Board of Trustees May 8, 2025
West Blount Fire & EMS District
The Board of Trustees for West Blount Fire and Emergency Medical Services District met at Fire
Station No. 1 on May 8, 2025, the meeting was opened at 7:30 by Jamie Huffstutler, Vice Chair,
who presided until the arrival of Chair Marty Stover, with prayer by Danny Smith. Five trustees
were present, plus Clay Jones, Chief, Christie Moore, Treasurer, Stacy Quinn, Billing Manager.
The minutes of the April 10, 2025, meeting were accepted on motion by Mark Giddy, seconded
by Danny Smith.
Financial report – The operating balance for April 2025 was $164,572.11. Total income was
$45,617.62, with dues of $37,995.25. Total expenses were $185,676.46, including payroll of
$30,685.37, repair and maintenance of $15,637.46, and transfer of $100,000 to CD at Traditions
Bank.
The financial report was accepted on motion by seconded by Mark Giddy, seconded by
Danny Smith.
Chief’s Report – Total calls for April 2025 were 133, plus 10 out-of-area for a total of 143 (2 –
Bangor; 0 – Corner; 0 – Dallas-Selfville; 1 – Locust Fork; 1 – Mt. High/Ricetown; 6 – Nectar; 0
– Warrior): 81 medical, 10 auto accident; 4 structure fire, 2 wild fire, 0 vehicle fire, 6 fire alarm, 1
fire other, 17 public service, 12 tree down, 0 HAZMAT. Breakdown by station = Sta. 1 Hayden,
61; Sta. 2 Smoke Rise, 58; Sta. 3 Sugar Creek, 11; Sta. 4, Nyota, 3.
The following was also reported:
New redesigned shirts have been received and distributed
Pay period has been changed from twice a month to bi-weekly beginning May 11 with a
new company, ADP. The old time clock, which wasn’t working properly, was sent back
to Webb. A new clock-in system will be installed, clock-in with phone, and workers
comp will be paid with each pay period.
1992 returned from shop, was placed on government website for auction, but did not
meet reserve specification; will be listed with Brindlee Mountain as a broker, who will
receive 10% fee after sale
1973 Explorer, 2009 model, returned from the shop and broke down again with a different
issue; was placed on website, also did not meet reserve specification; will now be
stripped of all emergency lights and placed for sale on a public forum
Water damage from the April rains/storms still on hold waiting for the insurance adjuster’s
assessment: AMIC is handling Station 1 and McNeil & Co. is handling Station 2. Station
2 will have to have a retaining wall built prior to interior repairs.
Module I VFF 160 has completed with a 100% pass rate from West Blount students.
Module II is now underway.
Insurance had been paid on 2 trucks for 2 years that had not been a part of our fleet; now
cancelled
The 2012 F-150 4x4 truck was purchased from City of Mountain Brook for $5,000
The Chief’s report was accepted on motion by Mark Giddy, seconded by Danny Smith.
Old Business
Billing Update – There was a check in the amount of $425.67 received from MSN (Massey,
Stotser, & Nicholas) for April collections. There were three new accounts added. Fire dues
West Blount Fire Board – May 8, 2025 Page 2
received in April was $20,493.68 in checks or cash, $17,988.03 in Credit/Debit card. There
were also $100 assessment fees, $458.50 MSM fees, $647.41 other income. Total collected for
April was $39,787.62 [income from April 2024 was $76,672.82]. Total collected for the year was
$418,995.27 [income for 2025 was $449,808.54].
There were 3,637 accounts invoiced. There are 2,480 accounts paid in full. There are 1,157
accounts with a balance. At the end of April there are 68% of accounts paid in full, compared to
67% in April 2024. There were 19 exemptions approved in April making a total of 79 for the
year, and there are a total of five exemptions denied, totaling $11,850 in exemptions
adjustments for 2025.
Third Party Billing – Payments received in April 2025, were $3,293.43, making a total of
$17,916.16 for 2025. There are 17 invoices outstanding, one invoice approved awaiting
payment of $887.25, and one invoice under a payment plan of $901.68. The first two recipients
of the 60-20-20 plan received $125 each this week.
Blount Springs – no change
Transfer funds - $100,000 was transferred from the checking account to a Money Market
Account at Traditions Bank for 6 months.
New Business
Fourth of July Celebration – The Fire Department will again provide free ice cream.
Fire Dues – Discussion concerning fire dues paid by one person who has a strip mall with
several businesses paying for each individual business vs. a business that has several separate
buildings but pays dues for only one of those buildings. The problem with the discrepancy is the
wording of the state law under which our district was elected, all are to be charged the same
regardless of the size or number involved: one business = one bill, multiple businesses =
multiple bills. It was also pointed out that we, as a district, cannot raise the fire dues on our
own. Any changes like that will have to follow the same route as when we first became a
district, per the existing state law. Our expenses have gone up greatly since we formed in 2014.
Our income has not kept up with that increase.
Two avenues are open to us, get enough voters throughout Blount County to vote to change
the state law, and get our state representatives and senator on board. This would allow our
department to increase the fire dues without the limitations and restrictions of the current state
law. Even though the entire county would benefit, it does not appear that this avenue would be
fruitful for us, there is opposition in the State Legislature to changing the state law.
The other option is to have a referendum just like the one in 2014, this one to increase the
dues by $100: we need to get signed petitions of 20% of the voters who voted in the last
election (that would be 6,920 voted in our district in November 2024, or 1,084 signatures) to sign
a petition to get on the ballot for the November 2026 General Election. It was decided that we
all need to work to set up talking points to convince the voters that this move is necessary.
Then we will need to start visiting all organizations in our district to educate the voters on why
this project is so important and why it needs to pass.
The next board meeting will be Thursday, June 12, 2025, 6:00 PM at Station One.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM on motion by Danny Smith.
West Blount Fire Board – May 8, 2025 Page 3
Present
Dolores Fort
Mark Giddy
Jamie Huffstutler
Danny Smith
Marty Stover
Clay Jones
Christie Moore
Stacy Quinn
Several firefighters
Dolores Fort
Secretary
