Minutes of the April 7th, 2010 Meeting

of

The Morris County Fire Prevention Association

The meeting was called to order at 7:37 PM by President Michael Pellek, who welcomed and thanked all 17 in attendance. The President's reported on the "Back to Basics" County Presidents Meeting that was held without personnel from the Division of Fire Safety. The minutes from that meeting are as follows:

1) Back to Basics: return to why the UFC was created and how it was supposed to work, eliminate unnecessary departments and concentrate on inspections and enforcement as well as public education.

a. Preparedness Unit - move to homeland Security or local assistance -- where are the checks and balances for the P.U.? -- justify its place in the Division.

b. One unit for arson investigation. Quantify how much work -- how many fires are responded to vs. how often does the State Police Arson Unit respond to the same incident and take over? Will one unit fulfill any S.A.G. requirements for the Division to have a unit?

2) The Division ( and it's employees) need to be classified as essential and made into a department -- be self-sustaining.

a. We should not be subsidizing Codes and Standards (5 million in '09 along).

b. Bring back adequate staffing and operational levels.

i. bring staff over from Codes and Standards since we pay for their salaries.

ii. create a section where staff should be required to have code experience and that section will have a dedicated supervisor.

c. Appointed Director of the Division or State Fire Marshal, no more "acting" director for year after year.

d. Be attentive to the L.E.A.s and their needs.

i. Acquire and implement, a much needed, computer system -- funding it from what is now funneled away from us.

ii. Fix the Portal.

- make it user friendly.

- printable lists.

- have info by County, Municipality, etc.

iii. Move the annual report deadline to March 1st -- amend the Fire Safety Act.

- reduce the questionnaire, only the questions required by the regs.

-establish a streamlined extension request system for the Annual Report returns & reply to all requests.

3) Meetings

a. establish quarterly meetings between the Division and the Presidents.

b. agenda created and driven by the Presidents.

c. The Division will generate timely minutes and send them to the Presidents.

d. Division reports at meetings will be at the discretion of the Presidents -- sprinkler cert reports can be emailed not presented at the meeting.

e. Division reports will be presented after Presidents agenda has been discussed.

4) Certification

a. repair the training and testing system for Inspector and Official.

b. licensure not certification.

c. require certification for non-LHU inspection.

d. requirement for F.O. to have fire investigation training/certification - qualify which training(s) meet the requirement.

e. all CEUs should be reciprocal credit with UCC and ICS.

f. create two 4-hour seminars in a class day -- 8-12 and 1-5 -- to expand ability to

meet CEU requirements.

5) Resolution for the Extinguisher Law

a. where does it currently stand?

b. are we required to enforce it by the State, local Statute?

c. can we get it repealed?

6) The Fire Commission -- Overhaul the Commission!

a. new members.

b. term limits.

c. are current committees viable?

----------End President's Report---------------

There was no report from Vice President Corsaro.

Secretary Craig Babcock asked if everyone was receiving the minutes and notices. All present said they were getting the Secretary's email. A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the March minutes.

Treasurer Ed Nunn gave his report. A motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the report as read. Capt. Nunn asked if it would be appropriate to send a reminder to Fire Officials and Inspectors from municipalities who have yet, to join the Association? It was agreed that it would be appropriate to do so.

Paul Elenio gave the State Report which is attached.

Craig Babcock gave a report on the State Association which included the General Meeting coming up on the 29the of April, at 4:00 PM, in Atlantic City at the Taj Mahal during the New Jersey Building Safety Conference at the end of the month.

There is No Golf Outing this year.

Poster Contest -- our judging will occur immediately after the meeting. State level judging will happen on May 6th in Springfield. Ian Bell made a motion which was seconded and passed to spend up to $500 for our awards ceremony at the June 2nd meeting which will start at 7 PM and not the usual 7:30 PM. The monthly meeting will follow the awards ceremony.

Web Page - Barry Howard asked Craig to send him the current membership list and asked everyone to send photos -- not all 176 shots from their event, just the best 3 please.

County Fire Marshal Report, given by Dave Barter, included that with the Forest Fire Service there were burns in Chester Township with Jefferson Township and others to follow.

Bt-Laws reported progress.

There was no Old Business.

Under New Business:

It was brought to our attention that the Sussex Fire Prevention Association is not doing well and would like to know if their members could join our Association. After a brief discussion it was agreed that they would be most welcome.

Several members, including President Pellek, who attended Juvenile Safety Training at the Bergen County Academy, recently asked for the Association's support for an event to be held at the Morris Academy which might include paying for lunch for those attending. It was agreed that we should do so. Capt. Nunn offered his meeting room in Madison should the Academy not be available.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:39 PM.

The next meeting is Wednesday May 5th at 10:00 AM at the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy in a room to be named later.

Respectfully submitted,

Craig Babcock

MCFPA Secretary