Southwestern NH District Fire Mutual Aid
Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday May 28, 2025
Directors Present:
President Ken March, Vice President Phil Tirrell, Directors Thomas Goddard, Real Bazin, Thomas Bates, Dan Eaton, Greg Seymour
The meeting was called to order at 1900 hours by President March
Administration Present:
Deputy Chief Lunderville
Guests:
No guests were in attendance
Meeting Minutes April 23, 2025:
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the April 23, 2025 meeting; Motion Passed via unanimous voice vote
Meeting Minutes May 14, 2025:
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the May 14, 2025 meeting; Motion Passed via unanimous voice vote
Treasurer’s Report:
No Treasurer’s Report presented due to this being an extra meeting
Coordinator’s Report
No Coordinator’s Report – Chief Sangermano not in attendance
Committee Reports:
By-Laws Committee – No Report
Regional Training Committee – No Report
Public Relations Committee – No Report
Old Business:
New Recorder – No update
CAD – Deputy Lunderville advised the weekly meetings remain in place with SCI and will continue throughout the data collection and build-out process; Work is progressing well by Lt. Yeatman and Retired Lt. Whipple with regard to data collection and data entry; SCI has completed the “background” build of the new CAD with the all current CAD information; Administration is beginning to work with our IT vendor to establish a single CAD training position; The “go-live” date for the new CAD remains in September with no issues meeting this deadline at this time
Dispatch Consoles – No update
IamResponding – No update
Dispatch Chairs – Deputy Lunderville advised the last chair vendor (Thomas Shelby & Company) was on site on May 28, 2025 for demonstration of multiple chair models, with the majority of full-time dispatchers and herself in attendance; The dispatchers overwhelmingly chose 2 specific chairs as the best options; Deputy Lunderville presented cost comparisons between purchasing the chairs outright and leasing the chairs, as well as explaining provisions included within the lease option; After discussion, a motion was made and seconded to approve the lease of 4 new chairs at a cost of $10,322 for 3 years; The Motion Passed via unanimous voice vote
FMA Utility 1 Truck Body – Deputy Lunderville advised Chief Sangermano had received communications from the Internal Revenue Service, indicating the need for a form (provided by the IRS) to be completed and returned for forwarding to Border Patrol; It is anticipated that one the document is received by Border Patrol, the body will be allowed to proceed through Customs and be delivered
System Communications Upgrade – Deputy Lunderville advised that Motorola engineers and other representatives will be with us next week and potentially the week after in order to visit all of our tower sites in order to finalize needs assessments
A significant amount of discussion also ensued regarding funding of the entire system upgrade project; The Board has a strong desire to assume responsibility for funding the entire project collectively, minus the funding amounts that have already been committed to the project; The Board discussed the potential impact upon customer assessments, various bonding and lease-purchase funding options, and other potential fund sources; Additional discussion will take place at the next Board meeting, which will include specific information requests for Peter Denutte and Don Bliss
New Business:
ATV Replacement – Deputy Lunderville provided notice to the Board regarding the near future need to replace the current ATV and snow mobile with a new ATV to include tracks for use in snow; Deputy Lunderville further indicated this project would require the purchase of a new trailer, as the current trailer would not accommodate a new ATV with tracks; The Board approved soliciting bids for this project for future consideration
Monadnock Area Fire Chief’s (MAFCA) Meeting – Director Seymour advised the Board he had attended to last MAFCA meeting on 5/15/2025, and provided an overview of issues and complaints he had received from the MAFCA group; Deputy Lunderville advised the Board that the vast majority of the issues presented to Director Seymour had been fielded by and discussed with herself and Chief Sangermano when they have attended the MAFCA meetings in the past; Director Goddard reiterated the sentiment from the last meeting that Chief Walker (Peterborough FD) and other MAFCA members be invited to attend a BOD meeting in order to discuss issues with the Board and Administration, with the other Board members agreeing this would be the appropriate next step; A significant amount of discussion ensued surrounding the need for, and means by which Administration and the Board communicates with our customers, and provides information to our customers, with the clear understanding that communications and the flow of information has to be consistent and at very regular intervals; Director Tirrell suggested the Board invite all of our customers to attend BOD meetings quarterly, whether in person or via Zoom in order for open conversation to take place and establish that level of information flow regarding our System operations and functions; Chief Tirrell also proposed the concept of fully re-establishing an organizational/Board level Public Relations Committee to directly assist in the communications and flow of information with and to our customers; Related to this topic, Director Goddard indicated that perhaps members of this Committee would not be required to be Board members, and we should begin the process of developing this Committee by speaking with those individuals who had displayed interest in being on the Board this past annual meeting, but had not been seated; Further discussion will take place at the next Board meeting
Beech Hill Site – Deputy Lunderville advised the Board that earlier today (5/28/2025) communications issues were discovered regarding the Beech Hill site; It has been confirmed the site’s UHF antenna has failed; The replacement of the antenna and associated cabling will be scheduled very soon
Personnel:
Deputy Lunderville confirmed with the Board that Oliver Fox is now employed by the System as our new radio technician
Non-Public Session:
The Board of Directors, via roll-call confirmation of approval by each individual Board member, entered into Non-Public Session at 2055 hours, inviting Deputy Chief Lunderville to attend
At 2140 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
Correspondence: None
Open Discussion:
System Check Signing Authorization – A motion was made and seconded to amend previous decisions regarding the Board members who would be authorized to sign checks for the System – authorizing the Board Vice President instead of the Board Treasurer; The motion passed by unanimous voice vote
Motion made and seconded to adjourn; Motion passed
Meeting adjourned at 2142 hours
Respectfully submitted
Director Thomas Goddard