Fire Control District - Regular Meeting

Alright gentlemen. I'd like to call this meeting of the Deer Park Fire Control EMS district meeting together today for twenty one April twenty twenty five. First item on is there anyone who signed up to speak tonight, Ms. Smith?

No, sir.

No, no one signed up to speak. So our first order of business is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting held on 01/27/2025 and the special meeting held on 02/03/2025. The chair will entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to accept those meetings. Approve those minutes.

We have a second to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on 01/27/2025 and the special meeting held on 02/03/2025. Is there any discussion?

Second. He was the first. So Mr. Archer is second. Okay.

Very good. So we have a proper motion. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Hearing none, we have a proper motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on 01/27/2025 and the special meeting held on 02/03/2025. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Ayes have it, motion passes. Item number two, quarterly quarterly report regarding budget budgeted expenditures and projects for the Deer Park Fire Control Prevention and Emergency Medical Services District. Chair recognizes chief Aurora.

Good evening board. Philip Arroyo, Fire Chief, City of Deer Park. I've got two, four, five bullet points that I'll quickly read through. Just some items we purchased since our last meeting here or some items that we've moved forward with since our last meeting. Those iPads that we discussed for EMS staff, they are being utilized now. Better portability, they're efficient. But most importantly, what I wanted to communicate is they are secure, they're still safe, they have confidential patient information. And they still maintain confidentiality and security within those iPads. And those are now in service. Tower 3.

Tower 3 was for the better part of a month and a half was in preventative maintenance at the shop getting multiple items fixed, really chasing down air leaks throughout the system. But we have Tower 3 back. There's one more item that needs to be done on Tower 3, and that is a small screen up at the control tower. Looking at different options, that little control screen is about a $5,000 cost to repair that screen. So we're looking to we have someone identified that may be able to repair it, but we're still trying to fix that portion of it before we send this aerial truck out to have its ladder inspected.

We feel that if the ladder is inspected, the aerial, it will fail because of that screen because it won't give you a good readout. And so once we have that screen fixed, we'll proceed with the aerial testing. Engine 31 is currently out on preventative maintenance. They've had it for about two point five weeks now. Again, multiple items going through there, being replaced, leaks in the pump, new valves being changed out, that type of As I put here on the third bullet point, the pump testing has occurred for Ladder 22 and Tower 3 with no issues. That's the annual pump test. The fourth bullet point talks about consumables down

at the drill field.

This is a hay. This is a propane. We order some hay. We continuously order hay. We don't go through the propane as quick. But with our new classroom, we feel there's going to be higher demand in renting that drill field, that training field down there at the north end of town. And they'll go through that propane pretty quick as they're going through those props. So we replenish that quite often. Often, I'd say about probably seven, eight months, we replenish that propane tank that we have down there. So we are still reserving.

We still have Jennifer and Charlene, they're working at booking folks on the calendar for the rest of the year from industry who utilize our drill fields. That's a good thing for us as well. And finally, the biannual PP inspection is complete. Sent 119 sets of gear out. 119 sets, only eight pairs of suspenders came back with out of service.

So that's a good thing. So putting some math to that, that's $52 of repairs per set of gear that we send out. And this is important because if we let that pinhole in the gear, if we let that continue on and that stretches further, becomes a wider hole, then we get costier services. We to repair that. And it costs more to repair it or they risk tagging it out of service.

So to the tune of a new set of gear is about $3,600 for a new set of pants and coat. So when we jump on this repair and maintenance of our PPE early on, it prevents that gear from being taken out of service and us having to buy a whole new set. And it just really it stretches how much time we can utilize that gear before we have to pull it out of service. So that preventative maintenance services that they offer has really been beneficial to us in the fire department. Any questions on the five bullet points?

I have one question, chief. Back on Tower 3, is the screen we're talking about, the screen that displays the pitch and the rotation extension? Is that the screen

we're Exactly the one, sir. Yeah, call it the command zone. And there's three of them. There's one inside the cab. There's one at the turntable. And there's one in the actual bucket itself. They all read out the same thing. There has been some conversation about maybe moving one of the ones that we don't utilize up top into the actual aerial. So again, that's just another option. As you all know, we have Tower 3 already being specked out as we currently speak with the delivery date of probably 2026, 2027. So we're really just we're trying not to invest more than we need to into this app apparatus. Just the as needed to keep it rolling on the road, keep it safe. But any big cost to it, we're really careful on how we spend those.

Chief, I got a question on

Yes, sir.

Are you all keeping track of the age of the gear before it's getting repaired?

Yes, sir. The 16 that we there's going to be a bullet point. There's an agenda item tonight that we'll talk about 16 pairs of bunker gear. That's how we know one, we know we have six cadets that need a new set of gear for our academy. We have 10 that need to be replaced because our members are coming to the ten year mark on that gear. And so by keeping track of our gear, by having an inventory of it, we know who's getting close so that it doesn't hit now and now we're struggling trying to find a set of 36 by 36 pair of pants or boots or that type of thing. Yes, sir.

Other questions? Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item number three, presentation of the quarterly financial report for fiscal year twenty twenty four-twenty twenty five second quarter ending 03/31/2025.

Yes ma'am. Good evening members of the board. So tonight we're going over the second quarter financial report. I provided a copy of that report at your seat to follow along with. Ms. Angela will also be navigating the reports on the monitor. So I'll wait for her to

get that pulled up. Agenda. There we go.

Alright, Thank you for your patience. Alright. So we'll start with the balance sheet items at the top. The first line is the cash and bank balance at Wells Fargo, which we ended the quarter with 1,400,000.0 there. The district has total assets of just over 3,170,000.00. We ended the quarter with approximately 1,370,000.00 in liabilities and then a fund balance of 1,640,000.00. Going down to the statement of revenue expenditures, which is

further down on that page, there we go.

In quarter two, we received approximately $620,000 in sales tax revenue. This represents collections for November, December and January. Our last quarter two collections comparatively equaled $546,000 so that's an increase of 13.6% year over year. So sales tax revenue has been very positive for us this year. Our year to date total collections is $826,000.

And then if we go to page two, I'd to show you how that compares to budget. Right there. Yes, ma'am. So compared to budget, that's 44.65% of our annual budgeted revenue, which puts us exceeding our target of 1,850,000 revenue estimate if we continue to trend at this rate for the rest of the year. So it's looking very good.

Going back to page one, as we're discussing revenue, we've also collected $5,331 in interest revenue. We budgeted to receive 10,000 this year, so we're about halfway there. And going to expenditures, our total expenditures for the quarter came to be $570,000 This is made up of salaries and benefits in the amount of $310,000 services in the amount of $70,000 supplies in amount of $500 repairs and maintenance in the amount of $17,000 and our capital expenditures of $39,000 You will also see a new line, I guess not necessarily a new line, but in line we really didn't want to see again on the expenditures is the other sales tax payback line. It's in the amount of $132,590. So unfortunately, the district received a new notice in February that we had been overpaid in sales taxes for the period of January 2017 through September 2021.

This is similar to the notice we received a couple of years ago, November '23. So we're handling it the same way. We've agreed to a fifty seven month payback with the state and that payback amount is $2,326 a month. So that'll deduct directly from our collections. It's not real material, but it's it's something that I want to make you guys aware of.

And even though we are paying this balance back monthly, for recording purposes we do have to record the full amount this fiscal year. So you will see that as an expenditure, that's the 132,000 that you see there. And then I also have a budget amendment on this agenda as well to allocate for that. Do you have any questions on the financial report or that sales tax payback?

Only I understand this one. Where are we on the other payback? Are we two years in now?

That

Plus or minus?

I wanna say we started January '24. January, February '24 we started paying that back. So we're over a year into it. I think that one was sixty three months. I'm sorry, I don't have a total for you. I think it's close to 300. That may be the city. I'm sorry. I think yours was a lot less. I I don't have a total amount for what is due. If you go to the balance sheet, which is up top, I have a line there. That's the liability amount, but that that's both of them combined. So I guess we could take a 132,000 minus the 422,000 on there, and you can see what's due to be paid. Some Okay. Quick subtraction we could come up with that number.

I'm sorry, don't have that ready for you. Any other questions?

Anything else? That's it. Any questions for financial report? Hearing none, the chair will entertain a motion to accept the where I lost it?

Where did it go?

To accept the financial report for the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five budget and fire control prevention emergency medical services district for the repayment of sales taxes to the state and that's not the right one.

Number three. Number three.

Chair will accept the motion to accept the quarterly financial report for fiscal year twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five second quarter ending 03/31/2025.

Yes, we do. Make a motion to accept the quarterly financial report for fiscal year twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five second quarter ending 03/31/2025.

Second. We have a second by Mr. Reynolds. Is there any discussion related to the motion? Hearing none, we have a proper motion and a second to accept the quarterly financial report for fiscal year twenty twenty four-twenty twenty five second quarter ending 03/31/2025.

All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Hearing none motion passes. Agenda item number four consideration of an action on recommendation to city council to amend the fiscal year twenty twenty four twenty twenty five budget for the fire control prevention and emergency medical services district for the repayment of sales taxes to the state controller's office.

That's what I discussed in the financial report.

That's what you just explained I'll to make

a motion that we set up a repayment as per

So motioned?

Yeah, that.

Do we have a second?

She said.

Mr. Westmoreland has a second there. So we have a motion to approve the recommendation to city council amend the fiscal year twenty twenty four twenty twenty five budget for the repayment of sales tax at state controller's office. Is there any other discussion or do you have anything else to add?

I'm sorry. Couldn't hear hear all what you're saying, Nicole. How much is it a month? Is it a month we're paying and how many months?

Yes, sir. It's fifty seven months and let me get the amount for you. Yes. It's fifty seven months and it'll be a $2,326 deduction from our collections.

And if I was reading the minutes there's no penalty No, applied to

it's interest free. Yes sir.

This was an error in the auditors or whoever Right, was doing

so it's confidential information so we're only given very little bit of information regarding it. But what they were able to tell me was that it was from the time period of I think it was January 2017 to September 2021. We had taxpayer located outside of our jurisdiction that was paying sales taxes to us. Whether they discovered the error or the state discovered the error, it prompted an audit and it was determined that those taxes were not owed to us, potentially owed to another jurisdiction or potentially not owed at all. But since it's a material amount, the state is kind enough instead of just taking it from us all at once, they let us pay it back.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Any other discussion or question related to the motion? Hearing none, we have a motion to approve the recommendation to city council to amend the fiscal year twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five budget for the repayment of sales taxes to the state controller's office. All in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed say nay. Motion passes. Agenda item number five. Consideration of an action on a recommendation to city council to authorize the purchase 16 sets of firefighting bunker gear from Metro Fire on board on by board contract 698Dash23. Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a second by Mr. Archer. So we have a motion to approve the recommendation of city council, the authorization to purchase 16 sets of firefighter bunker gear from Metro Fire through by board contract 698Dash23 in the amount of $57,820 Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed say nay. Hearing none, the motion passes. Agenda item number six, update on the twenty twenty five special election for crime and fire renewals. Missus Smith.

We are having difficulty with computers tonight. Hang on.

I feel like long range.

What is the deal? Okay. This really does not like me today. Yeah, well, it should be called that. I downloaded it. Scrolls, not that far. We're going to start our sales tax renewal. Okay. So the brochure was mailed out to all the residents in Deer Park. Copies were given to both police and the fire department to pass out.

They've held one rotary meeting, which was last Wednesday, and one chamber breakfast, which is tomorrow, that will be or have will be or have been conducted by the members of the fire and the police department. Most of the electronic signs of the city facilities reflect the election dates and the times, and our city website has the information in multiple locations. As you noticed when you walked in the door, voting starts tomorrow. It'll be in the glass area when you walk in the door. It's right there on your right hand side.

It's the city secretary's office. It starts tomorrow at seven to seven, Wednesday is seven to seven, Thursday and Friday are eight to five, and then next Monday and Tuesday are eight to five, and then election day will be held here in this council chamber, and that will be Saturday, May 3 from seven to seven. Now we'll have an item, which is the item next, but I'll go ahead and discuss it. In order to canvass your votes, we're going to, have to call a meeting on one of these three days. I can't say which day it will be right now because it'll depend on if I have any mail in ballots ballots that are outstanding because they actually have until 05:00 on Monday, the day after or the Monday after election, don't ask, to return their mail in ballots.

And then also if I have any provisionals, then that also complicates it. So the dates you're gonna see are May 7, May 12, or May 13. By law, it has to be done by May 14, so it'll be on one of those three days. The earliest it can be done is May 6, and the latest that can be done is May 14. So in for this for this meeting and only for this meeting, I am only required to have two to make a quorum.

It's under the election code of sixty seven point zero zero four and that is for the purposes of canvassing an election. That's the only thing that you will do is you will accept the results and approve the order which basically tallies shows the tally of the measure. It'll be done by board order just very similar to how y'all called the election. It'll be very similar to that. So those would be the only two things on the agenda, but it'll be on one of those three days.

And then on Saturday night, election night, I will have the unofficial results posted on our website, which is I'm required to by law, and then the official results are what will be approved when we canvas on one of those three days. Anybody have any questions?

So we're going to leave the the three dates open in motion at this point because we don't know exactly yet.

Yes, On on item seven

I actually had the May 12 on my calendar. Uh-huh. Did we already discuss that?

That was the initial date. Okay. But I would hope I could get y'all done earlier, but that's only if everything aligns in the planets and the and the seas and everything, then the May 7 would be great. But if not, I would like to have alternate dates already planned ahead. And the thirteenth is the absolute latest, which is a Tuesday.

The twelfth is a Monday, and the seventh is a Wednesday. So those are the three days that we'll have chosen, and I'll be able to tell you after the election ends on which day it'll be. So if it's the seventh, then I'll post the agenda prior to election day. So I have to meet my seventy two hours and then the twelfth and the thirteenth. Does anybody have any questions?

Yes. I'm not sure if we're talking under six or seven or we're kinda kinda doing both but

We're talking under six to discuss it and then seven is where y'all approve it.

So just for information, I know I'll be gone all those days. I know you gotta have two people. Yes. So as long as we got two folks that are on on go, we'll be good. I just don't want us to get boogered like we did once once before and But not be I know I'll be gone be gone all those days.

I should be here.

Okay, awesome. All

right, anything else for agenda item number six? Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to agenda item number seven. So the chair will entertain a motion to approve setting the date and time for a special called meeting to be either May 7, May 12 or May 13 at 05:45 p. M. Order to canvass election results for the special renewal election. Joe will entertain a motion to that effect.

I'll make a motion that we

have a special call meeting on either May or thirteenth at 05:45 Morgan canvass election results from the special renewal election.

Do we have a second? Second.

We have a motion. Have a second to approve setting the date and time for a special call meeting to be either May 7, May 12 or 05/13/2025 at 05:45PM in order to canvass election results from the special renewal election. All in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye. All

opposed say nay. Hearing none, the ayes have it. Motion passes.

If you don't mind, I'll go over this one because this is your budget meeting.

Agenda item number eight.

So we've in your packet that you were sent is your actual budget calendar like normal, but I did break it down a little bit easier for you. So your budget calendar has the following meetings. On May 19, that is when the fire department will present their proposed budget to the board, and they will schedule your public hearing on your proposed budget. On June 9, you'll have your public hearing on the budget. That's also the date that we typically always had a workshop after the hearing.

Last year, you all said you didn't need it, so this year we did not schedule it. So you don't have to have you don't have that on your calendar. So at June 9 will be your public hearing. July 7 is your meeting to adopt your budget. And as normal, these are very, very, very important budget dates that have no leeway with the state legislature.

So we have to have a quorum and unfortunately these cannot be moved. So these three dates are set in stone and we need to make sure we have a quorum because they're very important to the budget. And now your non budget meetings would be obviously one of the three that we just spoke about, and then July 21 is your regularly quarterly meeting, and then October 20 is your last regularly quarterly meeting for the year. And again, this was sent out to you as part of your packet that was emailed last last week. So you'll have this sheet calendar here which only has your budget meetings. PDF

Angela, do what?

Your budget will actually be received on May 19. It goes out in the packet, right?

It'll be in the agenda packet. I'm trying to remember what we've done before. If you want a copy of it, could definitely provide that to you. But it's the proposed budget and then modifications can be made before it's adopted. So really I guess that meeting is the sneak peek. And then we're not actually adopting until July.

May 19 is the sneak peek.

June 9

public hearing and we don't approve until July 7.

Right. And we can discuss anything on June 9 as well if something comes up. We'll discuss changes each meeting.

Any other questions?

Angela, do we all need to be big boys and put these on our own calendars or are you gonna send us out a notice?

As usual, I send you out calendar notices.

Okay.

If you don't use Outlook, you will have to be a big boy and put it in your own calendar because it doesn't transfer over if you don't use Outlook.

Any other business? Any other discussion? In that case, this meeting is adjourned.