Virginia Professional Fire Fighters

IAFF  -  AFL-CIO

 

R. Michael Mohler                                                               Michael W. Hanks

       President                                                                                  Secretary Treasurer

 

VPFF BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING – May 16, 2005

 

The May 16, 2005 Board of Directors Meeting of the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters was opened by President Michael Mohler at the ACE Center, Oak Hill, Virginia, at 1:00 PM. 

 

President Mohler asked everyone to bow their heads for a moment of silent prayer in remembrance of our fallen brothers and sisters. 

 

President Mohler asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag.

 

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS: 

Present:  President Mike Mohler, Secretary-Treasurer Mike Hanks, Vice Presidents: Rodney Jordan, Robert Bragg, Colin Flanigan, Ben Burbic, David Nuckols, Ray Steffens and Mike O’Neill,  Directors:  Local 68, Ray Steffens for James Mikell; Local 794, S.L. Seda-Morales; Local 1132, Steve McFaden; Local 1146, Art Lipscomb; Local 1568, Matt Dix; Local 2068, Colin Flanigan for John Niemiec; Local 2141, John Vollmer; Local 2363, David Werner; Local 2499, Keith Bowen; Local 2532, Tom Doss; Local 2598, Bruce Roemmelt; Local 2800, Robert Beer; Local 2801, Marc Triplett; Local 2803, Greg Beasley; Local 3194, Danny Irvin; Local 3221, Tom Moffitt; Local 3478, James Poindexter; Local 4202, Russ Acors;  Local 4314 Ed Bonham; Local 4438, Steve Reedal and Local F-273, Michael O’Neill for James Smith. 

 

IN ATTENDANCE: VPFF Secretary Treasurer Emeritus Duane Dixon; VPFF Trustees: Toby Martin, Gary Samuels and Jon Willdigg.  Members: Local 3478, Charles Adkins.

 

 

President Mohler appointed S/T Emeritus Dixon as parliamentarian.

 

Secretary Treasurers Report by S/T Mike Hanks:    Secretary Treasurer Hanks presented the minutes from the January 17, 2005 Board of Directors meeting.   S/T Hanks said there was two corrections to the minutes emailed the Directors and those were: changes in some of the numbers for L3468 and some addition to the District 3 report.

 

Motion was made by VP Burbic to accept the minutes as presented, then seconded by VP Bragg.  There being no discussion, a vote was taken and the   motion passed unanimously.

 

Treasurers Report presented by S/T Hanks: He asked if there were any questions.  VP Bragg said that the Trustees had inquired about the Burn Fund.  S/T Hanks reported that the account did not have any activity, other than a $.26 deposit by the United Way and it appeared that all donations were now going directly to the camp.  He continued by saying that maintaining the account was not a problem but that he could not see the justification for it if no funds were going in to it and it would eventually deplete itself. 

 

Motion was made by VP Jordan to accept the minutes as presented, then seconded by VP Bragg.  There being no discussion, a vote was taken and the   motion passed unanimously.

 

2004-2005 Audit report presented by Trustee Samuels:   On May 15, 2005, the Trustees of the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters conducted an audit of the records of the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters.  Present at the meeting were Chairman Gary Samuels, Trustee Toby Martin and Trustee Jon Willdigg.  Available to assist was Secretary Treasurer Emeritus Duane Dixon and to answer any questions, Secretary Treasurer Mike Hanks.  The records examined were from the period of May 1, 2004 to April 30, 2005.  All the minutes from this period were found to be complete and in order.  All financial records were complete and in order and no discrepancies were found.  An IAFF Auditors report was completed and a copy sent to the IAFF General Secretary Treasurer with a copy to be maintained in the VPFF files.

 

Motion was made by VP Bragg to accept the minutes as presented, then seconded by VP Burbic.  There being no discussion, a vote was taken and the   motion passed unanimously.

 

 

IAFF report by 4^th District VP Bill Taylor:  S/T Hanks reported that VP Taylor could not attend meeting and asked his regrets be given to the Directors.

Report of Committees:

 

Communications Committee report by David Werner:    Since the last report, the website has been updated on a regular basis and email information has been flowing.  Anybody who feels they are not getting information, needs to send me an email with the email address they want information to go to.  I have now secured a place on the website to put information that we can use to put information just for us and not the public.  We need to figure out what information we want to place in the secure place.  I am researching to see if I can issue each local their own email address through the VPFF website.  The email example would be local 2363@vpff.org.  Then you could either access the email account through the website or have the email forwarded to another account.  This would be easier for me to track email accounts.

 

Educational Seminar report by S/T Hanks:   S/T Hanks reported that brother Pravetz has stepped down as the Director for the seminar but will continue to help.   He reported that after much ado about the dates they have been set for September 29-30 with the board meeting on the September 28.  He also said that the seminar will be in the same location as last year, Holiday Inn Sunspree, Virginia Beach.  S/T Hanks reported that the topics as discussed in previous board meetings will be Wellness/Fitness and EMS billing.  He asked if the board had any other topics they wish to have covered at the seminar.  Two topics were discussed; PAC fund direct contributions and new affiliate leadership training with emphasis given to the Secretary Treasurer position.  President Mohler said that District 3 had Eric Lamar from the IAFF come in and conducted an ALT’s class for the District.  He continued by saying that this is something that is available to all the districts. 

 

EMS Committee report by President Mohler:  President Mohler said that Committee chairman VP Burbic was stepping down due to personal reasons and that VP Flanigan has just been appointed as chair.  He continued by saying that we want to get union members appointed to the EMS council positions. 

 

Fire Service Board report by President Mohler:  President Mohler said that since our last board meeting, brother Scott Heckler had been hired as Assistant Director for the Department of Fire Programs.  He also said that brother Heckler was looking at a way that he could remain a member with his local.  Brother Beasley said that the local at a way to keep him a member and would report back to President Mohler if they are able to do so.  He continued by saying that brother Heckler was working well with everyone at DFP.  President Mohler reported that SAFER funding application process would open up on June 24 and the State matching funds will be ready by then.  He also said there would be a link from the VPFF website to the DFP website for additional information on SAFER.  President Mohler said he thought that Lora Sharkey’s term would be coming up and thought that she could not serve a second term.  He asked for people who were willing to serve to contact him. 

 

Human Relations Committee report by President Mohler:  He reported on the last conference “Women in the Fire Service”.   He said the IAFF Human Relations conference will be in January in San Antonio, Texas.  He encouraged the membership to attend. 

 

Legislative Committee report by Art Lipscomb:  LD Lipscomb reported on a regulation change that deals with the voluntary suspension of certifications for six months.  This would allow an EMT, etc. to turn in their certifications for six months.  President Mohler asked that this be turned over to the EMS committee to research and report to the Executive Board for a decision.  LD Lipscomb said that legislation was approved for the OEM to set up fines for agencies or entities not providers.  If anyone has suggestion on that topic get with EMS chairman VP Flanigan.  He continued by saying that we need members to get on the EMS advisory board.  He went over the 2005 Voting Record.  He said that information not included were things that would be hard to calculate such as Senator Quayle became a savior on the bill that would have done away with our line of duty act.  He also said that the legislators who worked against us are not reflected in the Voting Record. 

 

President Mohler thanked Brother Lipscomb for stepping up and becoming the legislative director.  He also thanked S/T Hanks and S/T Emeritus Dixon for their work, Local 2801 for all the assistance at the legislative conference, Brother Lilienthal and Brother Staples for their work on the line of duty bill and all that came down during the General Assembly. President Mohler also acknowledged the help that Fairfax Chief Mike Riley was instrumental in the defeat of the gunpowder bill.

        

 He asked the Directors to take ten minutes to review the Candidate Questionnaire and make any comments or recommendations.  He continued by saying the Executive Board was bringing it forth for approval.  The meeting was recessed for ten minutes.

The Board of Directors meeting was call back to order at 2:15 PM by President Mohler.

 

Brother Tom Doss, L2532 asked for a point of personal privilege which was granted.   He said he had been a recipient of the line of duty act and wished to thank the VPFF for all their efforts. 

 

President Mohler asked if there were any questions on the questionnaire.  A motion was made by VP Bragg to approve candidate questionnaire submitted to the Directors and seconded by VP Jordan.  There being no discussion and a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

 

President Mohler said he will be asking the District Vice Presidents to conduct some screening processes in their districts with the Locals and the candidates. 

 

President Mohler spoke on the Republican legislators who went against right wing party demands and supported overhauling the tax structure.  He further stated that some of the legislators are now facing opposition in their re-election bids because of it.  He asked that the Board of Directors consider endorsing in the primaries Preston Bryant, Joe May, Ed Scott, Gary Reese, Bobby Orrock and Harry Parrish.   A motion was made by VP Flanigan to endorse the candidacy of Preston Bryant, Joe May, Ed Scott, Gary Reese, Bobby Orrock and Harry Parrish and was seconded by VP Nuckols.  Under discussion Brother Acors asked if the locals in these districts were “on board” with these endorsements.  President Mohler said he had talked to most and would do so with the rest.  LD Lipscomb spoke how Preston Byrant had supported us on most of our issues and that Local 1146 is active in campaigning for him.   There being no further discussion and a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

 

A motion was made by VP Nuckols to endorse the candidacy of Melvin Law and to contribute a $1,000 to his campaign and was seconded by VP Bragg.  Under discussion VP Nuckols said that this motion was brought to the 5^th District meeting by Local 995 President Pulliam.  He continued by saying that Mr. Law has supported Local 995 and had established a good working relationship.  There being no further discussion and a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

 

A motion was made by VP Steffens to endorse the candidacy of Delcino Miles and was seconded by VP Jordan.  Under discussion President Mohler noted that Local 2924 had endorsed Ms Miles and VP Steffens said the district had endorsed her.  There being no further discussion and a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Brother Poindexter asked if we could get our endorsements of these candidates on the website and he was told we would. 

 

President asked any local that had any funds available to contribute to the PAC fund.  He also asked which local had the due check-off available through the IAFF.  He then spoke on the advantages of having the locals do so.  He asked if the Board would like to have this as a workshop at the Educational Seminar.  The general consensus was in favor of the workshop. 

 

President Mohler said he would be bringing a recommendation to the Executive Board for discussion that our voting records be ever two years for the House of Delegates and every four years for the Senate.  If approved, the recommendation will go to the Board of Directors. 

 

President Mohler introduced Brother Bruce Roemmelt, candidate for the thirteenth district in the House of Representatives.

 

Brother Roemmelt went over his campaign strategy.  He then said that the way for a newcomer to win an election was through time and money.   He continued by saying that raising money was one of the most difficult things in a political effort.  He said that in the first reporting period his campaign out raised his opponent by a 3-to-1 margin.  His intent, he said, was to have the same results in the second period ending at the last of May.  Brother Roemmelt said that he would support the issues important to professional fire fighters and would have a 100% voting record.  He credited the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters for “saving his life” because of the heart lung bill when he had to have heart by-pass surgery.  He thanked everyone for their support and said he would be available after the meeting to discuss his candidacy. 

 

VP Bragg asked for a point of personal privilege which was granted.  He said that the VP’s had met the night before and all decided to give an equivalent of a month of their VPFF salary to his campaign. 

 

VP Jordan reported on the “Scott air mask issue”.  He said the issue began in Salem when during a routine check a number of deficiencies were found.  At first Scott would not take any responsibility for the failures.  Then after several days of back and forth communications with the company and other localities, Scott issued a “safety recall” which was back dated to before the deficiencies were found.  Brother Adkins, Local 3478, presented a power point presentation showing the failures and what to look for during the inspections of the air mask.  VP Jordan said that in the initial inspection of the masks in Roanoke City they looked okay, but when slight pressure was applied, in 7 out of 10 masks the bezel ring broke.  He said that Scott gave them the run around but after the Chief insisted they sent the replacement parts.  Brother Poindexter asked about the IAFF establishing a data base for equipment failures, etc.  President Mohler asked Brother Poindexter to write a letter to General President Schaitberger with copies to VP Jordan, himself, VP Taylor and Rich Duffy to ask if that could be accomplished. 

 

President Mohler went over the Foundation for Virginia material that was handed out.  He pointed out where it showed his appointment to the Board and the statement of principles with public safety being a core issue.  He said the original statement on public safety did not include DFP funding or staffing, new equipment and training for firefighters.  It was through his influence that it was amended to include the aforementioned items.  It continued by saying this group has been very influential in the last two years.  President Mohler said because of our limited financial resources it becomes more important to have strong coalitions.  He then said that the Foundation would be an effective vehicle for accomplishing our goals.  He asked the Board of Directors to consider paying $10,000 out of reserves (savings) to pay membership fee to belong to this organization.  He asked the Board to meet in district caucuses to discuss his recommendation. 

   

President Mohler recessed the meeting for fifteen minutes. 

 

The meeting was called back to order at 4:00 PM by President Mohler.

 

A motion was made by Brother Vollmer to cover the cost ($10,000) to belong to the Foundation for Virginia and to bring continued membership to the VPFF 2006 Convention.  The motion was seconded by Brother Lipscomb.  Under discussion Brother Triplett said he had some concerns about there being large numbers of board members from the other groups to our one, the cost versus benefits and if this is a recurrent cost and if so he had concerns over the cost of a possible per capita increase.  President Mohler responded by saying if the professional fire fighters are not in this group who would be advocating for public safety?  He then said that the original draft for public safety policy was primarily for law enforcement.  He said this group has the “ear” of influential people in State government.  He recalled that as a result of his being on the Board he had just been invited to political fund raiser (without costing us a dollar) for the “Virginians For Effective Leadership”.   He said it was a predominately Republican group.  He said the event was sponsored by the Senate’s “big five”, Senators Chichester, Stolle, Stosch, Wampler and Norment that was surprised but please that he was there because they view or organization as a Democratic one.  Brother Poindexter asked if the per capita increase would be recurring at each convention.  S/T Hanks said that the 14 cent increase would take care of funding $10,000 per year for as long as we belong to the organization.  He also said the Convention will need to look at a 3 cent increase (sunset after 5 years) to cover the cost of replacing the funds taken from savings.  President Mohler said he would look at trying to get the fee reduced and other funding sources to pay the fee.  Brother Vollmer said neither or he or his members had a problem with the increase in dues.  He said if we were not involved then we would not be included on the document that President Mohler presented.  He said concerning risks that we take risk all the time when we endorse candidates and when we go to work.  He continued by saying that as a state organization we can not expect to grow if we don’t increase dues.  Brother Moffitt asked if we would be able to see tangible evidence that we will see by convention that this is an organization will want to continue to support.  President Mohler said that we should be able to see something by that time.  Brother Bonham asked if by VACO being on the board would they be able to shut our agenda out.  President Mohler said that VACO doesn’t have that kind of power and his VACO contacts on the Board were friendly.  Brother Irvin said that looking at the make-up of the Board that we have a greater influence because we have one person (Mohler) speaking for public safety whereas higher education has twelve people deciding on its agenda.  He said somebody will fill the public safety position that it is a good investment that we be that somebody.  VP Jordan said that if we did not have a position then that would be filled by Fire Chief or State Police, etc being the voice for us.  He continued by saying that at our board meetings someone is always saying the Chief, Council, etc won’t meet with them, in fact begging to be at the table.   If we vote against this then we are saying we don’t want to be at the table.  VP Burbic asked how the police organizations play into the organization.  President Mohler said that they had not been at the last seven meetings and that he was the one voted to be on the board.  VP Burbic said he just didn’t want to see a cop’s picture on a flyer.  President Mohler responded that if given the choice of having his picture on a flyer or matching funds for DFP, then he would choose matching funds every time.  An amendment was made by VP Burbic that with the exception of mileage, no other monies beside the initial $10,000 be paid out of VPFF funds to the Foundation for Virginia.  The motion was seconded by Brother Triplett.  Under discussion VP Burbic said that there is a concern that by us being apart of this organization it would cost additional money to attend events, etc.  Brother Lipscomb offered a friendly amendment to the amendment except those costs approved by the Executive Board.  VP Burbic agreed to the friendly amendment and the second to the amendment, Brother Triplett agreed.  VP Flanigan spoke against the amendment saying the motion was clear and the amendment “muddied” it up.  VP Bragg said he was in favor of the amendment because something unforeseen may come up and this gives the Executive Board the ability to take action on it.  Brother Irvin asked President Mohler if he thought this would hamstring his ability.  President Mohler replied with the amendment it did not.  An amendment to the amendment was made by Brother Irvin to change with the exception of mileage to with the exception of travel(meals and lodging included).  The amendment to the amendment was seconded by Brother Bonham.  Under discussion Brother Irvin said if the President was going to act on our behalf we should not expect him to pay for meals and lodging.  VP Steffens said that technically that was covered under the amendment.  Brother Irvin withdrew the amendment to the amendment with the concurrence of the second, Brother Bonham.   There was call for the question and it passed unanimously.  A vote was taken on the amendment to the motion and the amendment passed with two voting no.   Under discussion on the motion as amended, Brother Poindexter said that in the future he would like to have the information on subjects such as this in advance of the meeting.  VP Steffens said he had a concern that we may be put in a situation where the organization may be accused of mud slinging and we would have to defend it.  VP Bragg was recognized said that is not likely to happen because of the make up of the Board being Democrats, Republicans and Independents.  There was a call for the question and it passed unanimously.  There was a vote taken and the motion as amended passed with two voting no. 

 

VP Bragg gave a history of the Burn Camp and how the Burn Fund was set up.  He said that the Trustees had approached him to ask his opinion on dissolving the fund. 

 

A motion was made by VP Bragg to dissolve the Burn Fund with half of the funds to go the IAFF Burn Research ($3228.43) and the other half to go to the Central Virginia Burn Camp ($3228.44).  The motion was seconded by VP Jordan.  There being no discussion a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

 

VP Bragg announced he had raffle tickets to benefit the American Cancer Center walk. 

 

Brother Irvin said that Local 3194 can now fill the boot at intersections for MDA. 

 

A motion was made by LD Lipscomb to have a Legislator of the Year award to be given the first day of the legislative conference each year.  The motion was seconded by VP Bragg.   Under discussion, VP Nuckols asked if there were any costs other than the purchase of the award.  LD Lipscomb said there would be none.  There being no further discussion a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously. 

 

A motion was made by VP Burbic to extend meeting for five minutes.  The motion was seconded by VP Nuckols.  There being no discussion a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

 

President Mohler called on Trustee Martin to make the Scholarship Awards presentations.  Brother Martin an award for Thomas Willey and his award will be sent to L2449 President Barker.  An award for Mallory Morphew was presented to L2499 President Bowen.  An award for Ashton Hoff was presented to VP Flanigan (L2068).  Last, an award for Whitney Packett was present to VP Nuckols (L1568).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

District Reports

 

District 1 reported by Vice President Rodney A. Jordan:  District 1 has had a busy few months. Since our January Board Meeting and Legislative Conference members of District 1 Traveled to and from Richmond to assist Legislative Director Lipscomb with our Stroke Legislation. We were very disappointed that our efforts were unsuccessful. In March I attended the IAFF Legislative Conference in Washington D.C. to represent our District. Since January we have assisted Our Brothers and Sisters in Danville with several workers comp. issues. We were also pleased to assist the Danville Local with an IAFF Flag to be used as a back drop for a Retirement Ceremony that numerous Danville dignitaries were attending. Our Brothers and Sisters in Salem are facing major alterations to their shift schedule. While they currently work 12 hour shifts on a 4 platoon system they will be changed to 24 hour shifts with a 3 platoon system. We have been working with the Salem Local to try to insure fair compensation in this crossover. While Roanoke County, Roanoke City, Vinton, and the City of Salem all participate in a regional hiring process we are currently working to try to influence the leaders of these respective organizations to make pay and benefits equal across the board as well. City of Roanoke Firefighters have been working diligently to convince their City Council to insure pay parity among all City of Roanoke Public Safety Employees. The Fire-EMS Department as well as the Sheriffs Department fell behind when the City of Roanoke awarded its Police Officers a 4% pay raise that was not extended to Fire-EMS employees and Sheriffs Deputies. While fair and equal treatment of our members is always a high priority it seems that we are experiencing more attacks on  pay and benefit issues.  Therefore we must work within our Districts as well as throughout the State to Lobby for funding to prevent attacks on our pay and benefits.

 

District 2 reported by Vice President Robert Bragg:  Since our last meeting in January I have had contact with the locals in the district to advise them on issues and problems and held one district meeting in March. One of the major issues that have arisen in the district is that of Emergency Medical Services billing and it impacts on the departments and the local. In general discussions it is obvious than none of us are versed enough on this issue, as it is new to the Western part of the state. I have consulted with other Vice Presidents and the International to help educate the locals in my district. I have requested that this topic be one of the educational seminars in the fall at our Conference.  Orange County local had an issue that involved the hiring of personnel who did not meet the job requirements for employment or for the pay grade they were placed in. The local was advised to work through their EMS Director and OMD and then consult the political structure for their area. After a few weeks of meetings they were able to resolve the issue with folks receiving the proper pay and requirements for their grade. They have also had a name change; they are now the Orange Co Fire and EMS Services. The County continues to move forward with fire staffing.  Spotsylvania Co Local has had a very busy first few months of the year. They have been involved through the budget process with the issue of part-time firefighters, 24/7 staffing, and EMS billing. The local has been advised on each of these issues and also the International. Several members of IAFF L-2068 have tried to assist the local as they live in their area. I have had no response to my inquires about their activities or outcome. I have asked Pres. Mohler to contact them as he lives near the county.  The City of Staunton local is dealing with EMS Billing and a grievance through the Augusta Co local that directly relates to the process. They have a firefighter who had two years ago taken over the running of the EMS side of the department as it pertained to recorded keeping and training.  The firefighter was given a 2.5% pay increase for his efforts but no official promotion or pay grade change. The Chief decided that after two years a Captain should take over the program and removed the firefighter from those duties and pay. The firefighter felt this was relation for issues that he raised over a previous promotional process. The firefighter also works for an EMS billing service that will be doing work with the County. The firefighter was also threatened with termination if he did not leave his employment with that organization. Dave Lyons (grievance arbitrator) was contacted and was able to successful handle the case for the employee.  In Charlottesville we are in the process of possible merger talks with Albemarle County. The talks are in the very early stages and the request for proposal for bids of a consultant are in the works. Our Chief of 34 years is retiring in July and we are involved through the city manger and council to select an interim chief as the merger talks move forward. We are also dealing with a new policy on Alcohol and Drug testing which is to go into effect July 1. We have been working with the city for over 7 years on this and unfortunately the policy still has numerous flaws. The biggest of which makes it a one-strike policy with no means of rehabilitation. In our meetings with our Human Resources Director he assures us that the language change will be made to correct that and the city never had any intention for it to be like that. However, after I produced a document from him signed in 2003 that said the changes would be made, in the supervisory training conducted this month by him they were not. I was notified this week that he has lost all the information that we have provided since the discussions started. I have informed him that legal action will be taken if the implementation of the program starts before all parties are in agreement.  Also, district locals will work through me for coordination in the Republican Primary races in June. The contested races within our district involve those incumbents who voted for last year’s budget amendments. No-tax increase funded challengers are challenging them. I have contacted the IAFF for membership lists in the targeted races.  New Officers: L-3762  Fauquier, President: Sam Welch L- 2960 Fredericksburg, Secretary: Eric Hass, Treasurer: Trey Lewis

District 5 reported by Vice President David Nuckols:  We have had a busy spring in the 5^th District.  The following reports the activities in our district:  General Assembly:  Many 5^th locals remained active during the session by making phone calls and visiting their elected officials.  We had a couple of newcomers to the system that learned a great deal.  We also are seeing some additional interest from others that are becoming more active.  We met as a district in early May to discuss several items.  The main topic was the Foundation for Virginia.  Those attending the meeting formulated a list of question to be discussed at the May Board meeting in W. VA.  We also discussed Local issues such as the new Henrico ALS incentive pay, Richmond’s Fire Chief vacancy, upcoming General Assembly races and several other issues.  The meeting was attended by 5 of our locals.  I will be setting up a meeting of interested parties in VRS to set a focus for our legislative agenda.  This was requested by Jeff Crawford through President Mohler.  We welcome input from any affected.  I still have a few locals that I am trying to communicate better with.  Hopefully I will be able to get all 5^th district locals involved. 

 

District 6 reported by Vice President Ray Steffens:  The locals in the Tidewater District have all been dealing with their respective local governments and the FY 06 budgets. All the budgets will be finalized by the end of the month, at which point we can report how we all made out.  We also had a District meeting in March and discussed the upcoming political races, the membership in the Foundation for Va. as well as local reports. We welcomed a number of new Presidents to the fold, including Tyrone Wisher from Portsmouth, Mark Triplett from Suffolk and Charles Lavene from Suffolk.  President Lavene and myself attended the Kaine rally here at ODU though we noticed that not many prominent local Democrats were in attendance. I also attended meetings at the Ocean View Rec Center where I was able to chat with Senator Rerras, and Delegates Miller and Howell regarding our issues. Later I met with Congressman Scott at a campaign rally for Sheriff McCabe here in Norfolk.  We have another District meeting scheduled for May 14th which the Foundation for Va. membership will undoubtedly be a major point of discussion.  See ya on "the View"

 

District 7 reported by Vice President Michael O’Neill:  Virginia made out fairly well for the most part with the proposed DOD restructuring. We have some losses at Fort Eustis but Fort Belvoir and Fort Lee gain substantially under this proposal. Belvoir can see over 18,000 military and civilians coming onto the base and Fort Lee could see over 4,000.  We shall have to see what happens when the proposal goes before the full BRAC committee. Changes have been made in the past based on political and other pressures so we have a long way to go before claiming any victory. DOD Personnel Reform:  The IAFF along with other AFL-CIO unions continue to meet with DOD regarding the proposal drastic changes to employee policy as well as union rights. Weekly progress updates of these meetings can be found online at http://www.uniteddodworkerscoalition.org/.  According to messages received this week from IAFF DVP Johnson, things still do not look favorable for workers. The IAFF feels that this will trickle down to states and cities if DOD is successful.  We would like to thank those that submitted comments to the federal register when the proposed rules were released by DOD. It does help for Congress to see that there isn’t much support for spending the time and money to implement this while we are in the middle of major shortfalls in funding as well as being at war in a number of places.

Hearings set for Federal Presumptive Bill ;  The House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections has scheduled a hearing for our federal presumptive bill [HR 697] May 26 at 10:30 in room 2175 of the Rayburn building. Rep. Jo Ann Davis [R-VA] introduced the bill. So far we have Rep. Moran [D-VA] and Rep. Wolf [R-VA] signed on as co-sponsors.  We still need help in gathering co-sponsors for this bill. So far we do not have a Senate version of this bill so if you could please concentrate on your US House members and ask them to support this bill that would give federal fire fighters this needed coverage.   No IAFF locals so far in VA appear to be loosing any positions because of BRAC. Fort Monroe will loose some but that is an NAGE local.

F-25 is calling for legislation modeled after several other state programs. I have enclosed one of the current laws from California for the boards review. It might be something that we can expand as they have to all fire fighters in the state.  DOD Personnel Reform:  IAFF and other unions are still trying to work out issues with DOD over the new personnel system. Congress does not seem to want to be involved any more so DOD will most likely get their way.  Hearings on Federal Presumptive Bill:  The House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held hears for our federal presumptive bill [HR 697] May 26 at 10:30 in room 2175 of the Rayburn building. Rep. Jo Ann Davis [R-VA] introduced the bill. So far we have Rep. Moran [D-VA] and Rep. Wolf [R-VA] signed on as co-sponsors.  Rep. Drake against questioned “lifestyle choices” of fire fighters. I gave the IAFF DVP a heads up that she had that position regarding infectious disease provisions of the bill and that that she might ask that question again and she did.  She is an important part of the bill since she serves on the subcommittee.

 

 

 

 

Reports of Locals

 

Local 68 reported by Ray Steffens:  For most the official "city budget season" is over, but not in Norfolk. We had a very successful year getting our Master Firefighter program funded, so our members can now be paid for their skills and go through the pay plan 33% faster. We also were successful in maintaining our longevity based pay plan, with most of our members getting their 2.5% increment raises on their anniversary date again this year. All employees will receive a 1.5% COLA. Also, the city will absorb an 8% increase in our health insurance premiums for both incumbent employees and retirees. So for the third year in a row our members will not see a rise in their health insurance.  Retirees will see a rare 1% COLA, and will also see no increase in their health insurance premiums. However, our city still refuses to fund any of the retiree's health insurance premiums.  While we did not see the City Manager respond to our request for a DROP program, I have spoken with the Mayor and he has expressed a desire to meet with us regarding this popular benefit. So our "budget season" goes into overtime as we work to bring this benefit to our members.  Lastly, we will see a mass exodus of our members as the city has offered a retirement incentive. Baseline 25 year employees can retire at 62.5% with a capped benefit at 26 years. The city has agreed to ADD 5% on that baseline and add an additional 1/2% for each year up to 35. Thus a 35 year employee can retire at 75% of their salary. We expect about 50 or 10% of our membership to take this offer.  Hopefully we will gain a DROP program and really give our members a reason to look forward to retirement...In Unity there is strength

 

Local 1132 reported by Steve McFaden:  Since our last report Local 1132 has been busy on many fronts. Politically we traveled to Richmond to assist Legislative Director Lipscomb with our Stroke Legislation. We are looking forward to the upcoming elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and members of the General Assembly. We hope to continue to support candidates that support and promote Fire Fighter issues.  We continue to work on educating our City Council on the effects of our FMLA concerns as well as the Cities overtime regulations.  It seems as soon as we finish one grievance another arises we currently have two grievances in the works now and a possible third on the way. On the job front our department continues to experience retirements in large numbers. It is expected that we will hire 14-16 new recruits sometime in the month of June with a new recruit school starting in mid July. We continue to battle City Council over their decision to grant City Police Officers a 4% pay increase while denying Fire-EMS and Sheriffs Deputies the same raise. We are insisting that pay parity among Public Safety employees must be achieved. . President Jordan attended the IAFF Legislative Conference in Washington D.C. and reported to our members the benefit of attending this conference as well as the need for each and every member of our local to become politically active to insure protecting the good and welfare of our membership. Our remodeling efforts are moving forward and we are excited to continue to move our local forward as it relates to making our facilities technically savvy. Our revamping of our constitution and by-laws are moving slower than expected as we have decided to reevaluate our dues structure. This is necessary to assure that we continue to address the changes that are taking place throughout the Fire Service as well as the VPFF and IAFF. On the MDA front our Golf Tournament will be held on July 14^th.  We are also trying something new this year; City Police will play City Fire Fighters in a charity basketball game with funds raised going to MDA. We are looking forward to increasing our contributions to MDA. We have also agreed to continue our yearly tradition of cooking a meal for our MDA kids at there yearly camp. We continue to look for ways to promote our message among our citizens as to what we do and how we make a difference in the community. We also search for creative ways to move our agenda forward in hopes of making our workplace a safer and more prosperous career.

 

Local 2141 reported by John Vollmer:  Since the last Board meeting, the City approved its annual budget.  The City is giving a 2% COLA and adding a “P” step to the end of the pay scale.  That will give those folks at top pay a 2.3% pay increase.  Ourselves and the Police Assoc. have met with the Mayor and members of Council on pay issues.  Currently Alexandria is the lowest paid of the five current comparable jurisdictions.  The City did its own benchmark study, but we and the cops had no input on the classes being compared nor did we get a copy.  The Mayor agreed to put a committee together with the labor groups and the City to hire an outside consultant to do a “real” comparison, with any adjustments being retro-active to July 1, 2005.  Currently our local is going through a lot.  We have one employee who was terminated, and four different grievances going on.  We are currently fighting them all.  We intend on introducing legislation this year to allow our medics, who are under VRS, into LEORS.  There was a bill last year, but was tabled in committee.  All principle officers were re-elected for two more years in April. 

 

Local 2363 reported by David Werner:  Since last report, President Bragg, VP Werner and Sec/Tre Jeremy Graybill have elected for another two-year term.  We have also been working with City Council on next years budget pertaining to Stations and apparatus.  We are also working and learning how the new City computer system (SAP) will work.  With new city policy on drug testing, we have been meeting with Personnel Director reviewing the policy and voicing our concerns.  Like to thank  the Locals who sent information pertaining to their policy on drug testing.  With the announcement of Chief Talaiferro’s retirement, the City of Charlottesville will be searching for a new Fire Chief.  The City of Charlottesville and the County of Albermarle are talking and investigating the possibilities of merging the two departments.  While this is happening there will be an interim Fire Chief which we are participating and having conversations with the City Manager.  We are now preparing for the upcoming events, Central Virginia Burn Camp, American Cancer and MDA Boot Drive. 

 

 

Local 2499 reported by Keith Bowen:  Our brother Stacy Farley is still on deployment in Iraq.  We are encouraging praying for him and his family.  We held a golf outing for his family, and raised $400.  Local 2499 attended the tri-cities area locals meetings.  We are assisting an area Fire Department in becoming organized and we are encouraged that a second is inquiring about our meetings.  We have contributed to several of the upcoming political races.  We have begun preparing for the Central Virginia Burn Camp.  If anyone has members wishing to help us cook please contact Keith Bowen.  We are preparing for our booth at the NASCAR August race.  We have begun to request interviews with the candidates for the upcoming city council race.

Local 2800 reported by Robert Beer:   These are the following issues that is being worked on:  Pay for Performance, Officers on medic units, Shorter work week (53 hours), Relief on Disability Retirement cap, Discipline Diversion, Mid-year market adjustment.

 

Local 2801 reported by Marc Triplett:   We have taken an active role in the City’s upcoming budget.  The City Manager’s proposed budget includes an additional $1.5 million to fund the pay reclassification of all public safety employees within the City.  We have been working on this endeavor for three years now.  A pay study was commissioned last year at the Local’s urging and has been completed.  The report of the study is not yet available but the Fire Chief indicated to me that the numbers he has been privy to look promising for our members to see a better than expected pay increase this year.   I have worked with the Fire Chief during this process and we still appear to have the same goals in mind for our members.  I have spoken with members of City Council both publicly and privately and have every indication that there are enough votes to pass the fire dept. budget and implement the reclassification.  We recently invited Sen. Fred Quayle and Del. Chris Jones to our monthly meeting to publicly thank and honor them for their efforts in the past General Assembly on behalf of Virginia’s professional firefighters.  It is our intention to honor other elected officials in the region who also stood with us during session.  During our last monthly meeting, our membership voted to form an exploratory committee to research steps needed to form a non-profit, tax deductible 501(C)(3) foundation whose purpose will be to provide additional assistance to our members in need.  If any of the Locals now have a similar “fund”, any advice or direction would be appreciated.  I have bee appointed to serve on a supervisory committee for the Suffolk City Employees Federal Credit Union.  It is my hope that we can continue to build and strengthen the relationship between the credit union and our Local.  Continuing to foster this relationship will hopefully translate to more services and opportunities for our Local members.  We have several new hires currently in recruit school.  Within the next month or so we intend to present them with the opportunity of IAFF membership.  A few of them are family members of current or active-retired IAFF members.  Stay safe. 

 

Local 2803 reported by Greg Beasley:   The federal lawsuit (EEO) that the local supported has finally ended.  The member from Local 2803 who was involved with the case has left Chesterfield Fire for a position with the Department of Fire Programs (DFP) and has expressed interest in staying in Local 2803.  This case was extremely complicated and stressful both financially and emotionally for all involved.  This case cost Local 2803 $50,000.00 which was approved by the Local’s membership, but as the Executive Board later found out was in violation of our By-Laws.  The member involved was only entitled to $5,000.00 (for EEO cases) and no vote by the membership can change that.  The Local member’s attorney wanted to charge the Local an additional $14,000.00 in legal fees (in addition to the $50,000.00 already paid her) and for the member’s court cost of approximately $4,300.00.  The Local had to hire an attorney (Jay Levit) to defend the local because the member’s attorney (Carolyn Carpenter) threatened Local 2803 with a lawsuit.  I am glad to say that the Local is not going to be sued and that the money issues have been resolved in the Local’s favor.  As many of the directors may remember, we held a closed door meeting about the individual involved in this case and asked the VPFF to help with getting the member appointed with DFP which they did.  Local 2803 requested help from the IAFF through Bill Taylor.  Bill requested that the questions Local 2803 needed answered be given to him in writing.  After that meeting, I provided Bill with all written information I had about the case, along with the list of questions we needed answered.  To date, we have not heard back from the IAFF.  Local 2803 pays the IAFF about $40,000.00 a year in per capita dues and we received no help from the IAFF on this issue.  Local 2803 had to hire an attorney to protect the Local from being sued and we are still in jeopardy of losing our tax exempt status.  It would be nice to get some help from the IAFF instead of them telling Local 2803 that we should hire an attorney to protect the Local.  Chesterfield Fire has appointed a new Fire Chief, Paul Mauger.  Chief Mauger was one of the founding members of Local 2803.  Chief Mauger has been very easy to work with on issues that we have gone to him about already.  We look forward to working with him in the future.  No members of CF&EMS career personnel are assigned to station 10.  They have relocated to a Volunteer Rescue Squad building due to a significant mold problem at station 10.  This problem was brought to light due to Gaston and it has taken some time to get FFs out of station 10.  VP Greg Beasley of Local 2803 will be serving as Director of Local 2803 at the VPFF meetings due to the fact President Pete Svoboda is unable to attend the meeting due to other commitments.   

 

Local 3194 reported by Danny Irvin:   Our Local is pleased to announce that with the help of MDA we have successfully lobbied an ordinance change in Roanoke County to allow fill-the-boot at intersections.  We will continue to work toward being allowed to do this on duty.  Any local needing specific information on how we were able to accomplish this change, please contact President Irvin.  We are also pleased to announce that our paramedics/FF’s through captain will be receiving an average 9-9.5% increase in pay.  Our FF’s, however were left out of this increase.  VP Jordan is working to have a meeting of our E-Boards to discuss differences in our pay & benefits throughout the Roanoke Valley.  We hope to be able to include our FF’s in this increase as soon as possible.

 

Local 3221 reported by Tom Moffett:   Our Local will be planning form some fund raisers for our Local burn camp in the very near future.  In June, we will be assisting L3468 (Staunton) with a fund raiser at the new HD dealership.  We will be hiring 3 this summer and applying for the SAFER Grants as soon as available.    

 

Local 3406 reported by Charles Lavene (sent in):  Our recent Golf outing/Fundraiser at Ocean View GC in Norfolk was a huge success.  We had twenty four teams, with a large majority being members of Locals throughout the Tidewater District. Members of Local 3406 want to thank all the brothers and sisters who played… with a special thank you going to Norfolk FD Local 68 who sent nine teams!  Our next fundraiser will be the water sale at the Strawberry Festival in Virginia Beach on the 28^th and 29^th of May. This is a family oriented event and we encouraged all of our brothers and sisters to stop by our booth. In addition to selling water we will also be selling Local 3406 T-shirts.  Local 3406 continue to support our brother who was terminated three years ago as a result of “Operation Plane View”.  After two and half years of litigation, our brother was found innocent of lying on a Norfolk Airport security form. Unfortunately, a Norfolk court has ruled that the Norfolk Airport Authority has the right to use the argument of “Sovereign Immunity” and can terminate an employee without cause or reason. After contacting the International, the Law Office of Woodley and McGillivary feel further appeals would be unlikely to succeed. This is another example of how Virginia adheres to the common law employment-at-will doctrine.  On behalf of Local 3406, I want to take this time to thank 4th District Vice President Bill Taylor for his patience, understanding and assistance through this long and arduous legal battle.

 

Local 3478 reported by James Poindexter:  This has been a very busy and stressful time on our membership. We were told by the Fire Chief that our schedule would be changing from four platoons to three and from a twelve hour shift to a twenty four hour shift. This takes us from a forty two hour week to a fifty six hour week that gives us a two point six percent increase in pay due to FSLA. Our holiday, vacation, and sick leave is still in the air as to how it will be calculated. We have not been told what schedule we will be working or how the extra manpower will be housed at stations built for three max. Again, our fine Administration has put the cart a mile ahead of the horse. In the midst of this we did have a member get his job back after going through the complete grievance processes and also the Scott Air mask issue that all should be aware of and if not go to the VPFF website. Thanks to VP Charles Adkins for working on this important safety issue. Thanks to VP Jordan for all his assistance with all of our endeavors this year. Until September all stay safe.

 

A motion was made by VP Burbic to adjourn.  The motion was seconded by Brother Bowen.  There being no discussion a vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.