911

The Official Unofficial Minutes of the WL BOA

6 October

In a rare if ever joint appearance at the BOA meeting, Chief Richard Carrizzo of South Platte Fire and members of the WL Fire Protection District made presentations to the BOA.  This was precipitated by questions and concerns raised by Vic Dejong regarding the levy for fire.

Image by skeggy via Flickr

WL Fire Protection President Bob Renton gave a nice historical summary of the District citing "the best service package" as the goal of the District.  The current contract is with South Platte Fire which will expire in December, 2012.  South Platte provides response to fires as well as first response for medical emergencies which might include CPR/Defib.  They also provide water and ice rescue.  SP has 4 stations, 3 manned full time.  Bob believes the current contract has provided customer oriented quality, with a provider that knows our geography and trains their own members at their regional training facility.  They also have one of two HazMat (foam tanker) vehicles in the area.

Alternatives to South Platte?

• Buy fire trucks ($750,000) and staff
• KCMO
• Other FD's in area, but not contiguous to WL
• Private Service

Current budget-$424,086, of which 99% is a pass through to South Platte.  Expenses for the District include, legal, audit, board insurance, legal posting notices and election expenses which amounts to $6,200.

Who is on your board?  Bob Renton, term expires in 2015, Ed Barbosa, 2013 and Ron Knopf, term expires next year.  Ron is the senior member, having served on the board for many years.

They meet every 3rd Friday of the month at City Hall.  One of their activities is to review response times to the City, more on that in the next post regarding Chief Carrizzo.

Kudos to Bob on a straightforward presentation and a shout out to the three for their non-paid service to the City.
Tomorrow-Chief Carrizzo's overview of South Platte Fire.

OK, some times I have fun and games here on the blog...but if you hang with me you will be the best educated citizen when it comes to WL...and you will find the info nowhere else but here...and that is As I See It.