PINE/STRAWBERRY FUEL REDUCTION, INC.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
MINUTES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016
CALL TO ORDER:
President Melvin Palmer called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M.
The meeting was held at the Pine Senior Center Dining Room
Mel led the Pledge of Allegiance
MEMBERS PRESENT Melvin Palmer (President), Mike Brandt (Vice-President), Jack Malloy (Secretary), Janet Brandt (Acting Treasurer), Katie Calderon, Ron Calderon
MEMBERS ABSENT Nancy Hubbs
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES:
Ron moved to approve the minutes of the February 24, 2016 meeting as amended. Katie seconded.
Motion Passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Janet presented the Treasurer’s Report:
2016-april-27-treasurer-report (PDF)
Katie moved to accept Treasurer’s Report as presented. Ron seconded.
Motion Passed.
BILLS/CORRESPONDENCE: None
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
- Brush Pick Up Discontinued: Mel stated that donations to date to continue the program are only 45% of what is needed. A mailer will go out sometime next week explaining the situation to all Pine/Strawberry property owners whose addresses are on the Gila County property tax roll and given to us by the County. Mel then opened up the meeting to questions/comments and suggestions on alternative ways to use the donations collected for dealing with homeowner brush. For the next hour there was much discussion, some of which was venting on situations only the elected County Supervisors have control over, not the volunteer P/SFR Board.
The following are the ideas those in attendance suggested to deal with the discontinued brush pick up:
- Put an old ‘beater truck” in town that residents can sign up to rent to take their brush to the local brush pits;
- Organize a “welcome wagon” for all new property owners with info on firewising their property;
- Organize a group with trucks/trailers who would go around and pick up brush piles;
- Get bids from local services to pick up the brush;
- Ballot measure to create a “Brush Pick Up” tax district;
- Build a big brush pit, buy a crane and employ worker(s) to run an air-curtain type of burner at the pit;
- Organize those with trucks/trailers to go around and pick up the brush piles already accumulated for the cost of the landfill fee;
- Post on the Senior Center board not to put out brush;
- Place signs on roads off of the 87 not to put out brush; Create a list of contractors who will thin properties and/or haul away brush;
- Get a petition to enlarge the free brush pit;
- Get kids to take the petition around because it’s harder to say no to them;
- Create flyers to put into grocery bags at local Payson/Pine markets with info on how to put out camp fires:
- Have “…a brain trust put together that we can take the bureaucracy and ridiculous spending out of it and get it down to where we can keep our homes safe…”;
Janet will create a petition to be sent to the County Supervisors to enlarge the free brush pits. The petitions will be at several locations around this Saturday’s Firewise Day Event.
- April 30th Firewise Day Event: Katie gave an overview of what will be happening at the event from noon to 3 PM: many agencies to talk with about being firewised including the Forest Service, County Sheriff’s Office, Game & Fish, PS Fire Department; There will be food provided by Duane Ridl; Activities for the entire family including the FireWise Trailer with kids workbooks, videos, fire trucks, the Gila Monster a big communications unit used on major fires; Speakers Jim Paxon, firefighter, spokesman during the Rodeo-Chediski fire and author of the book The Monster Reared His Angry Head; Captain Mike Brandt retired local firefighter and Gary Robert from the Forest Service.
- Trails in the Fuel Break: Mike presented information on the objectives of the program. He also stated that funding for the program comes from strictly from the Fire-On-The-Rim bike race. Donations made to P/SFR do not fund the Trails program. He also gave an update on the completion of the bridge that crosses Pine Creek and links the Bearfoot Trail with the Pine Canyon Trail. He also gave an update on the status of the renovations taking place along the Pine Canyon Trail that will make it a sustainable trail and much easier to walk.
Mike said they saved $3,000 on the the bridge and asked for authorization to use that money to have a Trails website built. The website will have a donate button so donations can be made specifically for the Trails project. When hikers search for trails in Arizona, this website will pop-up with information on the trails in our communities. As it grows, adds will be able to be sold on it helping to fund the Trails project.
Janet made a motion to authorize $3,000 from the Fire-On-The-Rim bike race account to build a Trails website.
Katie seconded.
Motion Passed.
SET DATE, TIME, PLACE OF NEXT P/SFR, INC. MEETING:
Thursday, May 26, 2016; 6:00 P.M.; Pine Senior Center Dining Room
ADJOURNMENT:
Ron moved to adjourn. Katie seconded.
Motion Passed.
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 P.M.
Respectfully submitted by Jack Malloy, P/SFR Secretary
Download 2016 April 27 Meeting Notes (PDF)
