F.F.A.M.

Meeting Minutes – January 2015

President Kenneth Hoover called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fire Fighters Association of Missouri to order at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, December 7, 2014 at the State Fair FD in Sedalia.

Roll Call of Board of Directors:

Officers:
President Kenneth Hoover, Little Dixie FPD; First Vice President Tim Bean, West Plains FD; Second Vice President, Charlie Neubert, Highlandville Rural FPD; Secretary Treasurer Jaime Miller, Johnson County FPD; Sergeant-at-Arms Rex Reynolds, Southern FPD of Holt County.

Board of Directors:
District 1, Terry Wynne, Galt FPD; District 2, Greg Wright, Shelbina FD; District 3, Larry Jones, Madison West Monroe FPD; District 4, Joe Vaughn, Pleasant Hill FPD; District 7, RB Brown, Eureka FD; District 9, Roy Sims, West Plains FPD; District 11, Monty Thompson, Kearney FPD; District 14, Rick Dozier, Southern FPD.

Assistant Directors:
District 1, Janet Cain, Braymer FR; District 3, Rob Erdle, Little Dixie FPD; District 4, Jonathan Evans, Lincoln FD; District 6, Gary Berendzen, Cole County FPD; District 10, Greg Brown, Eureka FPD; District 11, Ryan Miller, Norborne FPD; District 14, Glenn Dittmar, South Central Buchanan County FD.

Guests:
Historian Kay Asher, Wentzville FPD; Past President Keith Smith, Warrenton FPD; David Hedrick, Gail Hagans, MU FRTI; Greg Carrell, Brenda Carrell, Missouri State Fire Marshal; Larry Eggen, Larry Jennings, Kathy Borgmeyer, Johnson County FPD; Donald Vaucher, Harriett Vaucher, Eureka FPD; Scott Olson, Alma FPD; Kevin Mochel, VFIS; Steve Gentry, Little Dixie FPD; Joyce Thompson, Kearney FPD.

Agenda:
President Hoover asked for additions to the agenda. Monty Thompson moved to accept the agenda as presented. Rick Dozier seconded the motion and all approved.

Minutes:
President Hoover asked for corrections or additions to the October 5, 2014 meeting minutes. No corrections were made. Rick Dozier moved to accept the minutes as presented. Charlie Neubert seconded the motion and all approved.

Financial Report:
President Hoover asked for a review of the Oct-Nov 2014 financial reports. Roy Sims moved to accept the financial reports as presented. RB Brown seconded the motion and all approved.

Report of Officers and Special Guest(s):
David Hedrick with MU FRTI reported that the 2014 Instructor Conference was held October 24-26 at Lake of the Ozarks. 170+ students attended. Michael Arnhart of High Ridge Fire Protection District was presented the Instructor of the Year award.

Winter Fire School will be held February 6-8, 2015. There are 73 classes with 45 new classes. A special thanks was given to the Division of Fire Safety for sponsoring the Phil Sayer scholarship to Winter Fire School.

David Hedrick congratulated Ken Hoover for 40 years with the Little Dixie FPD.

Greg Carrell with the Division of Fire Safety advised that Randy Cole’s father passed away earlier in the week after a brief illness. Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.

The annual fire department registration is now online.

There are numerous fire and inspection training courses available through the Division. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Correspondence
No correspondence was received.

Unfinished Business
The Legislative Committee has spoken with Eastern Douglas County Fire Department regarding their Sunshine Law issue. They have now been referred the Attorney General.

Larry Jennings reported that he has been corresponding with Adapt, a grant writing company, regarding the Safer Grant and their recommendations and suggestions. Adapt offers their own recruitment and retention curriculum and instructors. Discussion followed. The board advised to stay with the current program that was applied for in the original grant and reapply during the next cycle.

New Business
President Hoover advised he would like to remove Rob Erdle from the NVFC Committee and place Greg Wright in the position. Rick Dozier moved to remove Rob Erdle and place Greg Wright on the NVFC Committee. Monty Thompson seconded the motion and all approved.

Committee Reports

Awards Committee:
Joe Vaughn advised applications are due February 28.

Budget Committee:
1st VP Bean presented the proposed 2015 budget. Discussion followed. Terry Wynne moved to approve the proposed 2015 budget. Monty Thompson seconded the motion and all approved.

Bylaws Committee:
No report was given.

Chaplain Committee:
David Hedrick reported that the Missouri Fire Chaplain’s Corp annual meeting will be May 4-5, 2015 in Arnold, MO.

Contest Committee:
Rob Erdle and Glenn Dittmar reported that the contest grounds have been viewed.

Convention Committee:
Larry Jones reported that he still hasn’t received any information from Jefferson County regarding the 2014 convention. He has viewed the facilities for the 2015 convention. All registration and convention information is now available on the website.

Education Committee:
Rick Dozier reported the committee is looking into an LP class that may possibly be held at the 2015 convention.

Prevention Committee:
RB Brown reported he is working on the costs associated with getting the poster winners to the State Fair.

Legislative Committee:
Greg Brown reported that the new session start January 7. Topics for review include budget, 911 funding, board of directors filing fees, burn ban, firefighter tax credits, tax increment financing and a federal reimbursement act. Charlie Neubert inquired if any fire departments will be requesting reimbursement from their Ferguson response. Brown reported he didn’t know of any but if they did, it shouldn’t impact the training budget.

Membership Committee:
2nd VP Neubert reported the following membership counts: 412 Directors/Councilman; 262 Retired; 21 Associate; 14 Sustaining; 14 Corporate, 361 Departments; 7623 Active.

Neubert reported that Silver Dollar City will be holding the grand opening of Fireman’s Landing on April 11. A firefighter from each district will be selected as a special guest for the grand opening. Everyone is encouraged to check the ad in the newsletter for information regarding the selection process or contact your Director.

Nomination Committee:
Keith Smith reported that he will start contacting those up for election next year this month.

NVFC Committee:
Keith Smith reported that the NVFC will now have more members who will sit on the NFPA advisory committees. He may also be attending a benefits summit in Oklahoma City, February 15-18. If anyone else is interested in attending the summit, contact him.

Scholarship Committee:
Larry Eggen reported that the application deadline is February 28.

State Fair Committee:
Monty Thompson reported that 2015 Missouri State Fair will be August 13-23. They MSFFD will also be providing services in June during an International Harvesters event.

Website Committee:
No report was given.

Newsletter:
The deadline for the next newsletter January 1.

Historian report:
No report was given.

Foundation report:
Keith Smith reported that anyone who has a fire service member death (former or current) in their department or community, please get the info to him for the memorial service by April 1. December 31 however, is the cut off for bricks and there is a three-year time limit on deaths that will be honored at the memorial service with the exception of line-of-duty deaths. Those will have no time limit. Deaths that occurred 2012-2014 will be recognized during the 2015 services.

He also reported that the Memorial is doing well with donations however the museum still needs donations in order to get the project going. The foundation is always looking for fund raising suggestions.

Smith reported that Lighthouse Uniform Company makes available a class a uniform for anyone killed in the line of duty. This company however, is wanting associations to purchase a stock of uniforms and would like associations to sponsor their company. They are being very aggressive about their requests. The foundation is sending the company a letter advising them to stop contacting associations or departments directly.

Charlie Neubert moved to adjourn the meeting. Rick Dozier seconded the motion and all approved. President Hoover adjourned the meeting at 10:53 a.m.

Jaime Miller, Secretary
Fire Fighters Association of Missouri