South Central District Fireman’s Association

Fall Business Meeting

 

Sunday, October 8, 2006- 12:30pm

Falfurrias Elementary School

100 E. Allen, Falfurrias, TX

 

Hosted by: Falfurrias Volunteer Fire Department

 

Prepared by Danielle Gibson, Secretary/Treasurer 101706

 

Officers in attendance:

JJ Adame, President

Jeff Jordan, 1st Vice President

Mark Lubianski, 2nd Vice President

John Wilson, 3rd Vice President

Danny Cox, 4th Vice President

Danielle Gibson, Secretary/Treasurer

Carsten Meyer, Chaplain

Justin Martinez, Mascot

 

Delegates in attendance:

Annaville (1), Falfurrias (3), Fulton (3), Ingleside (2), Kingsville (1), Orange Grove (3), Rockport (3), Sinton (2), Southern Brooks County (3).

 

Member Departments in attendance (# represents delegates, firefighters, and guests):

Annaville (1, Falfurrias (15), Fulton (9), Ingleside (6), Kingsville (4), Orange Grove (6), Rockport (4), Sinton (2), Southern Brooks County (4).

 

I.                    Call to Order- JJ Adame, President.

Meeting called to order by Adame at 1217pm with statement of thank you to the District as outgoing President.

 

II.                 Invocation- Carsten Meyer, Chaplain.

 

III.               Pledge of Allegiance- Justin Martinez, Mascot.

 

IV.              Welcome and Response- Danny Cox, 4th Vice President.

Cox welcomed County Judge Elect Raul Ramirez, Brooks County, as the guest speaker.  Cox followed with thank you to Mr. Ramirez, as well as, Chief Gonzalo Benavidez and the Falfurrias Volunteer Fire Department for hosting the second convention in two years.

 

V.                 Roll Call- Danielle Hale, Secretary/Treasurer.

The above listed members were present during roll call.  The attendance award will go to Fulton VFD with 9 representatives present.  RJ Thomas made a motion to name the attendance trophy the Sam Greer Attendance Award in his memory.  Motion was seconded by Clemente Sanchez and motion carries unanimously.  Hale will make get the new trophy to reflect this change. 

 

VI.              Minutes and Financial Report- Danielle Hale, Secretary/Treasurer.

Hale briefly reviewed the provided copy of the spring business meeting minutes and current financial report.  Sanchez made a motion to accept the minutes and financial report.  The motion was seconded by Rockport and motion carried. 

 

VII.            Introductions and Guest Speaker- Danny Cox, 4th Vice President.

Cox welcomed Nevada Linford from the Coastal Bend-Texas Chapter of the American Red Cross.  Linford spoke briefly about single and multiple family disaster services provided by the chapter.  Additionally, she provided card bundles to each fire department to be distributed to families affected by disasters with their contact information.  The cards have been recently printed and provided by a donation from HEB.  Following Linford’s presentation, Cox welcomed Dr. Linda Cook who gave a presentation about stress affects and critical incidents.  Dr. Cook is the team leader for the Coastal Bend Critical Incident Stress Team.  You may activate the regional team at 361-880-0228 or email Linda.cook@tamucc.edu.

 

***Falfurrias Volunteer Fire Department presented multiple items for door prizes.***

 

VIII.         State Officers Report- JJ Adame, President

Shawn Snider, 2nd Vice President SFFMA, announced that there will be an upcoming board meeting on November 11.  If you have any issues to bring before the board, please contact him so that they can be addressed.  Additionally, there will be finance and budge meeting prior to the board meeting so that any issues can be brought before the board.  Also, there are several new benefits to being a member of the Association to be made aware of including the Home Loan Assistance Program, Cingular Wireless Discounts, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Program with VFIS, Monotronics Home Security and discounts to finance and build new fire stations.  The State Convention hotel is the Ambassador, please make your reservations early.  March 27 will be the memorial service in Austin in conjunction with the our legislative day. Brief discussion was held regarding the distribution of Info Fire.  There will be a push to return to the old distribution method, currently you can view online.

 

IX.              Committee Reports- Mark Lubianski, 2nd Vice President

a.       Constitution & By-Laws Committee- Cox stated that he was unable to attend the last State Committee Meeting and has nothing to report.  For the local committee, there will be a second reading for the constitution.

b.      Finance/Audit- Thomas reported that there will be more information after the finance committee meetings in November.  Meyer stated that there will be an audit report at the Spring Convention for Burial and District funds.

c.       Firefighter of the Year- Gillian Cox announced that the district is now accepting nomination for Firefight of the Year.  Please submit nominations between now and the Spring Convention.  Use PO BOX 61, Ingleside, TX 78362 to submit.

d.      Memorial- Meyer asked that names please be submitted as early as possible for members and past members from your department that has died this year.  There will be a memorial service in the Spring.

e.       Poster- Valerie Fuhrken was not present.  Hale has done a little research on ribbons.  For $350-400, the District can purchase personalized ribbons for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Participation to be given to all those that participate in the poster contest and possibly the pumper races.  There will be 100 each of the 1st-3rd and 300 participation ribbons for this price.  A motion was made by Rockport, seconded by Sanchez and passes to make the purchase of ribbons.

f.        TFLAG- Barry Fuhrken asked Hale to pass on information regarding state wide mutual aid.  Thomas had additional comments regarding the current proposed legislation being supported by the Emergency Management Association of Texas (EMAT) and the Texas Fire Chiefs Association (TFCA).  If there are any questions, please pass them on to Hale to give to Fuhrken or contact him directly.

g.       Certification- No report

 

X.                 Old Business- Jeff Jordan, 1st Vice President.

a.       Burial Association- Long time Secretary, Denis Linderman, has now retired.  Thomas has taken over the Burial Association for the next year and will hand over to Danny Cox.  Meyer, Cox, and Thomas performed an audit in Sinton and all looked well.  If there is a need to have a check written, please contact Cox or Thomas.  Thomas made a motion to have  Cox, Hale and Meyer added to the account to handle any needed banking issues.  The motion was seconded by Marty Martinez and passes.  Thomas will purchase a plaque to be presented to Linderman for his many years of service.

b.      Thomas made a motion to apply the donation made by Alice Fire Department from the Spring Convention towards their membership dues for 2006.  Motion was seconded by Rockport and passes.

c.       Hale stated that the website would be updated in the near future to reflect the information for the Burial Association and Department contact information.

XI.              New Business- John Wilson, 3rd Vice President

a.       Election of Officers- Thomas made a motion to elevate the current President to Past President, 1st Vice President to President, 2nd Vice President to 1st Vice President, 3rd Vice President to 2nd Vice President, 4th Vice President to 3rd Vice President, elect and new 4th Vice President and maintain the current Secretary/Treasurer, Chaplain and Mascot.  A second was made by Clemente Sanchez and motion carried.  Marty Martinez made a motion to nominate Clemente Sanchez for 4th Vice President.  Thomas seconded the motion and motion carried.  Rockport made motion to cease nomination.  A second made by Vicki Martin and motion carried.  Thomas completed the presentation of badges to the new officers in Barry Fuhrken’s absence, welcoming Sanchez to the executive board. 

b.      Constitution revision- Cox read the second reading of a proposed bylaw revision that would change the name of the association from South Central District Fireman’s Association of Texas to be South Central District Firefighters Association of Texas.  Sherman Miller made a motion to accept the second reading.  Second was made by Twyla Liscotti and motion carried. Snider made a recommendation to the officers to send a letter to the State Association to notify them of the name change.

XII.            Announcements-

a.       Falfurrias VFD annual Octoberfest Oct. 28.  All FDs are welcome to participate.

b.      Annaville VFD is be having another burn class soon, get with Lubianski if you are interested in this training.  Also, a reminder to get your training records in order.

 

XIII.         Next Meeting- Orange Grove VFD will be hosting April 21-22 for the Spring Convention.  Training will be on the 21st with meetings and pumper races on the 22nd.  If there is a department interested in hosting the fall 07 or spring 08 conference, please let any of the officers know.

 

XIV.         Adjourn- Adame made closing remarks as outgoing President reflecting on the last 18 years as a Chief in the Coastal Bend.  Adame leaves with a thank you to the District and Corpus Christi Fire Department for many good memories.  Motion to adjourn made by Martinez, seconded by Falfurrias and carried.