Board of fire commissioners to order, please.

And I only think that it is fitting to have Chief Catring in the House.

Do the salute to the flag, please.

Thank you.

Under God.

Indivisible with liberty engines.

Thank you.

We'll now move to roll call, please.

Chair Andreola.

Present.

Vice Chair Garcia.

Here.

Commissioner Hill.

Here.

Commissioner Clark is absent.

Commissioner Herman is by phone.

Are you there, Commissioner Herman?

Here, yes.

Thank you.

Fire Chief Edwards.

Here.

Deputy District Attorney Jen Gustafson.

Present.

And I am Yvonne Strickland, Deputy Clerk.

Madam Chair, you have a quorum.

Thank you so much.

We'll move now to public comment.

Chief Edwards.

All right.

Item three is public comment.

Comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the board of fire commissioners' agenda.

However, action may not be taken on any matter raised during this public comment period until the matter is specifically listed on an agenda as an action item.

The board will also hear public comment during individual action items with comment limited to three minutes per person.

Comments are to be made to the board of fire commissioners as a whole.

Monty Turner.

Monty Turner from Sun Valley.

I just wanted to uh make a couple comments, but today is not the right place.

So I'm gonna do it next week.

I'd rather you guys work with the firefighters instead of me because my stuff is a mood point.

Ditches from fighting fires and everything else.

That's what we're going up against.

You said something last night that really upset a lot of people, a lot of people.

You're either against you or for you.

We're all against you.

Have a great day.

There's nobody else signed in.

All right, we're gonna go ahead and close public comment.

We'll move now to item four, Commissioner and Fire Chiefs announcements.

Chief Edwards.

All right, number four is Commissioners Fire Chiefs announcements, requests for information and topics for future agenda agendas.

Uh this is a non-action item.

No discussion among commissioners will take place on this item.

Thank you.

Do you have any?

Oh, do you have anything?

I guess first.

I mr.

Well, just to start.

Um, I really want to acknowledge the hard work of our firefighters across all the divisions on the 4th of July.

They did an incredible job.

Um, we responded to more than 63 calls for service in that 24-hour period, which is about a 20% increase for us day to day.

Um, 12 of those were fire-related responses, with six of them actually being fires.

Um, our our crews and the bulk of that came between, as you can imagine, between 9 p.m.

and midnight.

Um, but our crews did a phenomenal job um in working with our partner agencies at Reno and Sparks.

So just want to give them a shout out and acknowledge their hard work and uh how much I'm appreciative of the their efforts that night.

So that's my update.

Thank you.

I think we all are so thanks to everyone's hard work.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Commissioner Herman, I'll start with you.

Do you have anything?

Yes, I do.

Umst uh called me and we had a long talk, and it was regarding um fires and homes that burn down, and then the myth that's left after that.

And I told them that we can possibly maybe work on something that um with the chief that to set up some regulations on how long it takes to um remove the the burnt structure.

Um I know years ago, Mr.

Snow was in our our uh our meetings and trying to, and we were trying at that time to put something together, but uh I'm just hoping that uh we can maybe think about that and get it on an agenda soon.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Hill, Vice Chair Garcia.

Well, we'll just do another shout out to everybody again.

Thanks for everybody's hard work.

And we'll now move to item five consent items and their A through G.

Does anyone have any questions or need anything pulled or would like something pulled?

Do we have any public comment on these items?

There's nobody signed in.

Thank you.

All right, hearing none, I'll entertain a motion at this time, please.

So move, madam chair.

All right, we have a motion by Commissioner Hill.

Do we have second?

Second, second by Vice Chair Garcia.

Any further discussion?

Carrying none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you so much.

We'll close item five and move to item six.

Chief Edwards.

All right, thank you.

Item six is a health and wellness program presentation by Dr.

Brian Fisher.

I'd like to invite Dr.

Fisher up to the podium.

Welcome.

I think we're all anxious to hear all this information.

Well, pleasure uh is all mine.

Thank you for being uh let me be here today and speak to you all.

It is an opportunity to uh talk to you about what I've been doing with the department for two years now, and I continue on for the third year.

So this presentation, uh helping those who help others.

I'm Dr.

Brian Fisher, I'm a licensed uh board certified physical therapist, licensed massage therapist, and a strength and conditioning coach and certified in tactical strength as well.

And what I want to talk about here is why was this a need in the first place?

Why was I even brought on?

I saw that there was a problem in the first responder world of high injuries and not getting the care that these uh wonderful people behind me do on a daily basis.

So that was kind of in my vision to come here and help first responders.

And I want to go over what the program's gonna be like and what I've been doing and implementing the last few years and the results and how it's been utilized.

So the need.

What was the initial problem?

When I talked to fire chiefs a few years ago, uh they told me that you know a lot of my line staff's getting hurt, we're getting drowned and we're compensation costs and this shifts.

So I realized come from the sports world that you know, tactical athletes like these individuals need good health care and quick access to health care.

So if I pulled some data just from some basically the NSC and NCCI workers' compensation, national averages, you can see that with work comp claims, arms to hips to shoulders to neck, it costs a lot of money.

If someone's out of work for a long period of time, there's a trickle effect that happens because that could be due to lost time at work, excessive imaging costs, doctor visits, surgical procedures, injections, the costs become pretty astronomical.

And then we look at the firefighter service, it even goes even higher.

They did a study, the Washington study, and they track this for just firefighters.

And you can see that you know, if you have a back surgery or knee surgery, that could be six months, a year, year and a half of rehab time that's pretty extensive.

So we can avoid those from happening or reduce the time.

It's a cost savings.

And we want to say where do where do firefighters actually get hurt?

So we look at the data from through 2021, and you see the fire grounds, really, where a lot of the injuries happen.

Other off-duty or on-duty issues can be where they get hurt, and then followed by non-fire emergencies and then training and the responding to fire incidents.

And you look at what are they actually getting hurt?

Like, what are the types of injuries they're getting?

Not only in the fire service, but you look at data across the board with who goes to see their primary care.

It's a lot of musculoskelet injuries, sprains, strains, muscular pain is primarily why people go to the doctors.

And as a licensed physical therapist, strength coach, that's kind of my bread and butter, right?

That's what I live in every day, is fixing those types of injuries.

So I think having a PT that'd be there to address this musculoskeletal pain is where we can start to see a lot of reduced uh and cost savings.

And if you look at this graph, well, how did they get hurt?

Half that pie chart is balls, trips, slips, jumps, overexertion, strain.

That are things that as a strength coach and a PT is what I try to deal with every day in helping this line staff be as fit as possible and help them be as athletic as possible and deal with those muscle strains and overuse injuries.

So again, that is primarily what we do as PTs.

And so to be here with the staff whenever they need it is uh been a good benefit for them.

So, what was the program?

That was the problem, the program.

The nice thing about Nevada is actually we have full direct access as physical therapists.

Not every state has those abilities.

If you look at that graph here on this this infographic, the typical metal medical model is you get hurt, you have to wait to get to see a doctor, you have to wait to see the specialist, you have to wait to get imaging, you have to wait to get back to see the results, and then maybe you get referred to a PT and they know what they're doing.

The nice thing about direct access is you can get hurt, you could see me right away, not needing a physician referral, and then we as experts in musculoskeletal pain can figure out what's the plan of action here.

So we kind of get that loop out of there a lot faster.

So that's what I've been doing for them is if anything's ever going on with their bodies, I'm the first to know about it.

And I try to cut it at the past to not make sure that to go through the system and they're stuck in that system for a long period of time.

So it's what I offer.

So I offer in-house physical therapy.

I go to the stations, I'm there with my table, I'm in the rooms, I'm in the gym, and I treat them every single week.

And then I also offer strength conditioning programs.

So maybe they're not hurt, but they're out of shape.

They're worried about getting hurt on the job.

We build all the training for them.

And then also we have telehealth.

So if someone just got hurt or they're at home, they can't see me within 24 to 48 hours.

I'm usually on a telehealth call with them to figure out what is going on to make sure we can address it and what's the plan of action.

And then also, everyone likes a little massage once in a while.

If they're beat up and they haven't slept for two days, I am massage therapist, I offer those services as well to them as they need it.

If you look at this study here, this is based off the American Physical Therapy Association across all injuries.

And you can see how when PT is delayed 30 days or more, those percentage costs go exponentially up.

We hope to see to get into PT within seven days.

So me being at the stations every week, I'm able to catch things before they become an issue and hopefully reduce them from missing shifts or having to go on workers' comp.

So the results.

That was the program or people actually using it.

So you can see that this was just last year's data, 25 uh 26 year.

I treated 84 different injuries.

Uh, these are things from across the board, some strength conditioning, but also mainly was a lot of back and shoulders, which relates to normal data that that's when most of the injuries happen is back and shoulders.

So it was relative to what I treated every single week.

And then I do go to all the stations, but primarily station 36 and 45 remain two.

And you can see how it's utilized a lot.

I saw 77 different firefighters, and then I had 132 visits for this last year.

And you can see the retention rate.

So between those two stations on average, about 92% of them are coming back for follow-up visits.

So it's not just a one-off, they don't see me anymore.

They actually continue to use it.

My schedule's full 92, 93% of the time.

And now you're looking at a scaling conservative score here.

If you look at the top in the blue, we're saying prevention rates.

So, how many people did I possibly reduce from going on a workers' comp case?

So, say out of 84 cases, 15% of the people I maybe helped.

And those claims can be pretty big.

So let's be 15,000 per claim, 15% of the people I helped.

That could be up to 189,000 in savings, possibly.

If you look at backfill, because the trickle effect.

So Mrs.

Shifts, we've got to backfill those slots.

Let's say 25% of the people I helped out of those 84 were going to miss shifts.

And it was around $1,500 per day they missed.

You can say that number is 63,000.

Again, I know each department has different numbers, but just based off of global scales of work comp data, we can kind of see that backfill plus work comp claims.

And I have a stack of testimonials of individuals who told their stories to me about how much I helped them and reduced surgeries from happening, that there's some rough numbers.

Maybe I can help them and save costs, but also help our line staff that desperately need it.

So as a review for just this last year, I treated 77 different firefighters, delivered 132 sessions, 84 different cases I had to treat, and possible savings of 250,000.

So I appreciate your time.

I think for the opportunity to get to know what I'm doing here for the agency, and I hope for the continued support in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We can open it up for questions if we could.

Do you have anything you'd like to add?

I don't.

I appreciate uh the hard work that Dr.

Fisher's doing within the organization.

This directly correlates the conversation we've had over the last couple of meetings about our work comp rates and costs.

And this is one of those programs that we're utilizing to hopefully stabilize those, if not try to reduce them.

My my first question, I'm gonna I'm gonna open up to my colleagues first, but I just feel like I need to say it like how many out there are you in terms of you're doing this all yourself.

So I hope you're taking care of yourself.

That's that's what I feel compelled to share.

Um I will open up to questions.

Um, I'll go with Commissioner Herman first.

Do you have any questions for Dr.

Fisher?

No, I don't have any questions.

I thank you for all the information, though, and all your great work.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Garcia.

Commissioner, thank you for your work and looking forward to continuing to see the data.

And I think it's very compelling already what you're showing to the board.

So we appreciate it.

And it's helping people's quality of life.

This is a physical job, and we want to make sure that our people are healthy and safe.

Thank you.

I just had a quick question.

Um, and again, thank you for sharing this information.

And it is important no matter what the circumstances.

But given the fact that we've got insurance pressure right now, it becomes even more important.

But helping people is really the number one.

And thank you for your dedication of what you do.

But the two stations that have the highest utilization, why do you think that is?

Originally, when we started where was I going to work?

We always thought to have a north and a south locations because people are dispersed around the whole, the whole county and city.

But they also had more privacy.

It was more just about when I get in, I want to build rapport, the agency and again help with HIPAA compliance and keep it private.

So those two stations had the most privacy in the rooms.

And now that it's been a few years, I've noticed there's a little bit more access to different stations.

So this year, uh, my plan for this new fiscal year is to be as mobile as possible and hit as many different stations as possible because I know they all have busy lives and families, and getting across town might be very hard at times.

So my best guess is I'm going to be trying to come to on duty to wherever they are as much as possible.

So there'll be a more dispersed data collection next year of across the board, different different departments.

But it was originally just more for convenience of north south, privacy of the rooms and locations for people to get to me.

And as the benefit is enjoyed by all in terms of just not only feeling better, but doing what they can to build strength and their also mental wellness as well.

Is there a plan to possibly scale if if we need to?

Yeah, I mean, I came here, I've looked at other programs across the country, looking at Denver.

They've been the gold standard for it.

Started just like this, and then eventually it transferred into police departments and all first responders, and now they have a citywide program.

So I came here with a vision to expand, and I've been lucky enough to talk to a lot of other fire agencies to see their interest.

And I hope at the end of the day, every first responder in this whole city, police fire, everybody will get the care that they need because they're risking their lives or taking care of us, and it's just my little part in this to try and help them all.

So I hope it scales.

I hope it gets the backing of a city someday to see it be a big program where everybody gets care, you know, full time.

That'd be fantastic.

Well, thanks again.

And hopefully we can even get continued updates as it's appropriate.

I think it would be helpful.

So thanks for all your hard work.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for your time, everybody.

All right.

We're gonna close out item six and move to seven.

Chief Edwards.

All right, item seven is the International Association of Firefighters Local 2487 report.

This is a non-action item.

Good morning, good morning.

For the record, Geneva, local 2487 vice president.

Really, nothing to say coming from the local.

I do want to say something personally to Chief Ketchering from the members from 2487 and myself.

Thank you for your passion, your leadership, and your dedication to the job, but especially your friendship.

So we appreciate it.

I appreciate it.

And it's been amazing to work with you and for you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm gonna make it through this one without crying.

Uh morning.

My name is Josh Cutz.

I'm a trustee with Trucky Meadows Firefighters Association, local 2487.

And I'm representing the executive board in the entire membership of local 2487 today.

Today marks a bittersweet moment for our department, our union, and the communities of Northern Nevada as we celebrate the retirement of Deputy Chief Chris Ketching after 28 years of exemplary public service.

Chris began his journey with the Nevada Division of Forestry.

From the moment he put on the uniform, it was clear that he possessed a rare combination of operational excellence, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to the brothers and sisters.

He stood beside.

He rose to the ranks, serving as a fire equipment operator and fire captain with NDF and the CR Fire Protection District.

Before continuing his ascension with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District as a battalion chief, division chief, and ultimately deputy chief of operations.

But to look only at his rank is to miss the full scope of Chief Catchering's legacy.

To the membership of local 2487, Chief Catchering is a trailblazer.

Long before he was managing major operations from headquarters, Chris was building the foundational bedrock of labor advocacy in our region.

He was a driving force behind the chartering of IFF local 3895, the Sierra Firefighters.

He understood early on that a protected, respected, and healthy workforce was paramount to providing world-class service to the public.

Through his foresight, tenacity and leadership, local 3895 laid the very groundwork that eventually evolved into the robust unified organization we are today.

IFF local 2487.

We literally stand on the shoulders of the work Chris did decades ago.

Even as he transitioned into administration, Chief Ketching never forgot where he came from.

He balanced the heavy responsibilities of managing regional emergency services, serving on the E911 advisory board, and steering regionalization with a deeply rooted passion for mentorship.

He has mentored generations of firefighters, engineers, and officers.

Passing down not just the technical knowledge, but the core values of integrity, grit, and brotherhood.

Chief Ketchering, thank you for 28 years of sacrifice.

Thank you for your fierce advocacy as a union brother, your wisdom as an officer, your steady hand as a chief, and lastly, your mentorship and friendship to me.

You leave this district safer, our union stronger, and your legacy firmly secured in the history of local 2487.

We wish you and your family a long happy and well deserved retirement.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm glad there's Kleenex up here.

Okay.

We're gonna go ahead and move to the fire chief's report.

Chief Edwards.

All right, item eight is the fire chief's report.

Um, and just uh a brief summary of some of the items that were contained in that report.

Um we have our new type one engines uh that should be arriving here in Nevada later this month.

Um that we tentatively plan to place those into service sometime in September, and hopefully we'll have one here on display at our September Board of Fire Commission meeting uh for you all to see.

Fire station 35 is essentially structurally complete.

Um we're still awaiting ATT to run the fiber optic for the internet service there.

Um, and we need that for our station alerting records management and communications.

Um we're also awaiting approval from the state infrastructure bank on the transfer of funds from the station 37 renovation project to the station 35 construction project so that we can buy the furniture.

Uh we're optimistic that we'll host a ribbon cutting uh sometime early this fall and get that fire station staffed.

Um the hexagon uh project team is sharing that the project is largely back on track.

Um, and they're optimistic to meet their new proposed deadline.

So we're watching this very closely and uh cautiously optimistic that we're gonna be able to implement this at some point in the near future.

Uh wildfire season is upon us.

Um we're seeing uh the number of fires increase significantly across the region.

Uh within our Great Basin region, there was seven there's been 706 fires that have burned approximately 220,000 acres already this season.

Um nationally, that's about 135% of average uh for this time of year.

Um and at TM, we have personnel deployed right now to Alaska, Utah, Arizona, and Southern Nevada to support these suppression efforts.

So I think it's also important to note that all of our TM fire stations are also fully staffed.

So this is part of the mutual aid program that we're able to help our partner agencies.

Um in the last two weeks, uh, we've had eight future fire captain candidates attend our internal officer development school.

So candidates received over 72 hours of focused instruction on everything from leadership to tactics and strategy.

I want to send a big thank you to Chief Black, Captain Gates, and Captain Steelman for coordinating this invaluable training and mentoring the next generation of leaders at TM.

And then just some uh call statistics uh in May.

Uh we're starting to see our call volume pick up, and this is obviously associated with our warmer weather and longer days.

Um in May, we had 600 or 1696 total incidents.

810 of those were medical in nature, 71 vehicle accidents, and 47 of those were fires.

Um in May, uh Trucky Meadows responded to Reno 296 times, and Reno responded to Trucking Meadows 86 times.

And Trucky Meadows responded to Sparks 51 times, and Sparks responded to Trucking Meadows 32 times.

And then in our fire prevention bureau, uh they were able to conduct 118 inspections in the month of May, uh, conducted over 120 different plan reviews and had 13 public events and conducted two fire investigations.

And that concludes uh my report.

Thank you.

And I also do want to send another shout out for all the hard work at Hidden Valley.

I took a tour yesterday, and um more to come on that, but certainly everyone's working hard.

And you, meaning TM was was really instrumental.

Um, started with a gas leak and then other things happened.

So everyone's appreciative of everyone for all their hard work and all the folks that are still out there working, by the way.

Any questions for the fire chief?

All right, we're gonna go ahead then and move to um close item eight, move to item nine financial presentation.

Chief Edwards.

All right, item nine is a financial presentation on the status of the fiscal year 2025-2026 general fund and capital project funds as of May 31st, 2026.

And we have our CFO, Crystal Sub Light to give us a presentation.

Good morning.

Um this is gonna be through May 31st uh fiscal 26.

Uh total revenues are approximately 87.5 percent of the budget.

Um, property taxes remain the primary revenue source.

Uh we're only expecting a little bit more uh property tax for June.

Um the district has received also received uh nine million, uh 9.2 million in consolidated taxes, which is representative of nine months.

Um overall total revenues are on track.

Uh the expenditures for fiscal 26 are uh salaries and wages and benefits are 79% of budget budgeted expenditures as of May 31st, we are approximately at 78.5 percent of the an annual budget, with salaries, wages and benefits being 36.9 million of that.

Um, this represents a 63.5 percent of the total annual budget and 80.9 percent of total year-to-day expenditures.

Um, just reminding everybody that year end is coming up, so we will see our expenditures increase as we do the necessary accruals.

Um, we still have one full full salary um payroll period, and then we'll be accruing for a few days that as they go through the the remainder of June.

Um, our capital projects fund is 95.8 percent.

Um, I didn't I always forget to click this forward, sorry.

Oh so our capital, our capital projects fund is at 95.8 percent.

Um, of course, we have the 8 million in reimbursements from Apple.

We're submitting for uh final reimbursement from them uh within the next couple of weeks.

Um, and then we have 75.8 percent in the capital or in the extraordinary repairs in maintenance, or 9.9 percent in the extraordinary repairs and maintenance, and total expenditures for capital project is 75.8 percent questions.

Thank you.

Any questions and so we won't be I won't be pre presenting financials again until September.

Those will be for July financials of 27, and then in October, November ish is gonna be our final audit for fiscal 26.

Great.

Commissioner Herman, do you have any questions?

I think we're good.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Well, I feel like we should have music for item 10, but I don't know what song Chief Kettering would like uh like a walk-on song, walk-off song.

Um that would have been really fun.

I wish I would have thought about it that in advance, and we'd be playing it right now.

But we're gonna go ahead and close item nine and move to item 10.

Chief Edwards.

All right, item 10 is a resolution to recognize and express appreciation for Trucky Meadows Fire Protection District Deputy Fire Chief Chris Ketchering.

Madam Chair, can we take this down to the podium?

Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and do that.

I don't know.

Anybody have any music that we should on demand play?

You get chambers smooth jazz.

That's right.

Yeah, we don't want to talk about it.

Can you pull me a bit?

Which song would you have to play?

Oh, funding.

There's a request.

There's her request.

There you go.

Well, I think we're all really excited for today.

And so I'd like to take a moment and read the resolution.

Um, it's resolution TM06-2026 to recognize and express appreciation for Trucking Meadows Fire Protection District, Deputy Fire Chief Chris Kettering.

Whereas Deputy Fire Chief Chris Kettering has served the Trucking Meadows Fire Protection District since 2012 and has served as deputy fire chief since July 2022.

And whereas during his tenure, Deputy Fire Chief Ketring has been a strong advocate for regional cooperation among neighboring fire and emergency service agencies, recognizing that effective public safety is strengthened through collaboration, shared resources, and unified operational standards.

And whereas, through his exceptional leadership and commitment, agencies throughout the region have worked collectively to develop, implement, and improve common policies, procedures, and operational practices that enhance interoperability, efficiency, and emergency response capabilities.

And whereas Deputy Fire Chief Chris Kettring's commitment, insight, and dedication have earned him the trust, respect, and appreciation of all the citizens he serves, district staff and his peers, and whereas, on behalf of all members of the Trekkie Meadows Fire Protection District, we extend our sincere appreciation to Deputy Fire Chief Chris Kettring for his 28 years of total service to the community, his integrity, commitment, and dedication to the district, and for advancing public safety throughout our region.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Trekkie Meadows Fire Protection District Board of Fire Commissioners with grateful appreciation extends its heartfelt contract congratulations to Deputy Fire Chief Chris Kettering on an outstanding fire service career and wishes him every success, happiness, and fulfillment in his retirement and future endeavors, both personal and professional.

Thank you.

On the mornings of the Board of Fire Commission meetings, I'd usually have a short conversation with Chief Ketchering about what we were going to wear to make sure we are always aligned and wearing the same thing.

And I'm gonna miss that.

Not getting to have those conversations anymore and uh the hard time that Chief Ketchering would give me for what we were gonna wear.

Um it's difficult to put into words what 28 years of service to the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District have meant to this organization.

Uh, your career has been defined not only by your dedication and professionalism, but also by your quiet, steady leadership that made those around you better.

On a personal note, I cannot thank you enough for the support and friendship you've shown me during my first year as fire chief.

Stepping into this role came with its share of challenges, and knowing I could count on your calm perspective, honest advice, and unwavering commitment to this organization made all the difference.

And I know that you wanted to retire much sooner, and I am super grateful for you and your family and the sacrifice you made to stick around even longer to help through that transition.

Um you never sought out recognition, but your influence can be seen in the people you mentored, the culture you helped build, and the trust you earned over nearly three decades of service.

Congratulations on a truly well-earned retirement with the utmost respect and gratitude.

I wish you and your family every happiness in the years ahead.

May this next chapter be filled with good health, new adventures, and the satisfaction of knowing you made a lasting difference to this community and everyone fortunate enough to serve beside you.

I hope to see you at the monthly retirement luncheons and please stop by headquarters from time to time to have some tea in your suites.

Congratulations.

Yeah.

For the record, retired deputy chief Chucky Meadows Fire.

Uh Commissioners, uh, Vice Chair Garcia, Chair Andreola, uh, Chief Edwards, and all of our team FD family.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today.

Uh, 28 years ago, I started my journey pursuing a career in the fire service and making it to retirement seemed like an eternity.

But looking back, it went by in a blink of an eye.

So enjoy it.

As it'll be over soon.

Uh, what an honor it has been to serve the organization and the community.

I finished my career as the deputy chief of the greatest organization in this region.

Success can be measured in numerous ways.

In today's world, data and the bottom line seem to be the forefront of measuring success.

With Trekkie Meadows, our success comes from all the people within the organization who continue to learn and grow, build internal and external relationships, align with our core values, and overcome challenges to better serve the community.

Being part of such an impressive group of individuals, that is my greatest achievement.

In life, there are continual changes, and this organization will continue to take on any change or challenge head on.

Chucky Meadows will continue to move forward, be progressive, and be the leaders in our region.

I have the utmost confidence in Chief Edwards and Chief Lewis to lead the way for the future.

And I disagree with Chief Edwards.

And that is we're committed to excellence, service, and the protection of life and property in our community.

I do want to give a special thanks to a few commissioners, Commissioner Hill, Commissioner Andreola.

Thank you for always taking my phone calls.

And over the last few years, taking phone calls at all hours of the day and night.

And never wavering from your position, because as you say, there's no reason for both of us to be wrong.

So Laurel, not only did you support me and my aspirations, you maintained your own responsibilities with your career.

Held down the fort, took care of our family, that made it look so easy.

So I love you very much, and thank you.

So my kids, Vivian, and Graham.

I'm all in to make up for the times for missed birthdays, holidays, sporting events while I was committed to serving from the community.

You handled it both with such understanding and grace, which you got from your mother.

I love you very much.

TM is one organization, and everyone here has a real role and responsibility that supports each other.

When we come together as one, success always follows.

I love all of you.

Not only did you make an impact, I don't know any other way out with having ACDC be playing like that's a first.

We're gonna have to keep that in mind.

Thank you again for everything for all your service.

Um, I don't know if anybody has any additional comments, but I think it's definitely a celebratory day, twenty-eight years.

That's amazing.

So congratulations.

All right.

Item eleven is the commissioner to fire chiefs announcements.

Request for information and topics for future agendas.

Thank you.

Do you have anything?

I do not.

Um, we're going to go ahead and close item eleven and move to item twelve public comment.

All right.

Item twelve's public comment.

Comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the Board of Fire Commissioners' agenda.

Comments are to be made to the Board of Fire Commissioners as a whole.

So that not only pertains to this particular public item, but all public comment items.

Do we have any public comment?

We do not.

Thank you.

And I'm going to now turn to Ms.

Gusison for the closed session, please.

All right.

So for item number 13, the board will be conducting a closed session for the purpose of discussing labor issues that will occur upstairs in the caucus room after the closed session or at the close of the closed session.

There will be public comment that will be that Commissioner Andreola will be asking for.

So if anyone is interested in providing public comment, please feel free to wait outside of the caucus room directly upstairs from this room.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll go ahead and adjourn the meeting at 1046.

Thank you.