The March 28 meeting of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Board of Commissioners opened with a bit of a surprise: Commissioner Christina Reitz announced her retirement from the board on the grounds that she would soon be moving from Idyllwild and joining her husband, Patrick Reitz, former IFPD chief and current chief of the Lakeport Fire Protection District in Northern California.

Christina Reitz, who has been employed by the U.S. Postal Service office here in Idyllwild for more than many years, was elected to the IFPD board in November 2020.

Commissioners Dan Messina (president), Dennis Fogle (vice president), Rhonda Andrewson (secretary) and Stephanie Yost conducted the remainder of the meeting. Action items included: Approving the minutes of the Jan. 24 board meeting, the Jan. and Feb. incident statistics and ambulance reports, the Jan. and Feb. financials and bill payments, the fiscal year 2022 audit by C.J. Brown & Co. CPAs, the 2023-2024 draft budget, the censure policy draft, upcoming educational events for board members, and agenda items for the upcoming May 2023 board meeting. Each was approved — with little, if any, discussion — on a unanimous 4-0 vote by the commissioners.

A highlight of the meeting was the swearing in and welcoming of Josh Leih, a new IFPD firefighter who has completed a year of training. His family was in attendance at his swearing in ceremony.

Chief Mark LaMont’s extensive report — which included monthly summary reports (the communications site; Bear Trap Canyon fuels reduction; mutual aid actions, and abatement projects), a statement of revenue and expenditures, a Budget Presentation for the 2023-24 fiscal year, budgetary comparisons, among other items — is available to the public for the asking at the IFPD office on Maranatha Drive.

Included within the chief’s report was a letter marked “privileged and confidential” from attorney Stephen P. Graham, of IFPD’s attorneys Cole Huber, LLP, to Fedak and Brown LLP, in connection with its examination of the financial statements of IFPD through June 2023. In the letter, Graham stated that IFPD “has not specifically identified any unasserted claims or assessments or any contractually assumed obligations, nor has the district specifically requested that I supplement or comment on any unasserted claims or assessments or any contractually assumed obligations of which the District is aware.”

The chief’s report also included the independent auditors’ report of C.J. Brown & Company CPAs for the year ending June 30, 2022. The auditors’ report states that, although its report was not designed to identify all deficiencies in internal control that might be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, “we did not identify any deficiencies in internal control that we consider to be material weaknesses. However, material weaknesses may exist that have not been identified.”

LaMont reiterated the importance of IFPD’s participation in responding to Mutual Aid, and he recounted numerous instances of IFPD’s assistance to other agencies in the extended community. This, he emphasized, is extremely important given that Idyllwild’s location would require much return assistance from other agencies in the event of a serious fire here.

The chief also described instances of several “thank yous” received by the department for its work assisting individuals and other agencies.