MENDON FIRE DISTRICT

Board of Commissioner

District Meeting Minutes (Approved)

June 12th, 2025

ROLL CALL (meeting called to order 19:00 hrs. on 06/12/2025 by R. Wilsey)

PRESENT	NAME	CAPACITY	NOTES
YES	Baumer, Heidi	Treasurer
NO	Considine, Dan	Commissioner	Out due to medical
YES	Fletcher, William	General Counsel
YES	Friedlander, David	MFD Deputy Chief
YES	Joint, Richard	Commissioner
YES	Sellman, Tom	Secretary
YES	Shipe, John	Commissioner
YES	Shuler, Steve	Commissioner
YES	Tschiderer, Steve	MFD, Chief
YES	Wilsey, Ryan	Commissioner (Chairman)

OTHER ATTENDEES NOTED

NAME	CAPACITY	NOTES
Mike Arman	MFD President	Representing MFD Board of Directors

PUBLIC COMMENT
None.

CALENDAR / MEETING ROOM REQUEST REVIEW
The following meeting room requests (for year 2025) were submitted for approval. Secretary Sellman
indicated calendar is free for them. J. Shipe moved to approved the requests. Seconded by S. Shuler
and passed by unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0.

September 11th	Mendon Square HOA annual meeting (6:30 – 9:00 pm) T. Lyons sponsor.
October 8th	NY Forest Owners Assoc annual meeting (4:30 – 8:30 pm). M. Arman sponsor.

SECRETARY ITEMS
Past Meeting Minutes: S. Shuler motioned to approve the meeting minutes for both the May 8
th 2025 District meeting and the June 9th Special District meeting. This was seconded by J. Shipe and
passed with unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0.

Budget Workshop Scheduling: Sellman and Baumer reminded everyone that a budget workshop
remained to be scheduled. After discussion, the consensus was to hold it Sept. 4th at 6 PM.
Secretary to get public notice established and put it on the calendar.

NYS Real Property Tax Exemption : As deferred from the May District meeting, Counsel Fletcher and
Secretary Sellman reviewed and recommend adoption/continuance of the NYS 10% Real Property
Tax Exemption (466-A, and as formally adopted by the Town of Mendon in Oct. 2024). R. Wilsey
motioned that the District formally adopt and be in compliance. S. Shuler seconded the motion
which then passed by unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0.

AFDSNY Annual Meeting: Sellman reminded the Board of the AFDSNY annual meting to be held in
Saratoga Springs October 2nd through the 4th.

District Correspondence: Email received from Department member G. Francesco notifying the Board
of the outcome of his judicial proceeding – which then resolved the suspension and whereby was
reinstated at the June 9th Board Meeting.

MENDON FIRE DEPT BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT (President Arman)

Carnival Review: Arman briefly reviewed the carnival and fundraising results. Numbers are
currently in flux (awaiting some vendor invoices, etc.). Overall it was good, but due to the weather,
turnout was impacted.

Power-washer for Station: President Arman reviewed that the Department retained the tabled-
status of the proposed power-washer until more definitive carnival results are known. He asked if the Board had received maintenance contract pricing (approx. $300/yr.). R. Wilsey motioned that the
District allow installation by the Department and also that the District will maintain maintenance on
the power-washer should the Department move forward with acquisition. The motion was seconded
by S. Shuler. The issue was tabled for now as there was a split decision and no tie-breaker: two
affirmative votes (Shuler, Wilsey), and two opposition votes (Shipe, Joint).

Update to the Members Building: President Arman reviewed a recent change to aspects of the
proposed update to the Department’s Members Building. Recent changes to consider a pole-barn,
clean-slate approach were discussed. Commissioner Ship noted that if storage of the antique engines
was to be considered, and if the new structure would be used as a ‘place of assembly’,
considerations must be made with respect to building codes & safety regulations, use of fire
suppression sprinkler systems, etc.

CHIEF’S REPORT
See Appendix A for content presented in Chief Tschiderer’s report.

There was a brief discussion regarding the analytic times with the Chief acknowledging the item of
most interest/importance is the Enroute (e.g. response) values. This was in recognition and
understanding of the multiple variables outside of our control with respect to On-Scene times.

Purchase Orders

25-12	quantity 15 – Radio Strap Kits : Capital City Industry @ $150 – Total $ 2250.00
25-10	Viking, et.al. turnout gear for Monica Javidnia @ contract pricing (estimated $~ 2500)
25-11	Morning Pride, et.al. turnout gear for Buchanan & Martin @ State-bid pricing

S. Shuler motioned to accept the purchase orders – seconded by J. Shipe and passed by unanimous
consent by those present: 4-0-0.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Voucher & Reconciliation Review

Treasurer Baumer supplied reconciliation statements for May with the usual voucher listing, billing
from credit cards & autopay.

See Appendix B for content.

S. Shuler motioned to accept the treasurer’s report and pay the bills – seconded by J. Shipe and
passed by unanimous consent by those present: 4-0-0.

OPERATIONAL COMMITTEE REPORTS

Capital Projects / Special Projects (S. Shuler)

NYS VFIRE Grant Project Status

S. Shuler led a discussion regarding investigatory outcomes from having met with a few vendors –
(with a decision based on NYS input of acceptance) that the District should with a design-build
approach vs. a design-bid approach. Shuler presented an initial RFP (see Appendix C) find a
design/build firm with open book accounting allowing direct payment while meeting the
requirements for minority/women/veteran owned businesses. Steve outlined a straw-man
schedule with presumed Board approval at the July meeting, submission to vendors with an
approximate 6-week review time with selection and award in the September time-frame.

Apparatus

Vehicle/Equip	Issues/Problems/Plans
364	No issue
365	Damaged fender
367	No issue
3617	No issue
3618	No issue
Haul Trailer	No issue
3c16	No issue
3c26	Repair scheduled for Monday of gas tank fill-tube.

367 Squad Truck Replacement: Due to the simultaneous / overlapping ‘Supplier Restriction’ that
took effect at bid/purchase approval, two additional packages totaling $3290 needed to be ordered
for the new 367. Commissioner Joint motioned for the Board to approve this additional expenditure.
This was seconded by J. Shipe and passed by unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0.

Buildings and Grounds (J. Shipe)

After brief discussion prompted by J. Shipe, the Board’s consensus was to let the lilacs surrounding
the station to grow and trim them up from underneath.

Personnel & Leadership

District Administrator’s Report
S. Shuler motioned that the District Administrator’s report be approved. This was seconded by R. Wilsey and passed by unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0

There was a discussion led by Secretary Sellman with respect to the recording mechanism for call
response as it relates to the District’s incentive program. Commissioner Wilsey proposed a
mechanism (with the assumption that Alpine Software could/can provide their ‘seat-ID monitoring’
solution) that folks populating trucks would be automatically accounted for, and then those that are
eliminated from the responding apparatus – but make the time-out parameter can simply use the
kiosk to enter their response.

Recruiting / Retention
President Arman indicated the current pipeline is empty.

Information/Technology (R. Wilsey)
Looking at options for upgrades to the iPads (currently 5-yrs old and aged out). District would need a
quantity of seven and given cost, probably need to be deferred until next year’s budget. Ryan to
keep ongoing investigation – sometimes model-year changes come with significant pricing savings.
Ryan indicated the copier usage has resumed a more expected usage count.

Ryan started a discussion with respect to the effort of upgrading the audio / speaker package in the
community room. He summarized that the hardware cost for the majority of the system seemed ok,
but the labor and installation cost/effort was excessive. He made an observation that perhaps an
approach for speakers was to get two hard-mounted ceiling and two nice portables for the back.
Ryan to get better numbers on a sufficient projector, etc. and have that for the next meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

None.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT
At approximately 19:45, R. Wilsey made a motion to adjourn the meeting which was seconded by S.
Shuler, passing by unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted by
Tom Sellman,
District Secretary
Mendon Fire District

MENDON FIRE DISTRICT

Board of Commissioner

District Meeting Minutes (Approved)

May 8th, 2025

ROLL CALL (meeting called to order 19:00 hrs. on 05/08/2025 by R. Wilsey)

PRESENT	NAME	CAPACITY	NOTES
YES	Baumer, Heidi	Treasurer
NO	Considine, Dan	Commissioner
YES	Fletcher, William	General Counsel
YES	Friedlander, David	MFD 1st Assistant Chief
YES	Joint, Richard	Commissioner
YES	Sellman, Tom	Secretary
YES	Shipe, John	Commissioner
NO	Shuler, Steve	Commissioner	Out of Town
YES	Tschiderer, Steve	MFD, Chief
YES	Wilsey, Ryan	Commissioner (Chairman)

OTHER ATTENDEES NOTED

NAME	CAPACITY	NOTES
Mike Arman	MFD President	Representing MFD Board of Directors
Dale Sweet	MFD District Administrator

PUBLIC COMMENT
None.

CALENDAR / MEETING ROOM REQUEST REVIEW
The following meeting room requests (for year 2025) were submitted for approval. Secretary Sellman indicated calendar is free for them. The consensus of the Board was to accept the requests outlined.

May 6th & 13th	Scout Pack 105 Den Meeting ( 6 -7 pm )
June 14th	Mendon resident Rebecca Webster (via Connor Dixon-Schwabl ) parking lot use for Valet Service (3 to 11 pm). Secretary Sellman will communicate the areas of the parking lots that are either off-limits or places to avoid concentrations of traffic.

SECRETARY ITEMS
Past Meeting Minutes: R. Wilsey motioned to approve the April 10th 2025 District meeting minutes with a second by J. Shipe. The motion passed with unanimous consent of those present: 3-0-0.

Penflex LOSAP Annual Report: Sellman reported receipt of the 2024 Annual Report from Penflex that contained the invoice for the expected $ 37,007.74 funding allocation by June 7th. A voucher was generated and to be included in the Treasurer’s report later in the meeting. Copy of the report given to Treasurer Baumer for audit purposes.

Driver Incident Report: Sellman acknowledged receipt of minor incident with 367 and skunk collision – no damage.

NYS Real Property Tax Exemption: Sellman reviewed reminder from Assoc. of Fire Districts of NYS that adoption of the more comprehensive Real Property Tax Exemption (466-A) be formally completed by Dec 9th, 2025. He reviewed that the Town of Mendon adopted their amendment to incorporate all changes to bring them into full conformance in Oct. 2024 ( Local Law 4 of 2024, Chapter 230 Taxation Article XII). Sellman to get Counsel Fletcher details to review such that the Fire District is in the position to formally recognize & accept the NYS Exemption ruling at the next District Meeting.

MENDON FIRE DEPT BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT (President Arman)

Board of Education Presentation: Arman reviewed the outcome from the very brief time (two 3 min. Public Comment slots) allotted for Department members (Arman, Knapp, DeRuyscher) to present our case for the School Board to re-consider the 10% firefighter tax exemption. The School Board indicated they would get back to the Department in the July timeframe. There was generalized discussion regarding further planning and strategy development to bring this issue into a more public issue. Quantification of support from surrounding Departments was also discussed.

CHIEF’S REPORT
See Appendix A [pg1 & 2] for content presented in Chief Tschiderer’s report.

There was a brief discussion regarding the analytic times with the Chief acknowledging the item of most interest/importance is the Enroute (e.g. response) values. This was in recognition and understanding of the multiple variables outside of our control with respect to On-Scene times.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Voucher & Reconciliation Review

Treasurer Baumer supplied reconciliation statements for April with the usual voucher listing, billing from credit cards & autopay. There were two items that Treasurer Baumer pointed out : (A) check outstanding written to Noticestry ( Wilsey assumed lost and requested a new check to be generated), and (b) outstanding check to member Nancy Rovik ( associated with a training class reimbursement ). President Arman to reach out to Rovik.

See Appendix B for content.

Treasurer Baumer requested clarification on the payment mechanism arrangement and categorization for monies given to Tom May (recent training officer brought on as a W2 employee). As of the meeting, a check was being generated as a generalized payment. At the end of discussion, Commissioner Wilsey indicated that Commissioner Considine needs to correct the ADP payment configuration for this. This led to a brief discussion with Commissioner Wilsey to needing some employment agreement with Tom May with a job description and that he should be subject (from an HR standpoint) to sexual harassment training, have a handbook, etc.

R. Wilsey motioned to approve the Treasurer’s report. This was seconded by R. Joint and passed unanimously by those present: 3-0-0.

OPERATIONAL COMMITTEE REPORTS

Capital Projects / Special Projects (R. Wilsey in S. Shuler’s absence)

NYS VFIRE Grant Project Status

Wilsey noted that S. Shuler is engaging with several companies to get understanding of the required bidding and RFP process. D. Sweet indicated he submitted the quarterly report to NYS. Wilsey also reviewed conversations with NYS to discuss the District’s approach — receiving positive feedback : find a design/build firm with open book accounting allowing direct payment while meeting the requirements for minority/women/veteran owned businesses.

Apparatus

Vehicle/Equip	Issues/Problems/Plans
364	No issue
365	No issue
367	No issue
3617	No issue
3618	No issue
Haul Trailer	No issue
3c16	No issue
3c26	No issue

367 Squad Truck Replacement: Secretary Sellman reported that there has not been any response/inquiry/objection to the District with respect to the Permissive Referendum notice posted April 10th, 2025 to the web-site and Honeoye Falls Sentinel newspaper.

Administrator Sweet led a discussion updating the Board on the responses received through the mini-bid process. Of the five bids returned the low and high bids did not meet the published specifications. The middle price bid of $ 53,786.93 from Barnard Chevrolet (Churchville, NY) was the only one that met the specifications for the Chevrolet 3500 pickup truck Silverado package. Upon analysis and recommendation from full research, J. Shipe moved that the District purchase the truck at the bid price from Barnard. This was seconded by R. Joint and passed by unanimous consent by those present: 3-0-0.

D. Sweet then reviewed the Iconic Elements Inc. truck bed compartment pack for the above pickup. Dale indicated that this is an item that is sole source with Iconic as the only builder. The pricing of the truck pack is $ 17,426. R. Wilsey motioned that the District purchase the truck pack as specified. This was seconded by R. Joint and passed by unanimous consent by those present: 3-0-0. Dale also noted that he will investigate if the 50% down purchasing requirement has any flexibility based since it’s being purchased by a fire agency.

Dale will be researching vendor sources (NYS contract) for the light packages required for the above new truck.

Purchase Orders

• 25-09A: 3500SilveradoPickupTruck (approved above)
• 25-09B: Iconic Truck Pack (approved above)
• 25-08: 15 traffic stop/slow paddles for Fire Police & Trucks – ( $ 653.25 total ) from Traffic Safety Store. R. Wilsey motioned to accept the purchase order – seconded by J. Shipe and passed by unanimous consent by those present: 3-0-0.

Buildings and Grounds (D. Sweet in S. Shuler’s absence)

Dale briefly discussed two items requiring repair : the boiler and the dishwasher in the station kitchen. R. Wilsey made a motion to accept the District Administrators report (See Appendix C for content). J. Shipe seconded the motion which passed by unanimous consent by those present: 3-0-0.

Personnel & Leadership

Recruiting/Retention : C. Knapp gave a quick overview of the new members that had joined since the last commissioner’s meeting. He also noted that a significant percentage of new (plus an existing member) will be pursuing EMT certification.

There was a lengthy discussion led by Secretary Sellman with respect to the current status of the member incentive program (Training and Effort Metrics). Based on observations from the report within RedAlert that Assist Chief Kester and Sellman were extracting the metric data, there were several clarifications and improvement opportunities that will need to be taken off-line and polished. There were questions raised with respect to possible payment schemes – however it was clarified that most, if not all metrics have time-dependent evaluation period that requires the full calendar year to complete before any payment possibilities exist. It was also clarified that when Fire Police respond in their POV, it is considered an MFD apparatus. Making the internal-approved metrics for evaluation more transparent to the membership was observed to be a needed goal.

Information/Technology (R. Wilsey)
Laptop on order for Chief May (training use).
Looking at options for upgrades to the iPads (currently 5-yrs old and aged out).

D.A. Sweet working with Toshiba on some maintenance/repair issues. This led into a discussion regarding observations by Dale that the invoicing from Toshiba showed usage to be 5K over the quarterly allotment for color printing. This continues a trend that the need to purchase of paper has been significantly growing. There also seems to be a lot of wasted copies in the trash. It was agreed a need to track and re-examine next month.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

President Arman and C. Knapp presented the department’s recent vote to approve a power-washer system, dependent on the District’s approval to pay for the maintenance contract and allow it’s installation in the truck bay.

There were no details available for consideration with respect to cost of a maintenance contract. It was also pointed out that the Department’s BOD needs to issue their approval for the expenditure as well. As such, the issue was tabled.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT
At approximately 19:58, R. Wilsey made a motion to adjourn the meeting which was seconded by R. Joint, passing by unanimous consent of those present: 3-0-0.hose present: 4-0-0.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted by
Tom Sellman,
District Secretary
Mendon Fire District

MENDON FIRE DISTRICT

Board of Commissioner

Special District Meeting Minutes (Approved)

June 9th, 2025

ROLL CALL ( meeting called to order 17:08 hrs. on 06/09/2025 by R. Wilsey)

PRESENT	NAME	CAPACITY	NOTES
NO	Baumer, Heidi	Treasurer
YES	Considine, Dan	Commissioner
YES	Fletcher, William	General Counsel
NO	Friedlander, David	MFD 1st Assistant Chief
YES	Joint, Richard	Commissioner
YES	Sellman, Tom	Secretary
NO	Shipe, John	Commissioner
YES	Shuler, Steve	Commissioner
NO	Tschiderer, Steve	MFD, Chief
YES	Wilsey, Ryan	Commissioner (Chairman)

OTHER ATTENDEES NOTED

NAME	CAPACITY	NOTES
Mike Arman	MFD President	Representing MFD Board of Directors
Greg Francesco	MFD Member

PUBLIC COMMENT
None.

Meeting Purpose
Commissioner Shuler reviewed the purpose of the meeting: to review and reconsider the context of
the suspension ruling ( District meeting July 11, 2024 ) of member Francesco.

Resolution
Based on the positive outcome and conclusion of a pending judicial matter, S. Shuler motioned that
the suspension of G. Francesco be lifted and that he be reinstated as a full member in good standing.
It was also stipulated that he be credited for the time he was out on suspension. This motion was
seconded by Commissioner Joint and approved by unanimous vote of those present: 4-0-0.
It was noted that his status with respect to his rank of Captain (current as of the suspension) will be
decided by either the Chief, or by the Department at the next monthly Department meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT
G. Francesco took a moment to express his thanks for those individuals who reached out in support
of him during the time of suspension.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT
At approximately 17:14, R. Wilsey made a motion to adjourn the meeting which was seconded by S.
Shuler, passing by unanimous consent of those present: 4-0-0.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted by
Tom Sellman,
District Secretary
Mendon Fire District