KERN RIVER VALLEY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL

Board of Directors and Stakeholders Meetings

Board of Directors Meeting

Meeting was convened at 8:30 by the President, Lloyd Smith. 

Attendees. Lloyd Smith, Ed Royce, Christine and Gordon Hancock, Sharon Rooney, Chris Horgan. Lloyd introduced Chris Horgan as a potential active participant and Board member. Ed Royce agreed to act as secretary for the meeting.

Minutes of the 18 November meeting were approved [MSC,Ed, Lloyd]

Treasurer's Report. Christine reports $3568.65 in the operating account. The balance in the Pala Ranch Grant account was $24,871.00, of which $22,800 will be paid in response to an invoice from Kern County Fire Department. [MSC Ed, Lloyd] The balance in the Bodfish Phase II Grant account was $1626.00. These funds and the remainder of the Pala Ranch Grant account will be used to pay Patrick Pontes for his services monitoring these grants.

Income from 17 November through 31 December, 2009, was a $400.00 donation from the Lodge at Painted Rock. Expenses during this period were $40.00 for mail box rental and $1770.00 to Patrick Pontes for grant monitoring.

The report was accepted [MSC Ed, Lloyd]

President's Comments. Lloyd commented on the need for the Board to develop a 2010 plan of action and operating budget. These items will be discussed at a special Board meeting/retreat before the next regular meeting.

Committees Reports:

Grants. A USFS grant project for fuel reduction around Alta Sierra and Pala Ranch was pursued between the last Board meeting and this one. The potential grant would be for $300,000 and extend over several years. The proposal was prepared by Derrick Davis, working with Scott Williams. The Board voted to accept responsibility for this grant if it is offered, with an understanding that Patrick will monitor the grant and be paid out of the grant. [MSC Ed, Lloyd] See further information on this potential grant in the stakeholder's meeting.

Fund Raising. Lloyd has sent a thank you to the Lodge at Painted Rock for their $400 donation noted in the Treasurer's report. Lloyd also noted receipt of a 2010 donation of $500 from the Kern Community Foundation. Total funds raised from sustaining memberships in 2009 were $3994.18. The 2009 Honor Roll will be posted on the WEB site.

Chipper Days. Lloyd reported that Crew 87 spent a full day at the Lodge at Pointed Rock chipping and burning piles.

Chris Horgan offered to work on getting more POA involvement in chipper days.

Speaker's Bureau. Lloyd made a presentation to KRVR on 6 January reporting on the Council's 2009 activities.

Publicity. By e-mail, Council members were polled on whether to pay for an ad in the next issue of the Kern River Valley Visitor's Guide. E-mail response from Board members was not to participate but to thank Publisher Marsha Smith for the generous rate she had offered the Council.

Web Site. Ed distributed statistics on hits over the last six months. Hits to the Home page were 241. (Some additional hits may have been directly to separate pages, rather than through the Home page.) Most popular pages were News, Calendar, and Minutes. Chris Horgan noted that hits to a web site operated by his trails organization are much more numerous and suggested the need to more vigorously advertise the existence of our web site.

Ed has delayed updating the web site over the last few months to reduce expenses. An extensive update will be done when new officers and Board members have been selected, and when a new operating plan is agreed to.

Kern Fire Safe Council. Lloyd reports from the December meeting that KCFD will pay for printing Living With Fire, and that a small potential State Farm grant would be use for distribution. In the past we have had a larger grant from State Farm that covered all expenses, but last year the three Kern County FSC's had to pay the distribution cost since the State Farm grant was just enough for printing.

There were no additional committee reports to the Board; see under the stakeholder's meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30, and Lloyd then convened the Stakeholder's meeting.

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KERN RIVER VALLEY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL
Stakeholders Meeting
Thursday, 21 January 2010

MINUTES

Additional attendees: Gordon Ehmann, Debbie Santiago (BLM), and Scott Williams (USFS).

Calendar Updates: KFSC, 24 March 2010, Bakersfield and Wildfire Awareness Week, 2-8 May 2010.

Committee Activity Reports:

Grants. A status report from Grants Administrator Patrick Pontes was available and is attached to these minutes.

Patrick's report includes some items from the State CFSC 2011 grants workshop in Arroyo Grande. Ed emphasized Patrick's note that the National Fire Safe Plan authorizing legislation -- under which our CFSC grants are funded -- sunsets in 2010. Letters from individuals to Congress people urging its renewal are suggested. Key dates for the 2011 cycle are 26 February 2010 -- Proposals submitted and letters of commitment to provide matching efforts postmarked -- and 14 June 2010 -- preliminary funding notification.

Note Scott's USFS report on the Alta Sierra/Pala Ranch project.

Fund Raising. As noted in the Board meeting, total fund raising for 2009 was $3,994.18. The 2009 Honor Roll is to be posted to the website.

Chipper Days. As noted in the Board meeting a chipper day was completed at the Lodge at Painted Rock. No chipper day is now planned for Wofford Heights.

Speaker's Bureau. As noted in the Board meeting, Lloyd made a presentation to KRVR on 6 January.

Publicity. Fire Safety Tips provided by the Council were published as an advertisement in the Kern Valley Sun and the Courier.

Education. Roadside signs were rotated in November. Restoration of the Walker Pass sign is under way. Lloyd and Scott to complete.

Agency Reports:

Kern County Fire Department -- no report in the absence of a representative.

Forest Service -- Scott has completed updated project descriptions and maps reflecting the results of the Collaboration Group meeting. He distributed hard copies and disks. Lloyd will incorporated these updates into the CWPP, and Ed will post them on the web site.

Scott provided details on the proposed Alta Sierra/Pala Ranch grant project submitted to the USFS by KCFD. The project is for $300,000 and will extend over several years. The application was signed out of the District office -- and since our meeting has received preliminary approval for funding. The project includes roadside fuel reduction work on Highway 155 and Old State Road, maintenance of the fuel break around Alta Sierra (the do-nut) and slash cleanup at Greenhorn Mountain Park. The USFS will do NEPA work, with support from KCFD. There is no match requirement.

Scott is taking a new job and probably will no longer be working with the FSC. He suggests that the Council write to the District Ranger asking for someone to assume the support activities Scott has provided the Council. In the interim, our contact will be Nickie Washington.

From a concern with arson, Scott suggests posting signs at recent fire sites asking "Who started this fire?" with a contact phone number. Ed noted that we already have the "Fire Tip" number posted on the web site.

BLM -- Debbie reports that BLM is hiring their seasonal crews.

Stakeholder Reports. None.

Old Topics. None

New Topics:

Election of Board of Directors. The following, having been nominated at the November meeting, were elected to the Board: Lloyd Smith, Ed Royce, Christine Hancock, Gordon Hancock, Gordon Ehmann, and Sharon Rooney. [MSC Ed, Christine] Robin Wyatt Little and Barbara Likens had been nominated at the November meeting but later declined. Lloyd Smith was elected President of the Board of Directors. [MSC Ed, Gordon]

Organizational Meeting. Remaining officers will be selected at a meeting of the Board of Directors prior to the next regular meeting. A 2010 plan of action and operating budget will be developed at that meeting.

Action Items:

Lloyd to schedule the organizational meeting.

Lloyd to incorporate updates into the CWPP.

Ed to update the web site (many items), including new officers, points of contact, honor roll, and CWPP and project updates.

Ed to continue to work with Patrick on the 2011 proposals to the CFSC.

Christine to pay the KCFD invoice for Pala Ranch work.

Lloyd to send a letter of thanks to the Kern Community Foundation.

January 21, 2010

Submitted by Patrick Pontes, Grants Administrator

Piute Meadows Community Roadside Brushing and Chipping Project- According to Derrick, the project is now complete. I will be putting the final Photo Monitor and Report together to send to CFSC. When the final Quarterly Accomplishment Report is complete, the project should be closed out. We far exceeded our Match for this project.

Pala Shaded Fuelbreak- Kern Fire has now completed pile burning on the project and it is complete. I am working on the Photo Monitor and Report and we should be able to close out the project with the 5th Quarterly Accomplishment Report-- due at the end of this month. Again, we will exceed our Match for this project.