Report on Minnesota State Fire Department Board Meeting and Conference at Detroit Lakes

Report on Minnesota State Fire Department Assn. board of directors meeting at Alexandria, MN at the Arrowwood Resort on June 13-14, 2012,, by Rex Lentner, MSFDA director from Arrowhead Region Board meeting called to order at 1710 hours on 6/13/2012 hours by President Shane Schmidt 1. Next conferences: June 19-22, 2013, Bemidji. Bemidji will be offering a variety of hands-on training including an aircraft simulator. Their event (Sanford Center) center will have an adequate space for all events. Because the conference is relatively close to the Arrowhead Region it is a great opportunity to attend this conference. Make your budget plans now! Let’s send some young and eager firefighters to experience the conference. The web site for the conference is available through the city of Benidji web site. All registration activity may be done on-line- www.ci.bemidji.mn.us/ then click on the Fire Conference link. The following year’s dates are June 12-14,2014,-Owatonna 2. Region reports: I described the bus crash we experienced on the trip to FF day at capitol. Region 4 (Northern) is moving to 3 meetings a year instead of 4 in order to try to improve attendance. Region 7 has a boat ride each summer for one of their regional meetings. Region 8 is having internal struggles. Region 10 is also only having 3 meetings a year. All the region reps reported on some of their region activities, and several expressed difficulty with attendance at their meetings. 3. Motion failed that would have reduced the mileage rate for MSFDA travel to something less than the IRS current rate paid by the MSFDA to board members and other representatives to meetings 4. Motion approved to require any requests for assistance or donations from the MSFDA in excess of $1,000.00 must be approved by the full board of directors. 5. Reports from standing committees were presented to the board, which were: Conference & facilities, training & education, Resolution & by-laws, OSHA/safety, Project & study, Media & marketing, governor’s council on fire prevention & control, Fire Service foundation, Joint council/fire safety account/ fire service day at the Capitol, Legislative, fire Certification board, FITOAM, Board of firefighter training, State Auditor working group activities and resulting legislation, volunteer Pension, And the Fire Marshal’s report. 6. By-laws committee will be looking at some ideas on absentee voting for MSFDA officers and by-laws changes. The Chief’s association is also studying a similar proposal, so it may be a good time to converse with them on the subject. As it is now, if you don’t attend and register for the annual conference you have no vote whatsoever for who the MSFDA officers are, or what the by-laws dictate. If you believe, as I do, that all member departments should have the right to vote for those items whether in person or by absentee ballot, let me know! 7. Note that some relief association statutes were altered during the last legislative session. The state Auditor’s office has a recommended by-law document that associations may use to base their own by-laws. Look at the sample, and get your by- laws up to date to avoid being denied 2% money if yours are not in compliance with all statutes. All relief association by-laws that allow interest to be paid on deferred pensions must conform with the new rules. 8. Recessed at 2032 hours until the next morning. Re-convened at 0807 hours Thursday, June 14, 2012. 9. Watch the MSFDA web site for upcoming benefits to being a member of the MSFDA. Look for programs with Super America and AAA in the near future. 10. As for elections of officers, the only offices filed for are: Shane Schmidt for President, and Tony Bronk for treasurer, who will be elected at the general meeting. 11. Dan Winkel reported on a variety of items: legislation, Fire Safety account, Joint Council, and Fire Service day at the Capitol. The fire safety account was appropriated $4.5M for 2013, and the surcharge percentage on fire insurance premiums will be slightly reduced. 12. Firefighter Day at the Capitol suggested changes (according to the Joint MSFCA and MnFAC report given to us by Dan Winkel) lists the following: A. Hold the day early in the leg. Session; B. Move start time to later in the day; C. NOT meet at a hotel, but gather right at the Capitol; D. Ask the parent organizations to underwrite some or a good portion of the costs, E. Have a barbecue at Saint Paul Fire after. We heard from the fire service lobbyist that the event is needed to remind legislators of us. 13. Bruce West, of the Fire Training Board described the training reimbursement program for their round of funds (Round 4) and the plan for Round 5. It is imperative for ALL departments to request funds for their training activities. NUMBER ONE, get the board your number of members on your department roster. And, August 1st is the cut off date for the current round of grants. Look at website www.mbfte.state.mn.us for all the info you need. E-mail address is [email protected]. 14. GENERAL MEETING, Sat, 6/16, 2013. A variety of reports were give, President Shane Schmidt and Treasurer Tony Bronk were re-elected with no opposition, and in general, the meeting was uneventful. Following that, the annual Memorial Service at a local church was absolutely wonderful and fitting. I will send a copy of the program in this mailing, as there were 6 deceased firefighters from the Arrowhead Region listed. 15. It was announced that there were 110 departments registered, (out of 478 member depts.. in the state) 385 delegates and 275 “others” in attendance, 290 attended the training classes and 370 attended the symposium. 16. One disturbing bit: the Certification board chairman reported that about 30% of takers of the certification exams FAIL! Departments: get your people to LEARN the material as opposed to just SPENDING THE TIME IN CLASS!

Rex G. Lentner, MSFDA board member representing the Arrowhead Region. www.msfda.org