State funding

• Rick Dove met with Sophio Ortega on 5/9 and informed him that we wish to begin construction this year, and need the funds to be committed asap so that we can schedule and engage the necessary construction resources. He appears to be personally committed to expediting the availability of funds. To this end he informed Rick Dove on Monday, 5/11 that he will consult with Carlos Miera during the week and set up a meeting for Carlos, himself, and Rick Dove to review the issues and plan a sequence of steps. It is likely that this meeting will occur during the week of 5/18.

Forest Service land

• Ron Thibedeau (sp?) and Carry Leven (archeologist) toured the proposed land parcel with Bill Reifsnyder and Rick Dove on 5/4. Ron said that he would personally expedite our "special use application", and that we should expect 30 days to elapse for paper work, and then another 45 days for public posting, and finally two weeks for approval - providing an estimate of land availability as early August. Two problems that could arise would delay this time table: 1) archeological importance might be discovered in a place that could not be excluded from out parcel needs by simply changing the requested dimensions or layout, and 2) public posting my cause someone to raise an objection to our use of the land.
• In a brief 15 minute walk-around Carry believes that she discovered a "chipping site" that would be a problem if we tried to include that space in the final parcel location. She also found ten artifacts walking along the road side of the requested parcel - but not in close proximity. She will return in the near future to do a thorough, perhaps full day, examination of the requested area.
• We were advised that they do not like to give any more land then is absolutely required as this generally leads to misuse. Examples cited include people living there, people using the land to store materials or other items, and people using the land as a centralized garbage collection site. In this vein our request for one acre appears to be excessive to them.
• We were advised that the USFS does not like to provide land for community center purposes as this generally leads to misuse of the land. Examples cited (or implied) included ugly temporary buildings that remain ugly and become permanent, people living there as caretakers, and a belief that a community center is not of the same vital importance as a fire department.
• We were advised to submit a letter addendum to the original special use application, citing the change in requested parcel location and reasons for that change; and to include a rough map of the parcel that focused on the fire department facilities and their proposed location. This was completed and delivered to them the next day, 5/5/98.
• We were asked to mark the four corners of the requested parcel so that Carry could examine the area for archeological importance (10 artifacts within 10 feet of each other). When delivering the letter addendum they were advised that this would be done the following day. Rick Dove and Bill Reifsnyder accomplished this on schedule.
• On 5/12 Ron Thibedeau verified by phone to Rick Dove that the 30-day paper-work clock is ticking, and that Carry will be out to do her inspection soon.

Fire district designation

• Rick Dove called Jim Trehern at the State Fire Marshall’s Office to get the steps required for fire district designation. Jim was out and Mary Joe Esquibell was said to be the person in the middle of such activities. Mary Joe said the County must make the first move by designating us as a fire district - and she sent by fax the necessary steps from their perspective. That list is attached - it turns out that we were already in possession of the list. Mary Joe will check with Jim when he returns on 5/18 to see if he submitted a report as a result of his last visit here.
• No status change to report as yet - awaiting the meeting that Sophio Ortega is setting up for week of 5/18, where we will understand what Carlos Miera meant when telling Justin that there are some things which must first be done by the Fire Marshall’s office.

Fire truck garage

• Rick Dove has asked Joan Blaz to look into the possibility of temporary garaging facilities at the Hatchery.

Fire truck

• No status as yet - awaiting information on fire district designation requirements and on the availability of temporary garaging facilities. Bill Reifsnyder is point on this project, and of the opinion that an initial fire truck can be had for little or no purchase expense.

Construction

• No status as yet - awaiting the timing on the availability of funds expected from the meeting Sophio Ortega is setting up for week of 5/18.

Miscellaneous

• Water source letter to acequia association - Rick Dove’s responsibility, no action as yet - awaiting knowledge of the format required by the Fire Marshall’s office. The Acequia agreed during its annual meeting by vote to provide the Fire District with 1) emergency water as needed, and 2) a stored water supply - requesting that we draft a letter for their signature in a format acceptable to address the Fire Marshall’s requirements.
• Web site - a token page is alive and linked to the LLNA home page. At this time it contains the committee names and requested parcel map. In the future it will contain this and subsequent status reports.

VFD Organizing Committee

• Eleven people volunteered at the last LLNA meeting to participate on the FVD Organizing Committee. Some mistakenly thought that they were volunteering to be fire fighters. Rick Dove verified with each what they were actually volunteering for - resulting in a committe of the following seven names:

o Rick Dove, Chair, 505-586-1492, dove@parshift.com
o Joan Blaz, 505-586-1009
o Terry Klein, 505-586-0206, nbuffalo@laplaza.org
o Bill Reifsnyder, 505-586-1151, william.reifsnyder@yale.edu
o Marc Rogers, 505-586-0056, marcroge@laplaza.com
o Rob Watt, 505-586-0708
o Nat Wilson, 505-586-1044

• As yet the full committee has not had its first meeting. This awaits some sense of timing on the availability of funds so that the first meeting can discuss tasks and time schedules. It is expected that the timing issue will be cleared up in the meeting that Sophia Ortega is setting up for the week of 5/18.

Attachments:

1) Fire Marshall’s list of steps to fire district-hood.
2) Letter addendum submitted to US Forest Service on 5/5/98.
3) Land parcel map submitted to US Forest Service on 5/5/98.