Boyceville sportsmen’s banquet at fire hall this year

By LeAnn R. Ralph

BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Lions Club will be holding their annual sportsmen’s banquet this year at the Boyceville fire station.

The Boyceville Fire District Board and the Boyceville Ambulance District Board both approved allowing the Lions Club to hold the banquet at the fire station August 24 at the fire and ambulance districts’ April 10 meeting.

Matt Feeney, director of the Boyceville ambulance service, noted that the ambulance service plans to be moved out of the fire station by the date of the sportsmen’s banquet but that he did not have a problem with the banquet being held at the fire hall.

The Lions Club sportsmen’s banquet has been held at what is now the Eagles Nest in Boyceville for the past 11 years, but the banquet has outgrown the space available.

The Boyceville fire department has worked with the Lions Club over the last six or eight years, and the Lions Club has helped the fire department with the fire department tractor pulls, said Brian Marlette, fire chief.

“This would be one way that we could help the Lions Club in return,” he said.

“It would be a one-day deal. We could park the trucks next to the building. Nothing would be parked off-site,” Marlette said.

Plans include setting up tables and chairs in the fire station for the banquet, along with displays of raffle prizes; firefighters also would have an opportunity to raise funds through beer sales.

Attendance at previous Lions Club sportsmen’s banquets has reportedly been around 100, although organizers say that if they have more room, they hope to attract a few more people to the banquet.

“This would give (the fire department) a good reason, too, to do some ‘spring cleaning,’” Marlette commented.

Board members from both the Boyceville fire district and the ambulance district unanimously approved the request for the Lions Club to use the fire station for the sportsmen’s banquet on August 24.

October budget

The Boyceville fire department budget and the Boyceville ambulance district budget will both now be finalized in October rather than in January.

The fire district and ambulance district boards meet monthly, which will make it easier to finalize the budget in October, said Gilbert Krueger, chair of both the fire district and the ambulance district.

If the budget is finalized in October, assessments can be sent out before the end of the year to the townships and the villages, and then the districts will receive the assessment money sooner, he said.

When the budget is finalized in January, the assessments do not start coming in until February, Krueger said.

The fire department is not a problem, but the ambulance service suffers from a cash flow problem, and receiving assessment money sooner will help with the ambulance district’s periodic shortfalls, he said.

Board members from both districts unanimously approved the proposal to finalize the budgets in October.

Fire department

In other business, the Boyceville Fire District:

• Learned that as of April 10, the fire department had gone out on 20 runs, which included one vehicle fire, 11 lift assists and eight structure fires.

• Learned that the fire department had applied to the Bremer Foundation for a $44,000 grant to purchase a new Jaws of Life unit. The fire department will find out in July if the grant has been awarded, Marlette said.

• Scheduled the next meeting for Tuesday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the Boyceville village hall.

Ambulance

In other business, the Boyceville Ambulance District:

• Learned that the ambulance service has 27 employees, has gone out on 51 runs so far this year and has served 57 patients.

• Learned that the ambulance service is working on a grant application with the Colfax EMS Association in the amount of $8,000 for Easy IO drills, which are used when no intravenous route is available to do intravenous medication into the bone. The grant would purchase two Easy IO drills for Colfax, two for Boyceville, with one “trainer” for each service.

• Learned that the ambulance service had submitted a grant application for $2,500 to Wal-Mart Distribution for two tablet computers for the ambulances. Wireless Internet access would be available on the ambulances to allow face-to-face conversations among the EMTs, the patient and a doctor.

• Learned that the ambulance service is working on a grant application to Dunn Energy for a generator that would run the entire ambulance station if necessary.

• Learned that the ambulance service is working on a grant application to the Bremer Foundation in the amount of $200,000 for remodeling the Keyes building. If the grant is received, the amount would cover the cost of the remodeling, Feeney said.

• Learned that a check had arrived in the amount of $248,000 from the state trust loan to fund the remodeling project.

• Learned that a structural engineer was working on reviewing the plans for the remodeling project and that construction could start in May. Demolition and clean-up by volunteers in preparation for construction is ahead of schedule, Feeney said.

• Scheduled the next meeting of the ambulance district board for Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the Boyceville village hall.