Minutes of the July 6th, 2011 Meeting
of
The
The meeting was called to order at 10:04 AM by President Michael Pellek who welcomed and thanked all 15 in attendance. A flag salute and moment of silence followed. The President stated that at the September meeting there will be coffee and bagels before the meeting, so come early and share stories and concerns.
Vice-president
Vinnie Corsaro reported that he attended the
The Secretary apologized for the lack of June minutes. He also presented information he received from Bob Westdyk regarding the NJ-IAAI September course. There are prerequisites not previously mentioned which he described in detail and promised to distribute via email to everyone later in the day. The Secretary speaking as the Rockaway Township Fire Marshal expressed his considerable concern about Senate bill S-2795 which would remove multi-family dwellings from the local LEA responsibility of annual inspections and place them only under the State Housing Authority with five year inspections. He said there is no way housing would do anywhere near as good a job of providing for residents safety, that the landlords would certainly not step up to correct violations on their own, and LEAs would loose thousands of dollars in funding because under the bill LEAs would no longer collect registration fees. He encouraged the Association to take a stand and all Fire Officials to write to their Senators. He cautioned that FOs should check to be sure they have the same Senators as redistricting has occurred. In Rockaway we now have Senators and Representatives we do not know. His primary concern is that this bill puts the public at considerable risk.
The Treasurer's Report was read by Secretary Babcock in Capt. Ed Nunn's absence. Capt. Nunn was not present due to the joyful arrival of his twin daughters. A motion to accept the report was made, seconded, and passed.
Paul Elenio gave the State
Report which is attached. Denis
Lonagan expressed his ongoing consternation over the state of fire inspector
classes and the testing procedures used by the state. Many issues need to be address and corrected
if we are going to get new inspectors into the field. Other members mentioned someone they know
that has taken the test 5 times at $180 per test and the fact that last year
the entire class at the
The next Fire Safety
Commission meeting it July 20th at 10:00 AM at the
Dennis Lonagan reported on our Fire Safety Trailer: The committee needs to discuss lettering. Tires need to be replaced. Permission from St. Barnabas has been obtained to use their forms and procedures. We need to get insurance. The committee will go over the trail on the 13th of July. It is hoped and expected that the trailer can be used for National Night Out on August 2nd. Help is asked for from members for that event to go with the trailer.
Old Business:
At the August 3rd night time meeting, Mark from
At the September 7th daytime meeting a representative from
the
New Business:
A motion was made, second, and passed to spend up to $400 for plastic fire hats to be given out on National Night Out August 2nd.
A motion was made, second, and passed to provide the Secretary with $100 of petty cash for expenses.
Good and Welfare:
Congratulations were extended to our Treasurer Capt. Ed Nunn and his wife on the birth of their twin daughters.
The August 2011 MCFPA Meeting will be held on Wednesday August 3rd
at 7:00 PM at the
The Meeting was adjourned at 11:22 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Craig Babcock, FO, IAAI-FIT
MCFPA Secretary
Remaining 2011 MCFPA Meetings are:
8/3/11 7:30 PM Mark from
9/7/11 10:00AM County Prosecutor's presentation
October - NO MEETING - Fire Prevention Month
11/2/11 10:00AM Nominations Due
12/7/11
7:00 PM Elections/Holiday Party (@ the