NC Prescribed Fire Council Moving Forward
Submitted by John Ann Shearer
With so many changes with your NC Prescribed Fire Council, your Steering Committee sent out a brief update prior to this newsletter and now I would like to follow up by reminding you that on May 14th, Fire Council Chair Doug Sprouse left his position with NC Parks and Recreation and his post as Chair to move on to new adventures in fire out of state. He will be missed! As per the bylaws, as your Vice Chair, I moved up into the Chair position at the time of Doug’s departure. The Steering Committee selected a candidate for Vice Chair, Kevin Harville who is highly able and willing to serve. Many of you voted and Kevin was elected!
At the May 9th Steering Committee meeting three motions were made and passed that launched the process of incorporating the NC Prescribed Fire Council. This includes getting a federal tax id number, a bank account, a post office box, and articles of incorporation - all of which have now happened. The Steering Committee also passed a motion to establish a position of treasurer and you all voted in favor of Jim Gray filling this position. Jim has worked diligently over the past couple months to lead the Council through this process.
In the process of incorporating ourselves, we also established a Board of Directors. Your new highly qualified Board of Directors include: Margit Bucher, Chris Moorman, Terry Sharpe, Dean Simon, and Wib Owen. We are truly in good hands!
For several years the Steering Committee had discussed the possibility of incorporation, but the answer had always been "not right now". Advantages to incorporation include the opportunity to have a bank account to receive and distribute funds (to have a functional budget), to do more outreach and advocacy work, to apply for grant funding as an entity, and to help crystallize the mission and identity of the Council. The disadvantage of becoming a non-profit is the reporting requirements and necessary fund raising to pay for incorporation fees. However, the Steering Committee believes these can be managed by the new treasurer and is worth the effort for the long term gain.
Thanks for all your support of the Fire Council and for getting involved to promote prescribed burning!