Southwestern NH District Fire Mutual Aid
Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday July 23, 2025
Directors Present: President Ken March, Vice President Phil Tirrell, Directors Thomas Goddard, Harry Nelson, Harry Boynton, Dan Eaton, Greg Seymour, Real Bazin, John Manning
The meeting was called to order at 1900 hours by President March
Administration Present: Chief Joe Sangermano, Deputy Chief Kassie Lunderville
Guests: None
Meeting Minutes July 9, 2025: No meeting minutes were presented for review and consideration
Treasurer’s Report: No Treasurer’s Report presented
Coordinator’s Activity Report: No Chief Coordinator’s Activity Report presented
Committee Reports:
By-Laws Committee – No Report
Regional Training Committee – No Report
Public Relations Committee – No Report
Old Business:
New Recorder – Deputy Lunderville advised the new recorder requires a few simple final touches and racking in order to be completed; Everything is working properly to this point; The final touches will be completed as soon as work can be scheduled
CAD – Deputy Lunderville advised all run card information has been presented to the vendor and they are setting up our system for initial release for training purposes; Due to the complexity of our system, it is anticipated that a significant number of issues will be identified during training that will need to be addressed; Our “go-live” date remains 9/9/25, with dispatcher training scheduled for 9/3 and 9/4/2025; Fees for MDT’s and third party reporting vendor integration were discussed – MDT’s fees will be $335.00 annually per device; The initial integration for the various third party reporting vendors will be $15,000.00 each, which will be divided equally between the departments utilizing each respective vendor application; The annual maintenance fees for these vendors will be $2500.00 annually for each department; All fees will be invoiced to each department by FMA; Chief Sangermano advised the Board that he will be entering into a short-term contract agreement with Symposium, as our current CAD vendor, in order to maintain the current CAD in service until the new CAD has been fully vetted and is proven to the appropriate to go on line fully
Dispatch Consoles – Chief Sangermano advised the new consoles have been ordered, and just awaiting the build out and delivery
IamResponding – Deputy Lunderville advised she is working with the subscription department regarding adding and deleting agencies, and on-site education for our dispatchers remains forthcoming
FMA Utility 1 Truck Body – Chief Sangermano advised the body has been un-crated and inspected, with installation on the truck schedule for this Friday
Ladder Bay Roof Replacement – Chief Sangermano provided the Board with the quote for the rood replacement project, at $79,400.00; Director Eaton questioned the vendor who had submitted this quote (Melanson Roofing), and questioned why other bids had not been solicited; Chief Sangermano advised the roofing product being used is a proprietary product, with Melanson being the sole contractor; A motion was made by VP Tirrell and seconded by Director Bazin to move forward with the roof repairs as quoted, upon conformation by Chief Sangermano the current budget balance will accommodate the cost; The motion passed via unanimous voice vote
Beech Hill & Cat Den Sites – Chief Sangermano advised antenna and antenna cable replacements had occurred at both sites; Radio and communications issues at Hyland Hill continue to be problematic, and work is still on-going at Hyland
Hyland Hill Microwave – Chief Sangermano advised Oliver had received a quote from Two-Way Communications in the amount of $42,000.00 for all the necessary microwave equipment, with installation planned to be performed by FMA Shop staff; An additional quote is to be received from CyberComm, as well as from a third vendor; Once all quotes have been received and reviewed, the final purchase determination will be made; The purchase will be paid for from the System Upgrade funds, and not from the System’s operational budget; Oliver is actively researching options for purchasing switches to be installed along with the microwave in order to accept T1 and Ethernet connections; A motion was made by Director Eaton and seconded by Director Boynton to purchase the new microwave system after review of all quotes by Oliver, Chief Sangermano, and Deputy Lunderville; The motion passed unanimously via voice vote
Audit – Chief Sangermano advised contact with auditors (Batchelder Associates) remain ongoing; A contract is anticipated to be signed with the firm by the end of this week; Deputy Lunderville advised the new accounting software (Quick Books) has been installed and is in use
Banking Modifications – Chief Sangermano advised he has had meeting with bank representatives and will be establishing a Sweep Account, which will allow for significant interest yields to the System, which will then be used for investment purposes; Additional modifications are being explored regarding check processing and our accounts overall
Communications System Upgrade – Contracts for consulting and oversight services are being developed and will be completed soon for issuance of RFP’s for services
UTV Replacement – Deputy Lunderville provided quotes for the replacement of our current UTV and snow mobile, with a new UTV with a track system option included; The quotes had been received from Troy Powersports for Polaris and Can-Am machines, and from Full Throttle Power Sports for a Kawasaki machine; The Board wholly decided to postpone any purchase until our financial audit is complete, thereby providing an accurate financial record
Grievances – No updates or action
MAFCA Organization Concerns – No update
Customer Communications – No update
MRI System Operational Report – The Board engaged in significant discussion regarding the MRI Report, with specific consideration of the recommendations for improvement provided within the report; The Board collectively prioritized 5 recommendations as those being most beneficial to address immediately
–Development of staff roles and responsibilities and the creation of complete and legitimate job descriptions for all employees and develop and updated organizational chart
– Establish clear channels for staff communications
– Establish a formal complaint handling and performance management process
– Re-structuring of the Leadership Team
– Finalize the ongoing audit contract and completion of the audit;
The Board requested System Administration to present draft job descriptions for review at the next Board meeting; Through this discussion, the Board collectively decided and instructed Administration to postpone promotions and new hires until the prioritized recommendations pertaining to staffing and staff have been completed; The Board discussed with Administration references made within the Report to a poor relationship between Administration and the Board, with both Board micromanagement and lack of Board direction being specifically named; After discussion, the Board and the System Chief Officers simply agreed to make certain lines of communication between us remain open, clear, and concise at all times, which will ultimately not allow for confusion or misunderstandings, and aid in maintaining a solid working and governing relationship
New Business:
Director Bazin questioned an issue he and other departments noted today with Hyland Hill SimulCast, and the inability to hear radio transmissions; Chief Sangermano advised the issues will be investigated immediately
Board of Directors Fiscal Committee – President March announced his appointment of a three-person (Board member) Fiscal Committee, responsible for working with Administration relative to the System’s operation budget, accounting practices, audits, and fiscal responsibilities; The Board members appointed were: Director Manning, Director Bazin, and Director Wilson
Personnel / Staff:
Non-Public Session:
A motion was made by Vice President Tirrell and seconded by Director Boynton to enter into Non-Public Session, under RSA 91 – A:3, II (a) The Board of Directors, via roll-call confirmation of approval by each individual Board member present, entered into Non-Public Session at 2104 hours, inviting Chief Sangermano and Deputy Chief Lunderville to attend
At 2152 hours, the Board of Directors exited Non-Public Session, and returned to open session, via roll-call confirmation of approval by each individual Board member present; A motion was made by Director Eaton and seconded by Director Manning to seal the minutes of the Non-Public Session; Motion passed by unanimous voice vote
Correspondence: None
Open Discussion: None
Next Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday August 13, 2025 @ 1900 hours, to be held at FMA Headquarters
Motion made by Vice President Tirrell and seconded Director Bazin to adjourn; Motion passed
Meeting adjourned at 2120 hours
Respectfully submitted
Director Thomas Goddard