White River Township Fire Protection District

 

Pre-Meeting Report for August 7, 2007

 

Compiled July 30, 2007

 

 

 

  1. The new station inches ever so closer to a final completion date.  The goal was to have a date penned for substantial completion at the last on-site progress meeting, but the building is yet too far behind to arrive at a final finish date.  This will hopefully happen at the next meeting set for August 8th.  The main hold-ups seem to be the electrical contractor getting closed out and AT&T completing their relocate.  Several of the other trades are hinged on these two items.  A full report will be made at the District Board meeting.

 

  1. Cathy Richards (real estate agent working with us) has been in contact with the department’s legal counsel in setting up the necessary paperwork for the Bluff Road property acquisition.  Legal counsel should have the resolution ready outlining the department’s intention to purchase the property should the appraisals be adequate.  However, as of earlier today, we’ve been informed that Mount Pleasant Christian Church may be willing to sell two acres of their property (just across the street) immediately adjacent to their new building project that just got under way.  The elders have a meeting on August 6th and we should have more information at the District Board meeting.

 

  1. We are expecting to receive the joint appraisal back on the old Station 51 property any day now.  Once that is received we’ll be able to set the bid price and get the property listed.

 

  1. We are currently slated to be on the agenda at the county commissioner’s meeting on Monday, August 7th to ask for permission to use county right-of-way for the Station 53 sewer project.  Hopefully we will have an update at the District Board meeting.

 

  1. Jeremy Pell has been working with the department’s legal counsel in getting his contract and PERF arrangements made.  No word on an actual start date as of today.  There may be some discussion at the District Board meeting to work out a few details.

 

  1. As a follow-up to last months’ meeting regarding the Builder’s Risk insurance issue, we did some research to figure out where things stand.  After calling all vested parties, the short answer was that everyone thought that everyone else was securing the insurance package.  I pulled out the specification manual for the project and it states that the ‘owner’ is responsible for securing the insurance package.  Chief Tibbetts handled all insurance issues and didn’t recall ever setting this up with our carrier, no ever being directed to do so.  I then called our carrier (after verifying that no other party held a policy on our behalf) and found that no policy was ever pulled for the project.  After jumping through two full days of hoops, a package was immediately secured and is now in full force for the remainder of the project.  I re-questioned about the claims issue and the agent confirmed that any claim would cause a substantial increase in premiums due to our past history.  She also stated that it didn’t matter who the policy was with because the carrier would pull a claims history before determining the next year’s rates.

 

  1. Be prepared for the 2008 Budget Approval vote, which should complete the budget process (at least our part), before it goes to the State for final approval.

 

  1. Well, that’s all for this month.

 

 

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 4, 2007.

 

 

- Scott