Southwestern NH District Fire Mutual Aid
Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday August 27, 2025
Directors Present: President Ken March, Vice President Phil Tirrell, Directors Thomas Goddard, Harry Nelson, John Manning, Dan Eaton, Greg Seymour, Real Bazin, Jay Wilson
The meeting was called to order at 1858 hours by President March
Administration Present: Chief Joe Sangermano, Deputy Chief Kassie Lunderville
Guests: Dispatcher Wren Doyle, Administrative Assistant Kathryn Putney
Meeting Minutes August 13, 2025 Meeting: No meeting minutes were available
Treasurer’s Report:
Chief Sangermano presented the Board with financial documents, including modifications as had been requested by Director Manning; Upon review of the documents, Director Manning raised concerns and reiterated his requests for specific information and figures to be included in the monthly report documents with Kathryn Putney, as our Administrative Assistant; With this review completed, Katheryn advised the Board she would begin to include the information as requested moving forward
Motion made by Vice President Tirrell to accept the financial report as presented; Prior to a second to the motion, Director Goddard questioned our practice of accepting incomplete financial documents, as opposed to tabling the subject; The motion was withdrawn; Motion made by Director Eaton and seconded by Vice President Tirrell to table the presented financial documents until they are all documents are updated and accurate; Motion passed via unanimous voice vote
With regard to System finances and banking, upon questioning by Director Manning, Chief Sangermano advised he continues to work with M&T Bank to establish a sweep account, which should be completed soon; Also advised a check reader is planned for installation in order to allow for more rapid depositing of checks
Coordinator’s Activity Report: No 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 Board testing of the new recorder continues and we are awaiting final completion
CAD – Deputy Lunderville advised work is progressing, with data entry work on-going, the test site has been established and is functional, and training sessions for all dispatchers have been established as previously documented; Meetings have been held with Keene FD and Jaffrey FD regarding the integration and use of MDT’s; The go-live date remains September 9 th
Dispatch Consoles – Chief Sangermano advised the Board that the last working meeting with Motorola has been held, and the first equipment shipments should arrive the middle part of September
IamResponding – No update
Ladder Bay Roof Replacement – No update
Communications System Upgrade – Deputy Lunderville initiated discussion regarding the contracts for independent contractors/consultants and advised preparation of these contracts is progressing; Director Goddard raised concerns regarding Peter Denutte, as one of the proposed consultants, potentially serving as a technical consultant, as he continues to speak on behalf of, and for the system, after the Board had previously clearly indicated neither he, nor any other individuals or contractors are to be doing so; After subsequent discussion, Chief Sangermano was requested to contact Peter Denutte in order to advise him he is not to act in any manner on behalf of our System, until such time as an official contract with him has been signed and executed; Motion made by Vice President Tirrell and seconded by Director Eaton to move forward with contract development with Don Bliss and Peter Denutte, with Don Bliss to act as our designated Project Manager and Grants Administrator, and Peter Denutte to act as a Technical Advisor, with the contract clearly delineating specific respective responsibilities, and lines of accountability, and including 60-day escape clauses for all parties; The motion carried via voice vote, with Director Goddard voting in the negative
Grievances – No updates or action
MAFCA Organization Concerns – Director Goddard questioned the status of MAFCA, with regard to Board members having been previously invited to attend a MAFCA meeting, in lieu of MAFCA members attending a Board of Directors meeting, and if any Board members had attended to date; Director Seymour advised he has been attending the MAFCA meeting, and had extended a second invitation to attend a Board of Directors meeting; No further discussion
Hyland and Gilsum Microwave Systems – The new microwave for Hyland is at Headquarters, and Oliver is in the process of racking and testing the system; The system will be deployed and installed at the earliest possible time
ATV Replacement – No update or action
Tower Site Ownership & Agreements – No update
New Business:
Tower Site Outages – Deputy Lunderville advised the Board that several site outages had taken place on August 26, 2025, including Pitcher, Stratton, and Cat-Den; At Pitcher, it was discovered that state technicians had disconnected our equipment, and not reconnected everything – All equipment has been re-connected, tested, and is functioning normally; Stratton went down due to scheduled utility company outage, which we had not been made aware of; Stratton came back on-line with no issues upon restoration of utility power; Issues at Cat-Den are being investigated and will be repaired as necessary
Hyland Microwave Failure – Chief Sangermano advised the Board of a microwave outage at Hyland Hill last Thursday evening; The appropriate staff were called in to mitigate the issue, with repairs made and the microwave back on-line within 1 hour
Non-Public Session: A motion was made by Director Eaton and seconded by Vice President Tirrell to enter into Non-Public Session, under RSA 91 – A:3, 11(c) The Board of Directors, via roll-call confirmation of approval by each individual Board member present, entered into Non-Public Session at 2042 hours, inviting Chief Sangermano and Deputy Chief Lunderville to attend
At 2110 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 Vice President Tirrell and seconded by Director Eaton to seal the minutes of the Non-Public Session; Motion passed by unanimous voice vote
Personnel / Staff: None
Correspondence: None
Open Discussion:
Next Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday September 10, 2025 @ 1900 hours, to be held at FMA Headquarters. The Board of Directors opted to modify the normal meeting cycle, and as tonight’s meeting had been scheduled as a work session meeting, which did not occur, dedicate the meeting of September 10, 2025 to a work session with Chief Sangermano and Deputy Lunderville
Motion made by Vice President Tirrell and seconded Director Bazin to adjourn; Motion passed unanimously vis voice vote
Meeting adjourned at 2115 hours
Respectfully submitted
Director Thomas Goddard
