Minutes of the
St. Clair County Fire Chiefs Association
&
MABAS Division 32
September 30th, 2004
The regular meeting of the St. Clair County Fire Chiefs Association was called to order by Vice President Brent Saunders at 7:04pm
Motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes of the July 2004 meeting. Motion passed.
Treasurers report was given showing a balance of $25,771.13 for the Chiefs Association and $2207.35 for MABAS Division 32. Motion was made and seconded to accept the treasurers report. Motion passed.
Vice President Brent Saunders introduced Joe Shanley with the Knox Company. Mr. Shanley gave an overview of the products that Knox has to offer.
Vice President Brent Saunders then introduced Reverend Darrell Coonz with Hope Church in Belleville. Rev. Coonz is the chaplain for the Belleville Fire Department. Rev. Coonz offered chaplain services to the other fire departments in the area, and requested information from the other departments about chaplains they have on staff, so as to organize the clergy in the county to assist all fire departments.
Reports:
SWIC - Lee Smith advised that enrollment for the fall semester was good. Firefighter II classes will be starting in January 2005. Work on the training site is continuing. The college is hopeful that the tower will be up by next summer with the classroom and office ready by November of 2005.
IEMA - Stan Krusias is working on the unified command classes that will be held throughout the area. Equipment is continuing to be bought from the grants from Homeland Security.
IFSI - Duane Bales has the new DOT Emergency Response Guidebooks for all departments this evening. If departments need more, they can contact Duane. IFSI does have a trailer for "saving our own" classes that is now station in Southern Illinois.
Illinois Power - Wayne Lacy advised that Illinois Power has been bought by Ameren. The new name for the Illinois Power area of Ameren will be "Ameren IP". The call centers for Ameren IP and Ameren UE will remain separate at this time so departments should continue to use the contact numbers as they have in the past. Work is continuing on "wires down" teams to help relieve departments quicker from standing by with downed wires.
STARRS - STARRS is now responsible for 25 million in grants over the next few years. They have approved ID Cards for first responders. Departments receiving federal grants must be ready to show their NIMS resolution. STARRS and the county health department are working on medicine stockpiles for the county. A link to the STARRS website is on the chiefs website.
Radio System - an update was sent out last week via email updating the status of the radio system for the county.
Medical Protocol - A medical protocol was distributed and discussed. This protocol needs to be in place to ensure departments are able to pick up and dispense medication for their personnel should the need arise. Motion was made and seconded to approve the protocol as distributed. Motion passed.
Mil Spec Masks - The masks were distributed to the fire departments in the area. ESDA has the masks for EMS and Police agencies.
Discussion was held concerning weekend training at U of I. Due to a lack of interest, the weekend will be dropped and we will look at some quarterly training opportunities in the county starting in the 1st quarter of 2005.
SCSESA - Will be holding raffle on October 16th. Tickets are $20 and plenty are still available.
Discussion was held concerning the proposal to change the bylaws of the Association to include a membership level of "retired chief". Lee Smith indicated that MABAS is recommending that MABAS divisions become intergovernmental associations which would require that we separate division 32 from the chiefs. Lee agreed to lead a committee to research the intergovernmental association. Bill Flanagan, John McGuire, and Dean Juenger will also serve on the committee. Motion was made and seconded to table the proposed change till the committee reports back. Motion passed.
Four awards were given out last week at the Greater St. Louis Mass and Awards ceremony in St. Louis on behalf of the county chiefs. Chester Borkowski asked for assistance with next years ceremony in reviewing the reports that are received and deciding on the awards.
There will be a NIMS class at Swansea on October 9th. Contact Chief McGuire.
Motion was made and seconded to adjourn the chiefs meeting at 8:25 pm. Motion passed.
The regular meeting of MABAS division 32 was called to order.
No executive meeting has been held since our last meeting.
The MABAS 32 task force will be on a passive standby for St. Louis on October 8th. Their will be a communications test done before the 8th.
PL Tones are being put on all the MABAS radio frequencies. This will be in full effect by January of 2006.
Motion was made and seconded to adjourn the MABAS Division 32 meeting. Motion passed. Meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.