Waukon Fire District Annual Report for 2010

Bernard Welsh, Treasurer of the Waukon Fire District, which includes the City of Waukon and all or parts of eight Allamakee County townships around Waukon, gave an annual financial report to the District Board Tuesday evening, January 7 during its monthly meeting. The District Board of Directors is comprised of four city representatives, Loren Beneke, Trent Mitchell, Joe Kroack and Joe Cunningham, and four township trustees, Jim Hager, Bernard Welsh, Greg Kerndt and Tony Baxter.
In his report, Welsh indicated that the District had revenues of $145,240.78, of which $116,585.00 came from the City of Waukon and the townships, which are the sponsoring agencies. The remaining $28,655.78 was received from other sources, such as grants, insurance payments, tax refunds and other miscellaneous funds.
Expenses over the same period were $139,259.29, leaving a net balance of $5,981.49 at the end of the year. Repairs, new equipment and insurance costs were among the highest expenses. Welsh reminded the Board that the report had not been audited but the annual audit would be completed soon.
Assistant Chief Bill Hennessy was successful in acquiring some significant grants for the department that were used to update equipment and acquire new firefighting gear. He also worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to acquire a forgivable loan that will pay about half of the cost for a new tanker truck that will be acquired in the fall of 2011. The federal requirement that all radios and pagers be narrow band by the end of 2012 remains a financial hurdle for the department. This equipment updating will require over $60,000 to bring all pagers and radios used by the department up to the new standard.
Assistant Chief Paul Mathis reported that the department covered 72 calls in 2010. Structure and car fires (29) were the most frequent calls, with grass fires (13) and chimney fires (4) rounding out the fire call categories. The department participated in seven rescues, seven false alarms, five carbon monoxide investigations, six natural gas investigations and one storm watch.
Mutual aid assistance was requested and supplied seven times to other area fire departments. The department responded three times with assistance to the Decorah department, two times to aid the Waterville department and once each for Postville and New Albin.
In addition to answering calls, the volunteer members of the fire department spent countless hours in training and maintaining equipment. Joe Cunningham, the district secretary, commented that he hopes that the community appreciates all that fire department volunteers do to keep citizens safe. He extended special appreciation to Fire Chief Dave Martin and Assistant Chiefs Bill Hennessy and Paul Mathis for all the extra work they put in on behalf of the department.

Just before adjourning the meeting, newly-elected Chairman Tony Baxter congratulated outgoing Chairman Jim Hager for over 20 years of faithful service to fire protection for the area. Hager served for several years on the Rural Fire Board before assuming the role as Chairman for the merged fire district. In accepting the recognition, Hager thanked the Board and all firefighters for their support over the past two decades.