The Big Bear City Community Services District had a couple action items scheduled for their meeting of October 5, though the Board of Directors first celebrated staff, starting with a thank you to General Manager Mike Mayer for 15 years of service with the district. The Board also had an opportunity to recognize the Big Bear City Fire Department’s Bob Barnett with the County’s Meritorious Service Ribbon Award, as duty has called for firefighter Barnett each time he was to receive the award from Fire Chief Jeff Willis. Barnett, a third generation firefighter, was described as “a firefighter’s firefighter” by his chief, who went on to explain that Barnett’s recognition is retroactive, citing his “excellence in extraordinary efforts,” including the implementation of the student Fire Explorers program, both in Big Bear City and the Inland Empire, and past awards including the Valley’s 1993 Firefighter of the Year Award and, in 1997, Firefighter of the Year for San Bernardino County. Of Barnett, who’s been with the department since 1987, Chief Willis said, “He makes me proud every day.” Chief Willis also singled out another star on his department, recently retired Engineer Mike Cormican. Willis noted that Cormican was a paid-call firefighter back in 1979 when the Big Bear City Fire Department was all paid-call; as Cormican lived across the street at the time, he was first to respond and, ultimately, became an engineer when the department started full-time staffing in 1989. In addition to becoming the station’s software reporting guru and go-to IT guy, per Willis, he noted that Cormican has “a heart as big as it gets”—as is evidenced by his implementation of the holiday shopping spree for kids program, started seven years ago.
In other news from the CSD Directors meeting on Monday, the Board approved an additional four of the eleven total sections of the state-mandated Sewer System Management Plan being overseen by Sewer Superintendent Mike Johanson, and also voted to enroll in the Proposition 1A Securitization Program. Participating in the program would allow for immediate reimbursement of Prop 1A receivables through the California Communities bond option, rather than wait for these tax revenues with interest until 2013, though a final decision will be made at a future CSD meeting.