Next Meeting: 7 pm - June 15, 2006

at Brown Shingle in Dixon

628 Palmyra Rd.  Dixon, IL 61021

 

 

May 18, 2006 minutes - Polo Fire Department

 

President Hank Robinson called meeting to order at 19:02     BFFA welcome given by Asst. Chief Tony Karrow, followed by pledge.

Past Presidents acknowledged: Kevin Lalley, Larry Wagner, Bill Jacobs, Jeff Bryant, Pat Hilliker, Todd Hilliker, and John Caudillo II.

Departments present: Amboy, CGH, Coleta, Dixon Rural, Franklin Grove, Hennepin, Lifeline Helicopter, Mendota, Milledgeville, Oregon, Polo, Prophetstown, Sublette, Sycamore, Tiskilwa, and Wyanet.

 

Secretary’s Report: Motion made to dispense the reading of the minutes.

Treasures Report: by Brad Belanger. Motion to accept treasures report and to pay bills.

 

Special Thank You to Marvin Spears for building our confined space trailer.

 

Committee Reports:

Training: Report by Mike Dettman.

•           Light and Fight Tower Burns – May 27th - Cherry Valley Station #2

•           Basic Company Officer – July 1^st – Princeton Fire.

•           Firefighter Rescue and Survival – July 7^th – Princeton Fire

•           Incident Safety Officer – June 17th & 24th at Northwest Fire Department

•           IFSI 82^nd Annual Fire College – June 1^st thru 4^th – U of I, Champaign

•           BFFA Calendar has additional training and information listed. Visit www.bffa.net for more information.

 

Safety: Kevin Lalley reported that we all look safe tonight.

 

Website: We would like to encourage everyone to post events on the BFFA Calendar.

 

Newsletter: Many of you have already noticed that the monthly minutes are now in a different format. We are still putting the final touch on it.

 

Membership: Quick reminder, if you have not done so, it is now time to pay 2006-2007 dues.

 

Fundraising: Dean Ege stated that the 50/50 tickets for next year are now available.  

 

Resources: Brad is still working on list. It will be posted on the website when completed.

 

Conference: January 6 & 7, 2007 at Sauk Valley Community College. Reception at the Comfort Inn in Dixon, Saturday January 6^th at 6pm.

 

Water Fight: Please get water fight dates to Vice President Jim Gordon as soon as possible so we can add to BFFA Site

•           Chadwick ground water fight - June 11 - Practice at 11:00,  Fight at 12:00

•           Davis Junction Weekend at the Park - June 24^th – Registration: Noon, fight: 1pm

•           Dixon - July 1, at the Dixon Petunia Festival

•           Shabbona - July 1

•           Mt. Morris - July 2

•           Hooppole – September 10^th - Over-head: 10:00am, Ground fights afterward

 

Funeral Committee: Kevin Lalley reported that Keith Patterson offers Honor Guard training. The cost is $1000 plus room and board. Kevin will get more information and provide additional details on this training at next months meeting.  

 

 

Old Business:

May 11 - Annual Bus trip to Springfield for the Firefighting Medal of Honor Awards and Fallen Firefighter Memorial Service. Dean Ege reported that attendance was low for bus trip.

 

501C3 Status:  No Report

 

Dean Ege let everyone know the status of the N.Y. Bike Trip fire fighters book. He will provide more information as he gets it.   

 

Secretary Jim Gordon presented Bill Reynolds motion to amend the BFFA bylaws for the second and final vote to membership. Motion was to amend Article III Section 6 as follows: Retired Members is any member who has been President of BFFA, or becomes disabled in the line of duty. They shall hold membership for life and have all the privileges of membership. Persons retiring from a member department shall be eligible for a “non-voting” Retired Member status with the recommendation to the Executive Board by the member department. Retired members shall not be required to pay dues.

Motion Passed second vote and BFFA Bylaws are now amended.   

 

New Business:

 

BFFA Elections: President - Brad Belanger of Sycamore Fire, Vice President – James Gordon of Polo Fire, Secretary – Mike Stoffa of Kaneville Fire, Treasurer – Dean Ege of Mendota Fire.

 

Last November the Polo Fire Department lost one of our young firefighters who had returned from Iraq several months earlier. Polo firefighter Lara Feary will be walking in The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Out of the Darkness Overnight walk, a 20-mile journey through the night, from dusk until dawn as part of Team Timmy. The walk will be in Chicago on August 12^th and 13th. If you would like to help Lara in her walk by sponsoring her, please visit www.theovernight.org and click the Support a Participant button. Type Lara Feary, choose the Chicago walk and team name is Team Timmy. Her Supporter ID is 10004402. Or go to http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=10004402

 

We are looking for people willing to serve this year on BFFA committees. Anyone interested in serving on a BFFA committee or stepping down from a committee should contact President Brad Belanger. 

 

Prophetstown Chief Bill Jacobs let everyone know that he is retiring and that the new Prophetstown chief will be Keith Crady.

 

Department IDs: BFFA has been researching an ID card printer system. We would like to know how many departments would be interested in BFFA purchasing an ID printer system for member use. Departments that feel that having the ability to use an ID card printer would be a benefit to their department should contact Vice President Jim Gordon by email at jgordon@bffa.net. Once we get an idea of the amount of interest in this system, we will present it to membership again.

 

There is a growing interest in getting every department to provide BFFA with the name of their Fire Prevention and Education Officers and setting up quarterly meetings for them to meet. Departments interested should email Jim Gordon with the contact information for their Fire Prevention and Education officers at jgordon@bffa.net.

 

Motion made for confined space trailer to be fitted with receiver hitch

 

Meetings: Request made for BFFA meetings to return to the alternating meetings of membership and executive meetings. Next month will be Executive meeting at Dixon Brown Shingle.

 

Upcoming events are listed on the BFFA website at www.bffa.net         Thanks to Polo Fire Department for tonight’s meeting.

 

Motion to Adjourn: 19:50       

Presentation: Coroners Office – What we do and why

 

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BFFA's mission is to encourage modern and improved methods of training and education for the fire and EMS services; to promote the general welfare and the cultivation of friendship of all members throughout the organization and to continue to improve the relationship of the fire and EMS services with the general public by enlightening them as to the values and the benefits of the services rendered by the members of this association.