HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013.05.15 Wildfire Safety Committee Minutes Minutes of the Meeting of the ASHLAND FIRE WISE COMMISSION
Wednesday, Y May 15th, 2013 12:OOPM to 1:00PM
Conference Room, Ashland Fire Station #1
455 Siskiyou Blvd
I. CALL TO ORDER
Note meal source and amount: Pasta Piatti $136.03 Number Attending: _10
II. INTRODUCTIONS: Pete Norvell,Matt Warshawsky, Kelly Eaton,Kathy Kane,Eric Olson, Ron Parker,Annette
Herron,Staff Kimberley Summers, Chris Chambers and Ali True.
Guest: Don Morris 1644 Ross Lane,Ashland, Oregon 97520
Absent: Council Liaison Greg Lemhouse
III.APPROVAL OF MINUTES: April 17th, 2013 meeting Approved, Ron Parker, Kathy Kane 2nd
IV. PUBLIC FORUM
Don Morris, from Pennsylvania has been living in Ashland for 10 years talked about the City Limits and brush
removal, would like to be a Firewise community.
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA Group Photo will be taken.
VI. BUSINESS
A. Report on Firewise Week events: collect info and comments for next year's planning
a. Firewise Clean-Up Day- Very organized event, 4 bins total at one time provided, 21 bins emptied,
258 vehicles. The model for next year needs to be reconsidered due to difficulty in covering with
available staff time and difficulty in securing volunteers. Thank you all for volunteering your day to
help, it was very hard work lifting up and over into the recycle bin. Please think about how we can
we make this easier on everyone and still provide a service to the citizens of Ashland for next year. It
was suggested by Kathy Kane, to contact Recology for a fall clean up day at the Valley View
Transfer Station for City of Ashland residents. It will be discussed at the next meeting on how to
move forward. Eric Olsen and Pete Norvell volunteered to do some further research. Will discuss at
next meeting.
b. Firewise in the 4th Grade Poster Contest- Kathy Kane talked about the amount of participation this
year, and the 20 minute presentation to the class rooms. The winner will be in the lobby for the
month of May. This program continued to be a success and garnered positive feedback.
c. Ashland Public Library Events- The children's library three story times a week, we provided a
firefighter for two and the third one Smokey the Bear came in from ODF. Might scale down for next
year as it was difficult to provide a show and tell FF while on duty.
B. Funding update
a. Grants- Title III grant is the funding for the Firewise commissioner, funding is available up to
December 2013.
b. Budget- Chris Chambers talked about funding from the Title III grant and how the Firewise
commissioner's position will be funded. It was presented to Council to maximizing the tax rate for
additional funding that would cover the AFR project and the Firewise salary. It was also discussed
that internally the fire department could adjust staffing to keep the Firewise position with reduced
hours.
VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS-Ron Parker provided a newspaper clipping that documented the Council
goal of reducing fire risk with the Firewise program. Kelly Eaton asked about financial impacts that fire, flood, etc.
have and if any data is available from other cities; Chris Chambers gave some resources and talked about the process
involved in measuring recovery costs versus prevention costs.
VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING
A. Next meetings: June 19th, 2013 and July 17th, 2013
IX.ADJOURN: 1:00 PM
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting,please contact the Public
Works Office at 488-5587(TTYphone number 1 800 735 2900).Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make
reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the meeting(28 CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title I).