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Rural fire board requires agenda items 10 days prior to meetings

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POLSON — Due to the lack of time to prepare for agenda items being presented on the night of a meeting, the Polson Rural Fire Board passed a motion Feb. 9 requiring agenda items to be submitted to board secretary Bonnie Manicke or one of the board members at least 10 days prior to a meeting.  

Chair Jack Clapp said 10 days gives Manicke time to distribute the item or make copies and allows board members an opportunity to read the material.

The board also appointed members Beth Hoel and Dean Sams to go over motor vehicle accident response bills with Polson Volunteer Fire Department chief John Fairchild. 

Board members voted to obtain cost information on a website and its maintenance.

Audience member Tom Eddy asked that contact information for board members be available on the website. 

Karen Sargeant offered her services as a public information officer. Sargeant is also a firefighter, a driver operator, a certified fire inspector for the city, a certified PIO and is working towards her all-hazards PIO certification. 

Clapp said the PRFD would be looking at events on a case-by-case basis, but the rural board would keep Sargeant in mind as PIO.   

During the chief’s report, Fairchild said the department responded to 17 calls in January — seven were rural calls, three fire calls and two motor vehicle accidents.

In other department news, Fairchild said: 

• Big Arm resident Julie Sisler had been voted onto the fire department. Brian Kunz is resigning. 

• The tank for the new truck is being picked and will be installed. Then Fairchild will request a manifold, and the firefighters will need to build a platform for the reel. 

• St. Joseph’s Medical Center now administers firefighter physicals.

• Jette Meadows Lake County Water and Sewer District sent a document for the board to sign which allows firefighters to use the hydrants in Jette Lake. One caveat is to keep track of how much water is used so Jette Meadow LCWSD can include it in their records. Per the document, the Jette Meadows group also asked the fire department to flush their hydrants if they are used.

Trustee Steve Stanley objected to wording on the agreement as far a yearly maintenance on the hydrants. He said the PRFD would be happy to work with Jette or assist them with flushing the hydrants but would not like to be responsible for yearly maintenance.  

Asking a question about the vehicle crashes, audience member Tom Eddy asked if response times for the two motor vehicle accident responses were less or more than an hour. 

Both were about an hour according to Fairchild.

The next meeting of the Polson Rural Fire Board is March 9 at the Fairgrounds Fire Station.

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