMBER 12, 2011
In attendance were the following:
Alan McLaughlin, Fire Chief, Ochopee Fire Control District
Ronald Gilbert, Chairman, Port of the Islands Advisory Board Member
James Simmons, Port of the Islands Advisory Board Member
Anthony Davis, Port of the Islands Advisory Board member
Charles Frank Hawkins, Port of the Islands Advisory Board Member
The meeting came to order at 4PM then roll call of attendees.
Ron Gilbert— He asked if there were any changes for the minutes of November 14, 2011.
James Simmons — He referred to the minutes by asking Ron Gilbert if he has sent a note to Dan
Summers in reference to an MSTU for funding the Station at Port of the Islands.
Ron Gilbert — Not he has not.
James Simmons — He then brought up the paragraph on Page 5 of the minutes in regarding to
Donna Fiala which Dan Summers states "If it is ok with the Advisory Board they will be brief her
on some of these projects we are working on. Commissioner Fiala voted for the 1 -75 Station
funding."
Note — instead of they will be brief her it should be they can brief her.
Frank Hawkins — The first issue that you brought up on page 4 regarding sending a note to the
Chairman I tied that back into the fourth paragraph on page two that he is open to any
discussion of options and for the Advisory Board put together a list of options one of them
being a MSTU.
James Simmons — That is what he is suggesting here.
Ron Gilbert — He feels they should be able to re- submit the letter they wrote before regarding
the MSTU determining the $200 per property owner.
Chief McLaughlin — He feels is would be appropriate but they can have budget office review the
letter.
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Ron Gilbert — It looks like it is going to be next November before we get it on the ballot.
He is going to find the letter to see if it could be re- submitted.
Chief McLaughlin — The thing that came up before was that the CID offered to fund a loan but
he doesn't know how it could be paid back. He feels their last option is to have a special
assessment.
James Simmons — He feels per the information in the last meeting minutes Dan Summers
wishes them to pursue it.
Ron Gilbert — As far as a list of options go I don't believe there is a list.
Chief McLaughlin — I believe we are down to our last option.
Frank Hawkins — Are we talking about new options or the options that haven't been explored
with the pros and cons.
Chief McLaughlin — We have searched out all the other options in the last three years. The last
discussion he had with the director of the budget office he felt the only thin feasible at this time
due to the economic condition we are in is a special assessment of some sort. It is almost like
an MSTU with in a MSTU.
Tony Davis — The negative side to that is the money doesn't come to us up front you have to
collect the money first. Did you look into obtaining a loan once that is approved?
Chief McLaughlin —There is a possibility of doing an internal government loan, $400,000 would
be considered a small loan. If the MSTU is passed and it is going to be a year before its
collection there is a possibility we could procure the loan and start the construction process.
Then as the assessment come on board and the monies come in we could begin paying the loan
off. If we borrowed the money from general fund as the dollars come in they would be
transferred to general fund to pay the loan off. We could get a loan from general fund and
once that is approved then we can start the process.
Frank Hawkins — Those are options within the request for the MSTU that you would need to
identify.
Chief McLaughlin —Yes.
Frank Hawkins — What kind of construction frame are we looking at.
Chief McLaughlin — 90 days.
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Frank Hawkins — So you are going to need all the money up front.
Chief McLaughlin — The project will be done before the money starts coming in.
Frank Hawkins — So you would need a loan of some kind and pay it back over how long a period
of time?
Chief McLaughlin — For one year depending how much they are going to collect but it could be
done several ways. It could be done for one year or $100 for two years or four years at $50 or
$75.
Ron Gilbert — We came up with $50 over four years.
Frank Hawkins — He asked what geographical area would it cover.
Ron Gilbert —Our District.
Frank Hawkins — So it would not be just the Port because we get the value of having this thing
here.
Chief McLaughlin —That came into question.
Frank Hawkins — It may not be approved by the rest of the people in the District.
Ron Gilbert — But it benefits the entire District.
Tony Davis — But Everglades City would also benefit having a fire station here as it is now if they
leave Everglades City to go somewhere they are not protected. If we have a truck here
Everglades could maintain their truck there.
Chief McLaughlin — A permanent station at Port of the Islands benefits the whole District. You
have to look at the District as a global response and how it affects the whole area.
Ron Gilbert — There were some words in that other letter about that as to how it was important
to the entire District. He will dig that letter up polish it a little bit and e-mail it to all the board
members for comment. He will have a letter ready by next month's meeting. It looks like we
are shooting for November to place the assessment on the ballot.
Frank Hawkins — The last time this was discussed the earliest it could be placed on the ballot
was November 2012 then the process engineering drawings and bids.
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Chief McLaughlin — That is already done.
Frank Hawkins — So you just need the funds so it could be started right away if it is approved.
Chief McLaughlin — We are ready to pull permits but we do not have the funding.
Ron Gilbert — Once we get closer to November 2012 he will give a presentation to the CID Board
regarding the assessment. He is going to contact some insurance companies for the purpose of
obtaining a dollar amount as to what the insurance cost will be if the fire coverage moves out of
versus what the assessment cost to finish the station. He feels it will cost $200 per parcel this
way or each parcel may be subject to a $1,000 to $2,000 increase and fire service will be 13
miles away again. He wants to put that dollar amount out there.
Chief McLaughlin — Some people could not get insurance and you will go back to where you
were before.
Frank Hawkins — We need to get that information out there.
Chief McLaughlin — One of the insurance companies gave an automatic five just for us being
here but some would not budge.
Frank Hawkins — His insurance went from 9 to 6.
Chief McLaughlin — The savings can be from $300 to up $2000. He had some people tell him
their insurance went down $1200.
Ron Gilbert — Besides giving a presentation to the CID he would like to put a circular out
because not everyone goes to the CID Meeting.
James Simmons — How about using the Port News to get the information out it's a good news
letter.
Ron Gilbert — Feels the newsletters editor Jeanne Kungle would be amenable to that idea.
Frank Hawkins —That gets the information to the people here but you need to get it to the rest
of the District.
James Simmons — We could get it in the Mullet Rapper as a way of informing the Everglades
City area.
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Chief McLaughlin — He said the owner pays the largest insurance coverage for the entire
building but there is owner's content insurance as well however, the building owner will reap
the largest savings. (The word content was added to this paragraph as a correction request by
Frank Hawkins)
Tony Davis — It could have been the change in carriers but the insurance costs dropped $90,000
at Orchid Cove.
Ron Gilbert — The association insures the building each unit owner insures their condo.
Frank Hawkins — Our condo association did not seek a decline when we first received your
letter. Our insurance did not decline because they wanted to see a permanent facility.
However, his owner's policy did accept the letter and reduced his rate.
Chief McLaughlin — It would be a good idea to contact the insurance agent representing the
associations for all the buildings and obtain some dollar amounts as to what the cost is now as
to if the ISO Rating goes to a five.
Frank Hawkins — You could get an insurance agent to give an estimate.
Chief McLaughlin — They can tell you exactly what you will pay.
Frank Hawkins — Yes, what would it cost to go from an ISO rating of nine to a five.
Chief McLaughlin - They can tell you the dollar savings based on what you are paying now and
at the lower ISO rating.
Frank Hawkins — He commented that we could have built many fire stations out of the
insurance premiums that have been paid. He asked what the letter would contain.
Ron Gilbert — The letter states that the Ochopee Fire Control District Advisory Board supports
such an effort.
Chief McLaughlin — It will go from the Advisory Board to the Collier County Board of
commissioners and they will bring it up in a public hearing at a Board of County Commissioners
meeting then it would go to the County Manager's Office over to the Budget Manager to see
what can be done. The Advisory Board is directing the Board of County Commissioners to
pursue the MSTU.
Tony Davis — Donna Fiala has an open house at Port of the Islands he feels they should contact
her regarding the MSTU prior to the event so that possibly it could be discussed at that time.
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Frank Hawkins -- He felt it would be a good idea at least for the purpose of obtaining a loan
from general fund to do this.
Chief McLaughlin — If we get the loan from general fund we can start this process now then it
would be done by the summer. Once the renovation begins per the experts it should only take
90 days to complete then pay the loan off in the next year or two.
Frank Hawkins — I can't imagine them doing that until the MSTU is approved.
Chief McLaughlin — Yes, they would have to create the MSTU to collect the funds before we
moved forward.
Tony Davis — We need to bring Donna Fiala up to speed as soon as possible in regards to the
assessment.
Frank Hawkins — Once the Fire Station is in place and paid for what is our assurance that it
won't be closed sometime in the future will it always remain here.
Ron Gilbert — Planning changes are always possible but he thinks the further we are along to
having a permanent facility the less likely that will happen.
Frank Hawkins — This is has been a very hard financial time worse than the 1970's & 1980's can
you remember the closing of any permanent facilities?
Chief McLaughlin — Yes, the independent District have but not the County. The Independent
Districts have shut down stations for periods of time during the day or shut a facility down and
move around. East Naples had to lay off personnel so they are using creative scheduling to
cover their District. This is happening everywhere not just here and some places it's even
worse. There are some Departments that have shut down multiple stations.
James Simmons — That is one thing we don't realize how fortunate we are with the guidance we
have here.
Ron Gilbert — You have eight to nine hundred residents at Port of the Islands which is probably
the most concentrated area of population in the District.
Chief McLaughlin — There is probably five hundred in Everglades City, approximately two to
three hundred on Plantation Island, another five hundred in Chokoloskee and a handful in
Copeland then the rest of the population is scattered around all the way to Dade County.
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Frank Hawkins — He asked if there would be a meeting room or activity center in the Fire
Station.
Chief McLaughlin —The plans don't provide for a meeting room or activity center.
Frank Hawkins — If hypothetically if the station was closed down the community could still get
value out of it.
Chief McLaughlin — It could be used in that way if the station closed because then the space
occupied by personnel and apparatus would be available for the communities use. It would still
be a County facility and would be used for some purpose this is something the residents could
bring up if it were closed.
Frank Hawkins — He just wanted to know if there was an option encase it came up that the
facility could be used by the community if the Fire Department vacated the building.
Chief McLaughlin — He didn't think that the building would be used for anything else without
the approval of the voters since they paid for the building. Unless the building was sold then
how would the dollar value be returned to the community?
Frank Hawkins — Maybe it could be made a community center with Parks and Recreation
running the events.
Ron Gilbert made a motion to approve the minutes of November 14, 2011, James Simmons
seconded and they were approved.
Old Business
Chief McLaughlin —Around the first of January we should receive a call regarding an inspection
of the new Water Tender we expect delivery either February 15t or March. We've completed
most of our inventory and assessment for this year and we look like we are in good shape. We
are doing uniforms right now. We have tightened up on a lot of things to keep the dollars
down. We solicited quotes to replace the cabinets at station 60. We have been doing station
cleaning. Station 66 and the Fire Apparatus out there are in great shape. We are going to
install a foam tank on the pumper. The bunker gear was inspected recently everything is in
good shape. The hose is in great shape. The final building prints for station 63 were delivered
last week to us and have been reviewed by Dan Summers and myself. The prints will be sent to
FDOT by the 15th then they will send them out to bid. They are soliciting bids as of June of this
year so this is actually going to happen. We have not heard back yet as for funding for
apparatus or personnel they told us we might hear something by April. He will try to get a copy
of the drawings by the next board meeting so they have an idea of the concept.
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New Business
Chief McLaughlin — We are moving forward with a new reporting system program it still has
some glitches in it we are trying to resolve. We hope to have it up and fully functional by
January ft. Right now we are working through the staffing, we've built the modules, the
District and put the apparatus in. He is still covering Isles of Capri. He is trying to get personnel
used to the new program at both Departments. There are a few things we would like to see
this system do that our old program did not. The benefit of this program is it has an extensive
inventory module that attaches to our equipment. This allows the Department to keep track of
inventor outside of the County system. The County system only tracks items that are $1000 or
more. It will probably take five to six months to in put the information but once it is we will
have a total inventory for all items.
Frank Hawkins —You can treat that like a repair history or replenishment data base.
Chief McLaughlin — It has a very large reporting system for all the modules it tracks loss and
repairs.
James Simmons — Who is going to enter all that material?
Chief McLaughlin —The information is being entered by me, Captain Morris and Captain Purcell.
James Simmons — It's going to take a few hours to get it set up.
Chief McLaughlin — It's going to take months. He's done the basic inputting. He is going to have
each Lieutenant input the inventory. We are tracking items by serial number gloves we are
tracking by manufacturer and model. The program is modular so it allows and adjusts as you
add inventory items. They posted the Chief's position for Isles of Capri last Friday so he doesn't
know how much longer he is going to be an interim Chief. Hopefully after tomorrow it will start
to settle down.
Ron Gilbert — He asked the Chief if they were paying him for monitoring Isles of Capri.
Chief McLaughlin — He said no. He brought up the fact that there might be a 10% reduction of
the budget next year. Locally we will do the best to meet the challenges as we can. We rely
heavily on our OMB Department with their projections in regards to our budget and trying to
make ends meet.
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Frank Hawkins — He feels there will be less Federal money trickling down.
Chief McLaughlin — He feels this will be the last year we will have to take a reduction. He
commented that the previous County Manager Jim Mudd felt it would be four years before the
economy turned around and it looks like he was right.
Frank Hawkins —Suggested that the inventory should have physical identifiers.
Chief McLaughlin — He said all of our equipment is marked. We also have asset numbers for
items over $1,000 that is assigned to our equipment through our Finance Department.
Frank Hawkins — Is there a defined written charter or purpose for this board what we are
supposed to do and what we are responsible for.
Ron Gilbert— I think you can find that on line.
Chief McLaughlin — I can get you that information. There is a defined charter that was created
in 1975 and amended in 1978 from its inception there has been a lot of changes. Part of the
original charter was that the Advisory Board creates the budget but that has never been done.
The budget is created by the office of OMB and the Chief. The Advisory Board reviews the
budget and can make suggestions regarding operations. The board was created as an Advisory
Commission. In the charter the Advisory Board is referred to as a commission and the Board is
the Board of County Commissioners. He will get him a copy of the ordinance and the
amendments.
Ron Gilbert — He said you can go to colliergov.com and search for Advisory Boards.
Chief McLaughlin — You can't get the amendments there. There are some things that are so old
they -are not on the web site. He is going to check to make sure that the letter can be sent out
by the Chairman to the other board members. He wants to make sure it is not a violation of the
sunshine law.
Tony Davis — He could send it out for us to review only and then discuss it at the next meeting.
Frank Hawkins — You are allowed to send information you just can't discuss it or do any
business even if it is just an opinion.
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Chief McLaughlin — Next week he will be picking up DVD's regarding the sunshine law to
distribute to all the Advisory Board Members at Ochopee and Isles of Capri.
A motion was made to adjourn it was passed and the meeting ended.
Ronald Gilbert, Chairman
Ochopee Fire Control District Advisory Board
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