BEAVER LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES
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Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Beaver Lake Fire Department, Station 1
Location: 16035 Cypress LN, Rogers AR 72756
Zoom Link: Watch the meeting Zoom ID 895 9812 4894 Meeting starts at the 4 minutes and 15 second mark.
1.
CALL TO ORDER
1.1.
Directors attending in person: Jeff Easley, Monte Gagliardi, Curtis Hathcock, Jerry Hudlow, Steve Long, Larry Smith, Laura Tucker (7 of 10)
1.2.
Special Board Members attending in person: Chief Dusty Qualls
1.3.
Attending via Video: Todd Weber, Captain Justin Stanbery
1.4.
Absent: Kelly Lewis, Gisela Mejia
1.5.
Quorum Status. Quorum is present to conduct all matters of business. Eight (8) of ten (10) directors present via in person and Zoom.
2.
Chairman Comments.
2.1.
Opening summary. Jeff Easley provided summary of intent for September’s Annual Membership Meeting. Reminder that a vote will be taken to elect up to 5 directors to serve for the 2-year term beginning January 1, 2026, ending December 31, 2027. The returning directors and new inductees will conduct an offsite orientation and election of officers for calendar year 2026. Later continuation of bylaws review will be in the final stages, hopefully. The goal is to have a product to post for general membership review in the next month or two.
2.2.
Introduction of Board of Director candidates
2.2.1.
Meredith Hutchins. Meredith provided a synopsis of her work experience and local community activities and connections. She really would like to contribute to the success of BLFD. Meredith has a great deal of administrative experience in the business world with an emphasis in service to the community. She has worked in personnel management, payroll and general office management.
3.
Disposition of Previous Meeting Minutes.
3.1.
Review Board of Directors Meeting Minutes for June 10, 2025. Curtis Hathcock made a query to determine I there was any members that would be able to provide notes and summations of the meeting to generate the minutes. Curtis will take input from all contributing directors and prepare minutes of the June meeting to be reviewed and approved next month.
3.2.
Motion to approve Minutes of meeting. No minutes to approve at this time.
BEAVER LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES
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4.
Open to Public Comments.
5.
Reports of Officers
5.1.
Fire Chief Operations Report.
5.1.1.
Reviewed monthly response numbers. Year to date as of this meeting is at 291. Most notable issue was a drowning that occurred on Beaver Lake. Chief Qualls gave a heads up to Todd Weber concerning comments and inquiries made from various Benton County representatives. Some discussion ensued concerning the potential for various options that could be investigated to provide a watercraft service that could be operated by BLFD firefighters. Review of the drowning incident concluded that the outcome of the event would not have been any different.
BEAVER LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES
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BEAVER LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES
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5.1.2.
Acquisition of new Firefighting/Recue Apparatus. No update.
5.1.3.
Backup Generator Project. No update.
5.2.
President’s Report. Item referred to discussion during new business.
5.3.
Treasurer’s Report.
5.3.1.
Review Monthly Financial Documents.
5.3.2.
Motion to approve financial documents. Motion made by Steve Long to approve monthly Balance sheets, P &L, and Budget review documents for June. Motion seconded by Monte Gagliardi. Motion approved by unanimous voice vote.
5.4.
Secretary’s Report. No update.
6.
Reports of Committees – No updates.
7.
New Business.
7.1.
Watercraft for emergency response on the lake.
7.1.1.
Benton County Emergency Management made queries concerning the BLFD’s capability to respond with a boat. Chief Qualls reminded the county that 2 years ago BLFD retired the boat it had. A new watercraft has not been a priority since then. County representatives acknowledged that their records had not been updated showing a watercraft was no longer available from BLFD. They inquired if it would be something we might consider. Chief Qualls stated he would discuss the matter with the Board of Directors.
7.1.2.
Consensus from County representatives including Justice of the Peace Jeff Dunn, the Quorum Court, County Judge, Sherriff’s Department and BLFD agreed further cooperative efforts are desired in developing a solution. Alternatives were presented to potentially have some kind of joint operational agreement to make use of boats that the Sherriff’s department already has available.
BEAVER LAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES
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7.2.
Administrative change to change retirement contributions methodology between LOPFI and Social Security.
7.2.1.
Firefighters are asking for change to have all contributions for retirement benefits be made through the LOPFI program versus a split of 3% and 6% between LOPFI and Social Security, respectively.
7.2.2.
Chief believes a change of this nature should be addressed by the Board. If adopted, the program impacts all firefighters equally. Either all goes to LOPFI or all have the split.
7.2.3.
Change would only affect BLFD full time firefighters, Captain Stanbery and Firefighter Ballou.
7.2.4.
Further analysis of regulatory requirements is necessary.
8.
Old Business
8.1.
New Building for equipment Storage. This item will be tabled for now. Initial research has shown that this is a much larger project than thought.
8.2.
BLFD Bylaws Review/Update/Amendment.
8.2.1.
Grammatical and formatting corrections.
8.2.2.
Member / Beneficiary language review (para. 2.1 and 2.2)
8.2.3.
Dues Determination and Collection of Membership Dues (para. 2.3 and 2.4)
8.2.4.
Language change and format corrections for multiple subparagraphs of Paragraph 3.5 Board of Directors and Special Members.
8.2.5.
Language change and format corrections for multiple subparagraphs of Paragraph 4 Meetings.
8.2.6.
Much discussion continued to make minor corrections and changes to the proposed bylaws. Notes were gathered for Curtis to be able to consolidate into an update to be sent out to the Directors within a week.
9.
Other Business.
9.1.
Next Board Meeting scheduled for August 12, 2025, at BLFD Fire Station 1, 16035 Cypress LN, Rogers AR 72756.
10.
Adjournment.
SUBMITTED BY: Curtis Hathcock, Board Secretary