The Keizer Fire District Board of Directors held their monthly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 19 to discuss the addition of two new members of the budget committee, as well as other business.
There were three applicants for the two open spots: Ali Rasouli, Patti Tischer and Elliot Groeneveld.
All three live in Keizer and all stated how much they wanted to give back to the community during the meeting.
Each applicant was asked a series of questions over the course of the hour-long meeting: knowledge of Keizer Fire District, their past budget experience, what kind of time commitment they could give, the best asset they bring to the position and if there were any personnel conflicts that could effect the decision.
After each applicant answered the questions, the decision was left to a vote by the five board members.
The decision to put Tischer on the board was unanimous. Groeneveld ended up nabbing the second spot with a 3-2 vote.
Tischer and Groeneveld will serve on the committee for a three-year period that will end in January of 2022.
The first budget meeting is scheduled to take place on May 15 at 5:30 p.m.
Even though Rasouli was not selected for one of the open positions, KFD board director Joe Van Meter suggested that he serve on the Citizens Advisory Committee for the upcoming strategic planning session.
In other news:
Director Betty Hart shared that the district received $112,000 in ambulance payments during the month of January.
Ego, along with fellow director Chet Patterson, are in the process of creating a report for the IT Committee— which will be discussed more in depth at the next board meeting. The report will include details about the KFD website, social media presence, pre-meeting posts and budgetary costs.
In January, Fire Chief Jeff Cowan requested that the board consider an official change in name designation — from Keizer Rural Fire Protection District to Keizer Fire District. Even though the initial consensus was to keep the current name, director Joe Van Meter suggested that the discussion should be re-opened at the next meeting.
March will mark the end of the evaluation period for Chief Cowan — which will be discussed at the April meeting.