Date: February 13, 2020
Time: 10:15 a.m.
Location: Oklahoma Farm Bureau / Stillwater, Oklahoma
Call to order by President
Made by President Bill Hollander
Roll Call
Present: Bill Hollander (Pres.), Chris Woodall (1st VP), Jeremy Robbins (3rd Yr.), Todd DeSmet (2nd yr), Jonathan Wilk (1st Yr.), Jim Wilhelm (1st Yr.), Renee Southerland (Secretary), Neal Moore (Treasurer)
Absent: David VanBuskirk (Past Pres.), Ashley Stephens (2nd VP), Fred Henderson (3rd Yr.), Tim Reeves (2nd Yr.)
Reading and Approval of Minutes
Chris Woodall made a Motion to forego the reading of the January Minutes, seconded by Todd DeSmett, Motion carried and approved.
Membership
Three new members applied: Michael Hall, Bruce Russell, Chris Kalapp
Jeremy Robbins made the Motion to approve those three new members, seconded by Jonathan Wilk, Motion carried and approved. Neal Moore requested that the membership applications be passed around for all forms to be initialed by all members for approval, which it was.
Treasurer’s Report
January balance of $17,076.23, January 31st deposit $2,470.00, subtotal $19,546.23; Less payment to Renee for Post Office Box and two shirts reimbursement $156.51. Subtotal $19,384.72, less burn camp check to be sent by end of February – $5,200.00. New balance for February – $14,184.72 , less new payment to Dan VanBuskirk of $616.25 = New balance for February – $13,568.47.
Renee will send check to the burn camp and to Dan VanBuskirk prior to the end of February. Jonathon Wilk made a Motion to approve the bank account balance, seconded by Chris Woodall, Motion carried and approved.
CFI
No new CFI members.
Website
A discussion was had concerning all payments that had been made to Dan Van Buskirk for his work on the website last year and whether or not a new IT company needed to be involved going forward. Chris Woodall advised that we are limited if we use a major company like Go Daddy as throughout the year, we need certain things changed and added, which Dan has been able to do for us very quickly.
It was discussed that the website needs to be changed concerning how membership dues are paid versus conference fees so that we do not have duplicate dues being paid as $20.00 had to be refunded to eight different people at the conference. Most of the people get their membership when they pay for the conference and wait until it is close to the conference time to do so.
There needs to be a sponsor/vendor form on the website for sponsors/vendors to fill out instead of the form being emailed to them.
Chris Woodall suggested Dan be at a future meeting either in person or by phone to discuss IT issues.
Chris Woodall made a Motion to table the discussion regarding the International handling our membership dues on their website. The Motion was seconded by Jeremy Robbins, and the Motion was carried and approved.
Jonathan Wilk stated he might be able to call Chris VanFleet about the website as he is on the committee with the International and get some insight from him as to how to handle membership and other matters.
Annual Conference
Chris Woodall is working on venues / hotels / speakers and will do an electric vehicle focus as that was a lot of the feedback from the last conference.
Jerry Bach from Jensen-Hughes, a fire protection engineer, presented to Congress on electrical vehicles and has a wealth of knowledge and he also spoke at the L.A. Chapter. Chris will have an extensive call with him next week about possibly speaking at our conference.
Chris Woodall also called the NFPA concerning their electrical vehicle and fire presentation.
Chris would like to have a live burn at the conference.
Kevin Lewis, an engineer with Jensen-Hughes, was involved with a Tesla vehicle fire and Chris Woodall would like him to present case studies.
The 921 and 1033 changes are not scheduled to come out until next year, but Jensen-Hughes has two people that are on both of those committees and will get with them concerning anything they can provide to Bill Cathcart so that Bill can present at the conference concerning the attorney viewpoint.
Jonathan Wilk suggested going to the NFPA website and pulling up their minutes which might have information about those changes.
The NFPA is trying to make the 921 and 1033 changes rotate on the same years and 1033 has significantly more changes than 921.
As for the order of presentation at the conference, we could do 921 changes, 1033 changes, and then Bill Cathcart can address the issues with these changes.
Chris Woodall went by the Hilton Garden Inn on I-35 as Sonnie Manghan’s ex-husband is the manager at this hotel and he is waiting for him to give Chris prices to block hotel rooms.
Neal Moore suggested that the number of nights not be part of a contract, but that we just guarantee so many rooms instead.
Joe Elam said we could have the Edmond Fire Training Center for free if his guys could attend the conference for free.
One issue with the venue is that vendor space will be limited but there is a break room off to the side for lunches.
Renee Southerland advised that AFR might be willing to sponsor a lunch or part of a lunch per Gina Coleman, and Rimkus might do the same through Cullen Fowler.
There is a pavilion outside of the facility to do mingling, but we cannot do hospitality with liquor because it is on City property.
Todd DeSmet said he or Gina Coleman could find an electrical vehicle to burn or one that has been burned for display.
Chris Woodall and Jonathan advised they will get with a representative from a dealership to look for an electric vehicle for display purposes at the conference.
There was a discussion about the need for someone to talk about the safety of these EVs and case studies.
Dave Hallman can speak regarding electrical vehicles as well as he has investigated many of these types of fires. Chris will call he and Jerry Bach.
Bill Hollander will get Albano to speak on mental health again.
We need to figure out the Honor Guard / Colors presentation, and Neal Moore advised that the Edmond Fire Chief can do the opening and colors.
As for the email blast that will now be sent in March and not February, it will advise of the dates, electrical vehicle fires, 921 / 1033 upcoming changes / updates and how they will effect / impact fire investigators.
Old Business
The 501(C)3 status with Chris was discussed and Neal Moore asked if we had ever received funds over $50,000, which we have not.
Our 501(C)3 status was revoked in 2018 and for the three to four years prior to that no one ever sent in a post card to the Feds to keep it updated.
Neal Moore believes we initially got the 501(C)3 in 2014 or 2015.
Chris Woodall advised that one of the ladies at his wife’s CPA firm will update the post card for past years and get us caught up as she was able to obtain our information online concerning our organization. Apparently, Dan Saltz was the prior accountant that helped with our organization, but Chris could not get in touch with him so she will handle it instead.
Chris is not sure what her charges will be, but Jonathan Wilk requested an outline of charges to keep us updated going forward.
As for changing banks, Bill Hollander advised RCB has more locations, but David Van Buskirk was able to check about the fees with Arvest and they have no fees. Both have mobile deposits. It was decided to table the Arvest / RCB bank discussion until the next meeting
In the By-Laws it states that Second Vice should chair the Financial Committee, but this was requested to be tabled as well until the next meeting
Neal Moore advised the rest of the committees that are listed in the By-Laws are being handled by the Board as a whole and no motion is needed to table this type of discussion.
Everyone needs to pay their International dues of $100.00, if you have not already.
A discussion was had concerning an opinion being needed from Bill Cathcart if Neal can still be Treasurer after he retires and if can actively be on the Board and finish his term. Renee will provide the By-Laws to Bill Cathcart and request a written opinion.
Jonathan Wilk advised he could fill the Treasurer spot if Neal could not, but Jonathan was not sure who would take his own place. It was decided to table the discussion until receiving a legal decision from Bill Cathcart.
New Business
Neal Moore is retiring from the Stillwater Fire Department at the end of February and will have a retirement party on February 28, 2020, from 2:30 to 4:30 at the Stillwater Community Center. After his retirement, Neal’s new email will be howardnm62@outlook.com, and his personal cell phone number remains the same, 405-880-2499.
A second person needs to be listed on the bank account and a discussion was had as to who would be the second signer.
The National Training Conference is April 26th thru May 1st and costs $850.00 a person. A decision needs to be made as to who will be attended from our Board. Bill Hollander wanted to go and Jeremy Robbins stated he was interested if Tim Reeves did not want to go, or if the Tribe would not pay for Tim to go.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be Thursday, March 26, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. at the Edmond Fire station, located at 5300 East Covell in Edmond.
