10A | SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS
SVFR/WLAD from page 1A
We’ve got some vehicles that
are 40 years old, and they’re
just not safe anymore. You
just have to start putting
money away and save up
for a couple of years. It was
a tough decision to move to
$1.54, but it allows us to save
money. With all these sta-
tions and all these vehicles,
it’s something you really
have to stay on top of.”
SVFR’s permanent tax
rate has been set at $1.5417
for decades, and between
2000 and 2010, the rate had
been levied. But in 2011,
the rate dropped to $0.8717
when City of Florence tax-
payers chose to annex in the
rural fire district.
The rate had increased in-
crementally throughout the
years, settling in at $1.1391
in 2014 and has remained at
that rate ever since.
SVFR board and staff
stress that the day-to-day
operations are financially
sound, but problems could
occur in the future if fund-
ing isn’t set aside.
“It’s time that we start
putting some money away
and saving up some money
so we can plan for those re-
placements,” Schick said.
The increase was ap-
proved unanimously by the
board, but Schick still plans
on educating the public on
the increase.
“I’ve got meetings with
the Kiwanis at the end of
July and I’m going to be
giving a presentation at Ro-
tary,” he said. “If anybody
has any kind of group that
would like me to speak, I’d
be happy to do that. If it’s a
homeowner’s group, or any
kind of civic group, what-
ever they have, I’d be more
than happy to come out and
talk about the fire depart-
ment, where we’re going and
why we have to make these
kinds of decisions. It will
also just be to answer any
types of questions people
might have about the fire
department and the ambu-
lance district as well.”
A second increase oc-
curred in a June 27 SVFR/
WLAD joint session, with
WLAD board members
passing a resolution raising
emergency ambulance rates
for clients outside of the tax-
ing district.
WLAD has been operat-
ing under ambulance reim-
bursement rates that were
approved in 2015, but it was
determined throughout the
year, especially during peak
months when out-of-dis-
trict calls rose, revenue was
not being maximized.
“When we’re looking at
ways of capturing additional
revenue, we saw that rough-
ly during the summer, there
were 10 cases per month,”
WLAD Operations Manag-
er Matt House said. “We ex-
trapolated the data, and we
found that there was rough-
ly $70,000 of annual revenue
that we’re missing out on by
not increasing the rates.”
WLAD Director Rick
Yecny
clarified,
“This
would be out of district, so
it doesn’t impact anything
with our residents.”
The measure was passed
unanimously.
In other news from the
joint session, SVFR Board
President Ron Green held
the official pinning ceremo-
ny for Schick on Thursday,
June 27. After Schick was
sworn in and received his
shield, he stated, “As my first
official act, I get to swear in
some new firefighters in the
room. Come on up here,
you have to go through the
same process.”
New SVFR recruits who
were sworn in included
James Rumler, Grandon
Sutherland and Shannon
Viesca. New recruit Conway
Pebley was not present.
Also sworn in were two
new lieutenants, including
Colten Griswold and Jerry
Ward. Not present were Tim
Teel, Blair Campbell and
Shannon Curry.
Operations Chief Jim
Dickerson also honored Fire
Prevention Captain Tony
Miller for “diligently achiev-
ing his associates degree
in applied science for fire
science technology a week
ago.”
Finally, retiring board
members from both SVFR
and WLAD were honored.
Green first thanked Tony
Phillips for his service for
the past four years, the first
three of which were as sec-
retary and treasurer.
“I wouldn’t be here if it
wasn’t for the staff and all the
volunteers. It’s been some-
times trying, but a pleasure
to serve. Thank you very
much,” Phillips said.
Green next honored out-
going director John Car-
nahan, saying, “Director
Carnahan was hired as a
paramedic for WLAD in
1986. In 2010, he was pro-
moted to paramedic super-
visor and held that position
until he retired in 2014. In
‘86, he became a volunteer
firefighter for SVFR. For
30 years, he was a battalion
chief for stations 5, 6 and 8.
During the past four years
for SVFR, he was in charge
of recruitment and reten-
tion. He served one term,
and during that time he has
served as vice president.
John, it’s been an honor.”
Finally, Green honored
former board member
Woody Woodbury, who re-
tired a few months ago and
was replaced by Alan Burns.
Burns will continue on as a
board member, having won
the seat in the May Special
Election. James Palisi, who
sits on SVFRs budget com-
mittee, will also become a
board member, as will Sam
Spayd.
Yecny then honored out-
going director Dick Childs,
who has “been with us for
two terms, eight years on
the board, one year as sec-
retary treasurer and the last
three years as vice pres-
ident. You’re the type of
person everybody listens
to when you speak. We
thank you for your service
through the community for
WLAD district board.”
Childs will be replaced by
John Murphey.
Afterwards, Schick gave
a progress update on the
third entity project, an or-
ganization that will employ
administrative personnel
from SVFR and WLAD
while also allowing both
boards to work more close-
ly together. Originally, the
two boards were supposed
to make a final decision
on the project earlier this
month, but it was delayed
so details could be further
discussed with legal coun-
sel.
“We discussed all the
planning we needed to do
to wrap up the third entity,”
Schick said. “We sent what
I hope is the final draft. I
would like to meet with the
intergovernmental agree-
ment committee, just to go
over the documents of the
employees, job descriptions
and policies that have been
modified.”
He added, “We should be
ready for the first meeting
at the July board meeting.
I think we’ve made fantas-
tic progress this past week,
and I see very few problems
existing now.”
Schick then praised
Training Officer Captain
Jeff Larson, who worked
with his crew on a unique
training opportunity for
the department.
“We were very fortunate
to have a house donated for
our use,” Schick said. “Ev-
ery once in a while, some-
body who wants to demol-
ish a house will donate it to
the fire department. … We
were able to spend a whole
day setting fires inside this
Let me Showcase your property.
Siuslaw Valley firefighters learned from eight different fires set in this donated
Burn to Learn house.
house. This was the first and put a lot of fire on it han said, “If you look back
time for a lot of our fire- because it puts it out. They at where we were, we’re full
fighters to actually see fire, had the opportunity to put speed ahead. And it’s a real-
to actually put water on a the fires out, and then over- ly good thing. We got a good
fire, and then make sure it’s haul the scene. In the end, new chief, and a lot of good
not in the walls. We were we got to watch it burn things working for us.”
actually able to set eight down. Again, it was fantas-
For more information on
different fires in this house, tic training.”
the first-response agencies,
which is very unusual. Typ-
As the meeting closed, visit svfr.org and westernla-
ically for a fire, they go in outgoing director Carna- neambulance.com.
A weekly roundup of shopping,
savings and doings around town.
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