HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019.10.16 Wildfire Safety Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 11:00AM to l:00PM Training Room,Ashland Fire Station#1, 455 Siskiyou Blvd
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. INTRODUCTIONS
Stephen Gagne, Dan Dawson, Kent Romney, Charisse Sydoriak, Tracy Peddicord, Steve Asher, Doug
Kay, Tonya Graham, Bruce Moats, Chris Chambers
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES September 2019
Katie included all edits provided by Bruce Moats
All approved
IV. PUBLIC AND GUESTS FORUM
None
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA
a. Move working group list to top of agenda.
VI. CITY COUNCIL CHECK IN, including Ad Hoc Budget Committees; Fire Inspector. (Tonya)
a. Tonya: nothing to report.
VII. OLD BUSINESS
a. Fire Season Campaign/Jefferson Exchange/Farmers Market Post-mortem (Tonya)
i. Postphone (Tonya had to leave early)
b. Farmer's Market (Doug)
i. Katie and Doug visited the area yesterday(10/15/19)
ii. Will continue the booth next spring, done for year 2019.
c. Drone Detection Program update (Chambers)
i. Statistics being summarized by Council of Governments, no set date
ii. Program post-phoned until next season, saving money by being able to end early
iii. Kent asks if city considered getting a drone for the purpose of emergency response. Chris
responded that City does have one drone, Chief Shepherd is only licensed pilot. Put in
grant, but did not receive funds, for another drone with normal capabilities. Will continue
to look for sources moving forward. Kent offered his certification as a drone pilot,
Stephen may also potentially be interested.
d. Electric Utility Wildfire Safety, Pacific Power, updates
i. Lomakatsi work complete?
ii. Trees Inc/PPL larger trees, follow up approach?
iii. See minutes from Sept 18 for details on letter for discussion with PPL
1. Stephen - This commission could be leveraged to lobby Pacific Power to request
to make proposed changes. Request Trees Inc and PPL to attend to avoid a "what
he said, she said" situation.
2. Steve plans to have meeting with those people— after meeting, bring back to
commission to see if we can make this an Ashland-wide initiative.
3. Steve will let Chris know when meeting takes place
iv. Kent—suggests discussion about power cutoffs for wildfire prevention be a subject when
PPL comes back to commission.
e. Wildfire Building Code update: Medford City Council and Plan for Ashland(Chief Sartain)
i. Meeting tomorrow, 10/17/19
f. WIRE (Wyree) and Interra Portal update (Gibble)
i. Katie would like to identify sub-group to read through and provide suggestions before
next meeting.
g. Plant List subcommittee status (Gibble)
i. Set a date for meeting—may not be needed yet
1. Tracy: identify people to tie in(from public) to provide input. As a subcommittee,
we are open for input, and contactors seem willing to work with the list.
2. Stephen tasked Tracy to send email to those who have attended past meetings: we
have just completed the season, how did it go? Plant list subcommittee: provides
alternatives to planting owing to prohibited list.
3. Information for those new to commission: Council passed prohibited list,
provided we have plant committee. Come to meeting if you want to participate,
but only if you're participating. If there is a plant that is hindering people, that's
when we revisit.
11. Identify participants - Tracy, Katie, Doug, Charisse, Kristy—shooting star, OSU
extensions.
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
a. AIM Grant, CWPP Update (Gibble)
i. Contractor used to updated the bi-county CWPP are local would be good contractor to
consider. Kent - Concern with meaningfulness that a contractor can provide
b. Town Finances (Gagne)
i. Out of time
c. Realtor Progress Report (Gagne)
i. Out of time
d. Outcome of WSC Recommendations for City Administration Working Group * moved to first
item discussed on agenda
i. Final changes made to draft are as follows:
1. Moved two items regarding the recent Realtor work(formerly e & f, Tactic 1 i) to
Tactic 1 ii
2. Added word transformative to Statement of Intent
3. Added LEAP and Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan into Objective 1
4. Added to motivate personal action in proposed strategy A
5. Added Develop a Fire Adapted Communities Plan in front of Tactic 1 i, h within
the CWPP
6. Added and enforce to Proposed Strategy C
7. Added safety into Proposed Strategy D, and added (including home assessments,
permit inspections, homesale inspections)
8. In Proposed activity E, added that will largely oversee the Firewise Communities
Program
9. Added to Tactic 1 ii and its wildfire safety initiatives and programs
10. Changed Tactic IV's cost estimate to 20,000 and added iii. SIM table would be
available to borrow from State source
11. Changed cost estimate for Communication's position estimate to $125,000
11. Additional discussion:
1. Tracy: to make this position have less turnover, identify roles of this new position
that would eliminate some stresses to job
2. Kent: Firewise is often citizen-driven throughout the country. If Firewise became
more citizen driven, it could open up work being done by city employee.
3. Tracy noted that while there are many active volunteers in the community, there is
also high turnover, which would result in high amount of retraining, which
requires staff time.
4. Tonya, if this a term to this position, may propel work to get done. Suggests lining
up assistant with 5 year deadline. Kent suggests minimum of two years but all in
group agree that a big lift would be accomplished in five year period
5. Stephen requests permission from Commission for Chris, Katie and Stephen to
move forward on wordsmithing the recommendations
6. Kent requests that the final version get sent out to the group
7. Regarding supporting the Communications and City Engagement position, Kent
notes that there are many other additional job descriptors listed in the original job
description that we would want to leave out
8. TIMING on when to get this turned in: Tomorrow or NOVEMBER 121n
a. Katie and Stephen discuss and agree on November 121h submittal is more
reasonable
9. Regarding Tactic AFR Project Maintenance and Weed Abatement Pilot Fund -
Discussion of if we can get Jackson County on board? Provide cost sharing,
constrain to properties just outside of city limits. Steve Asher describes that if he
were on the working group, he would think there is not enough money in the city,
let alone outside the city. Chris specifies that this would be 50/50 cost share, for
homes directly adjacent to city perimeter. Property must be significant size. —
Chris will do this work. Commission is good with Chris malting changes
IX. REPORTS AS TIME ALLOWS (2 min each)
a. Forest Lands Commission Report (Priscila)
i. Out of time +Priscila not present
b. Tree Commission (Priscila)
i. Out of time +Priscila not present
c. Chamber Wildfire Task Force (Gibble)
i. Out of time
d. Art on Fire (Priscila)
i. Out of time +Priscila not present
X. WSC 2019 GOALS AND PRIORITIES
a. In-service working group scheduling
i. Out of time
XI. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING
a. Next Commission Meeting: November 20th, 2019, 11:00am-1:00pm (Station 1)
XII. ADJOURN