Village of Thurston

Council Meeting Minutes

January 31, 2006

****  SPECIAL MEETING ***

 

Joint meeting with the Council of the Village of Thurston and the Walnut Township Trustees was called to order at 7:00 pm by Walnut Township Trustees.   Meeting is to discuss financial status of the Thurston-Walnut Township Fire Department.

 

Roll call:          Robert Ortman – Present

Roger Aubery – Present

Warren Simpson – Absent

Ed Vanek - Present

Kevin Ety – Absent

Rita Leiendecker - Present

Mary Barber – Present

Aaron Reedy – Present

 

Walnut Township Trustees:

Alan Duper, Walter Gabriel, Ralph Zollinger & Pauline Ety, Clerk all present.

 

 

Walter said we all need to be on the same page to figure out where the Fire Department is going.  He asked what Thurston Council thinks.  Mary said things seem to be going better with Jim Hite as Chief; morale is up.  Ed said we’re on an uphill climb on performance and leadership, but we’re making progress.  Mary said getting the rules & regulations in place has helped.

 

Trustees said their biggest concern is not being able to get an EMS crew out.  Walter asked how EMS runs we’ve had in the last three weeks.  Jim Hite said he didn’t know.

 

Alan talked about the “extra” money Thurston had in the Fire fund.  He said we need to either put it in a CD or pay off some on the fire truce loan.  Issue was discussed.  It was agreed that we should put a $15,000 payment down on the principal of the truck and put $20,000 in a CD.

 

Pauline asked if there were going to be any major purchases.  Jim said we are going to need a new tanker.  The current tanker has a standard transmission; we need one with an automatic.

 

Everyone discussed the topic of a Township Fire Department versus a Joint Township Fire Department.  Future discussion is to happen on this subject.

 

Township passed the budget as presented $108,780.50, with Township providing $97,600 and the Village providing the balance.

 

Everyone agreed we need to have quarterly meetings to keep communications open.  It was agreed that we will meet on March 6th and the First Monday of the month quarterly at 7:30 at the Fire House.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

 

_______________________________

Aaron L. Reedy, Clerk