Matt Parker advised that it was purely financial reasons they were not using; they have other debt services that need taken care of rather than paying people to sit in the station.
Chief Sohyda advised that if they were not calling the closest department, they must have a valid reason to show what they are doing is reasonable.
Remember that IRT is taxpayer dollars are used for it, why is it not being called right away.
According to the data they are not performing well
Standards will be set for the township not each department, this will give concrete data to review performance.
Lou Lawson from the West Ridge fire department came to request approval for spending above the $25,000 dollar amount.
o See attached letter.
They applied for a FEMA grant and are waiting to see if they get approval. They will be purchasing the equipment regardless of if they receive the grant.
o There was discussion on the other departments and the age of their SCBAs.
Lake Shore purchased in 2016
West Lake purchased in 2019
Kearsarge purchased in 2020
West Ridge will purchase in 2021
Belle Valley will need to purchase in 2023
☐ Matt Parker motioned to allow West Ridge to purchase the SCBAs and the compressor to fill their bottle.
o Mark Shaw read the resolution that was approved by the supervisors.
It was pointed out that West Ridge would not need approval for the SCBAs because their cost is $7400.00 apiece. The compressor will need approval because of the cost is $60,000.00.
☐ Matt Parker amended is motion to allow West Ridge to purchase the compressor need to fill SCBAs.
2^{nd} by Bill Martin
Vote - 6 yes, 1 no - motion approved
Jerry DeRosa discussed that calls the departments were being dispatched to were cut back in March due to COVID. West Ridge fire department would like to get back to running the normal calls. They are spending $2000 to allow 3 people to sit at the station and listen to calls they are not being dispatched on. We are now going on about a year and they would like to get back to helping the citizens like they did before.
Bill Martin disagrees with the fire departments going back to regular dispatching. 45% of MPS's patients have been COVID positive. There is no need at this time to put the fire departments in harms way if it is not needed.