Meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a Moment of Silence.

The minutes of the November meeting were sent out prior to the January meeting and were accepted as sent.

Financial Report as of 12/31/07:
Checking: $331.89
Savings: $1560.37

Tim Deckard was present for the meeting and asked that IVFA members watch the following House and Senate Bills that can or will have an affect on the Volunteer Fire Departments throughout Indiana.

HB 1093      Charity gaming
HB 1104      Fire protection district excess property tax levy
HB 1105      Various public safety matters
HB 1127      Ban on use of cell phones while driving
HB 1133      Disaster worker health coverage
HB 1167      Hand held mobile telephone use
HB 1171      Autism training for EMS personnel
HB 1186      Public safety officer survivor insurance
HB 1199      Formation of townships
HB 1201      Elimination of townships outside Marion County
HB 1204      Emergency alert system advisory committee
HB 1273      Compensation for emergency or disaster training
HB 1298      Communications and public safety answering points
HB 1305      Public safety funding
SB 0026      Smoke detectors in rental properties
SB 0028      Fire safe cigarettes
SB 0030      Special death benefit for chaplains
SB 0119      Cell phone use while driving
SB 0144      Residency of police officers and firefighters
SB 0152      Automated external defibrillators in health clubs
SB 0204      Production of driver's license
SB 0241      Department of homeland security funds
SB 0280      Marion County government
SB 0312      County executives
SB 0333      Government reorganization
SB 0017      Redevelopment commissions and TIF

We need to especially watch:

SB 0309      Restructuring county and township government
SB 0312      County Executives
SB 0359      Enhanced 911 systems

URL Address for Bill Watch Information: http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2008&sessio n=1&request=all

Some of these bills will directly affect county government, particularly Township Trustees and how 911 funds are to be distributed through the state.

There will be a one day seminar:

You and ISO
March 29, 2008
Wayne Twp
Fire Cost 135.00 for non-members.
More details and registration can be done on-line at the IAFC site: http://www.vcos.org/announcements.htmls

This year the IVFA Convention will be at Belle Terra June 18-21. IVFA page for information and registration.

The next IVFA meeting will be March 12th at Shawswick Station 1. Food will be served at 6, the meeting will start at 7 pm.

Bob Barber is now the District 8 training coordinator. There will be a new round of grant money coming around for training. There will be no charge for Basic, Mandatory, Haz-Mat Aws and Ops, and Firefighter I & II. For information for District 8 training contact: Robert.Barber@insightbb.com. Let him know if there is any training you’re interested in. This is Fire training only, not EMS.

Also, Shawswick will having a Driver Operator class Feb.7th. This is being offered through Shawswick, not District 8, so there will be a $50 fee for the class plus the cost of the book. Contact Bob Barber. Cash, cashier’s check or money order only, no personal checks will be accepted. Terry Pemberton and Luke Kluender will be the instructors for this class.

Bob Brown said that District 8 has purchased 4 trailers from Root’s for training and training materials. Two of them will be for props, laptops, projectors and screens. The other two are Haz-Mat trailers, complete with sniffers. Sniffer training is now part of Haz-Mat Ops training. Bob seems to think that if you already have your Ops you’ll be grandfathered in, but you want to upgrade to Chemical you can recertify with the sniffers.

Certified Instructors who’d like to be District 8 trainers need to sign up to be able to be paid for training. Instructor I will get $20 an hour and Instructor II & III will get paid $25 and hour.

The next District 8 meeting will be February 19th in Bedford, possibly at Dunn or Bedford Fire. (I will forward the correct time and place as soon as I find out) These are open meetings to us all. Although we aren’t allowed to vote we are allowed to voice our opinions to those who do. Bob is now Vice Chair for the training council and is trying to get a schedule of meetings for the year so they can be announced.

Insurance has been settled regarding instructors during District 8 training. This was one of the last issues that needed to be cleared up before training sessions could start.

Lona Huffman from Jones & Associates Insurance brought insurance information for each department. She offers insurance that is specifically for Fire Departments. This company also offers free training; supplying instructor and materials as well as a lending library of training videos. (There are additional information packets for departments that weren’t present; I’ll have them at the February meeting) Lona also suggests watching the Daily Dispatch, which is an on-line update of fire news.

Boomer reports TOPES now has some new hot items available. In addition to hot chocolate and coffee he now has soups. He also says funding is low and he currently operates on about $250 a month for the entire county. We plan to discuss a donation at the February meeting.

Drawing winners at this month’s meeting: Hoosier Fire T-Shirt winner was Standley Wright. Helmet Band winner was Bob Barber. Winner of $24 from the 50/50 drawing was Kyle Brown.

The next meeting will be February 26th at Shawswick.