Fire Control District - Regular Meeting

Ready. Usually does.

We're good to go? Yes. Alright. We'll go. Okay. We're gonna call this meeting, April meeting of the fire control district board. Ma'am, do we have any speakers from the floor or any guest speakers?

No, sir.

No? No one signed up to speak? Okay. We'll move into hearing that. We'll move into new business. And first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting held on 01/28/2026, and the special meeting held on 03/09/2026. I motion to accept those minutes. Second. We've got a motion and a second to approve the minutes of the regular meetings held on 01/28/2026, and a special meeting held on 03/09/2026. Any discussion?

Any discussion? Hearing no discussions, I'll take a vote. All those in favor of approving the minutes of the regular meeting held on 01/28/2026, and special meeting held on 03/09/2026, Signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. Okay. Motion passed. Item number two. I'm looking over at my sergeant in arms there, make sure I'm moving right along here. Okay, good.

Item number two, consideration of action on the acceptance of the quarterly report regarding budgeted expenditures and projects for the Deer Park Fire Control Prevention and Emergency Medical Service District for the period ending March 2026. I see chief Morris is moving to the podium.

Thank you, mister president and board. Appreciate the opportunity to present. Report shows that the PMs for engine twenty one have been completed and that unit is back at the Station 2 and in service. PMs for engine thirty one are currently underway. There it's a unit unit is at Siddens Martins as we speak.

We have a quote for annual PMs on our Harmaltro hydraulic tools, our jaws equipment, and that will be moving forward in the next month. In January, there was full service and full service and load testing performed on all the generators at the three stations in the in the Luella Complex. Regarding the Luella Complex, one repair was made on the radiator. The 15 pairs of rubber firefighting boots were purchased and delivered to us. Sets of gear that were mentioned about being purchased on the previous quarterly report have been purchased and issued out to our members.

No interest has accrued on engine twelve while the payment was being processed due to some items that were needing repair and that did not allow for us to take delivery of that unit. It says here the the unit was at the Friendswood shop. We have currently taken delivery of that unit, and it is at Station 1 as we speak, just awaiting some loose equipment to be put on that truck before we put it in service. And that is the end of my report.

Excellent. Good evening. I just have

Any one question from oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Just have one thing. That last one, so Medic two is coming out of the city budget. But we did pick it up. It's at the shop right now. It still has some, like the Opticon and camera system to be installed and radios as well. But along with that, the striker equipment that does come out of the fire control needs to be installed as well. And then with that, we'll get our refresh for the striker equipment this summer.

Expected date to put it in service?

Maybe a month. Because we got to get all that stuff scheduled and put on there.

Questions for Chief Smiths or Chief Morris? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to consideration of and actions on the acceptance of the quarterly report regarding budgeted expenditures and projects for the Deer Park Fire Control Prevention Emergency Medical Service District for the period ended March 2026. Motion to do that. Any a second?

A second.

And a second? We have a motion and a second. Consideration of and actions of acceptance of the quarterly report regarding budget expenditures and projects for the Deer Park Fire Control Prevention and Emergency Medical Service District for the period ending March 2026. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Hearing no opposed, the ayes have it. Item number three, presentation of the quarterly financial report for the fiscal year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six second quarter ending in 03/31/2026.

Good evening. I'm going to be presenting this, this evening instead of Nicole. She is at a Government Finance Officers Association Conference. So, just real quickly, as of 03/31/2026, the district had total cash and investments of almost $1,800,000 The district's balance sheet reflected $3,300,000 in total assets, which is a combination of cash, capital assets, and deferred outflows, excuse me, such as pension. There were just over $1,000,000 in total liabilities recorded, which resulted in a fund balance of 1.8.

So, very strong fund balance here for the fire district. We're going to skip down to revenue. For this quarter, the fire district had almost 600,000 in sales tax revenue. This represents a three point almost 3.5 decrease in sales tax revenue for this quarter compared to the prior year during the same quarter, which is pretty consistent. We're seeing that citywide.

Due to receiving funds two months in a rear from the state, this quarter is going to reflect January through March on our report, but it's actually November through January. So, keep that in mind. The total sales tax for the fiscal year totaled just, I mean, almost $824,000 which is 41% of the budgeted revenue this fiscal year. So being two years, I mean, two months in arrears in collections, this is a very strong position to be in. The total expenditures for the quarter were $356,686 This represents salary and benefits, services, supplies, maintenance and if there were any capital expenditures recorded they would be there as well.

But there were none for this quarter. Overall, the district is in a very strong financial position. They ended the year with almost 68% of its budgeted expenditures still remaining. So they're being very fiscally responsible, spending wisely. And they're definitely on target to stay within budget, maybe even finish the budget. I mean the fiscal year is slightly under budget. We'll see. But they're doing very well.

Outstanding. Any questions in regard to the quarterly financial report? Hearing none, I entertain a motion to accept the quarterly financial report for fiscal year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six second quarter that ended 03/31/2026.

Do have a motion for that? Yep. I'll make the motion.

Got a motion by Mr. Reynolds. I second. Got a second? Okay. We have a motion to accept the quarterly financial report for fiscal year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six, second quarter ending 03/31/2026. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed? Ayes have it. That's the new items new business items that are on the agenda. The item number four is just announcement of the upcoming fire control board meeting for 2026. And those as you see on your screen now

Yes. So we've got the budget meetings set out on the budget calendar that's attached, which is also in your packet that you all received. But just be aware, May 18 at 05:45 is when the fire department EMS will present their proposed budget to the board. And then you will schedule the public hearing on the proposed budget. That public hearing will occur on June 15 at 05:45.

That is your public hearing on the budget. Then July 6 at 05:45, you will have the meeting to adopt your budget. And then also it's going to be your regular quarterly meeting. We're combining them into one so you don't have to come twice that month. And then the last non budget meeting is October 19. And that is the last meeting that you'll have for the year. And keep in mind that it's extremely important, especially in the budget meetings, that we have a quorum. And a quorum is four. And the state law does not provide us a whole lot of wiggle room with those dates. So those dates are basically set in stone.

So we definitely need at least a quorum of four for all our budget hearings and meetings that are scheduled for the rest of the year. And we do, again, have this calendar on your in the packet. And then I will, as a courtesy, send you all calendar updates to put on your outlook calendar items for your calendars. So I say calendar one more time just won't

be able to make the May 18.

I've got

prior on that.

Okay. That's understandable. We'll just make sure we have and then we will have one person coming off of the board in May and one person coming on the board in May. And the reason why is because when you change council people, as we are in May, councilman Martin is coming off of being a council person. And Eric Ripley will be assuming his spot that we had a non contested election.

So he'll be joining. And state law requires, since the fire and the crime are appointed by council people, when that council person leaves, then the people that he appoints or she appoints have to be reappointed. And one of the people is coming off the board. And so we'll have a new member at the May meeting. Any other questions? No. Awesome blossom.

So on the meeting dates, do we need to do an informal query to make sure we're going to have a quorum on those? Or is that allowed?

No. You don't have to do an informal quorum. I just need you to be here. Okay. Unfortunately, it's as Sarah alluded to, it's state law. We don't have any wiggle room.

You mean the dates are locked?

The dates are locked. Yes, sir. That

makes it easy.

That's why we give you all plenty of notice and plenty of reminders to make sure you show up for these budget meetings. There may be a flexibility of a day or so within that same week. But unfortunately, with where we in the past, we might have been able to have scheduled an emergency meeting or scheduled meetings like on a weekend or a Thursday. The new law does not allow us to do that. We have to post our agendas three business days prior to the date of a meeting.

So if an ice storm hits again, it's not like we can hurry up and schedule a meeting for Thursday, come in on a Saturday, and schedule for a Thursday. They no longer allow us to do that. So that's why we're giving you plenty of notice to put on your calendars, make sure you're here because there's not a whole lot of wiggle room at all.

Very good. Well, it seems that we've adjusted all the items. I will announce the meeting adjourned.