President Ken Hoover called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fire Fighters Association of Missouri to order at 9:00 a.m., Sunday, October 6, 2019, at the Missouri State Fair Fire Department in Sedalia, MO. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call of Board of Directors and other officials
Officers
President Ken Hoover, Little Dixie FPD; First Vice President Larry Jennings, Johnson County FPD; Secretary Treasurer Jaime Miller, Johnson County FPD #2; Sergeant-at-Arms Rex Reynolds, Southern FPD of Holt County.
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 6, Gary Berendzen, Cole County FPD; District 9, Roy Sims, West Plains FD; District 10, Greg Brown, Eureka FPD; District 11, Monty Thompson, Kearney FPD.
Assistant Directors
District 1, Janet Cain, Braymer Fire and Rescue; District 2, Vernon Cash, Shelbina FPD; District 3, Rob Erdel, Little Dixie FPD; District 4, Jonathan Evans, Lincoln FD; District 11, Josh Koepke, Kansas City FD; District 14, Glen Dittmar, Dearborn Area FPD.
Others
Past President Keith Smith, Warrenton FPD; Historian Kay Asher.
Guests
Greg Carrell, Missouri Division of Fire Safety; Kevin Zumwalt, Gail Hagans, David Hedrick, University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute; Billy Smith, North Central Carroll FPD; Joe Jennings, Johnson County FPD; Brayden Miller, Norborne FPD; Richard Wilson, Southern FPD of Holt County; Ed Daugherty, Chillicothe FD.
Agenda
President Hoover asked for additions to the agenda. Roy Sims moved to accept the agenda as presented. Greg Brown seconded the motion and all approved.
Minutes
President Hoover asked for corrections to the August 4, 2019, meeting minutes. Terry Wynne moved to accept the minutes as presented. Gary Berendzen seconded the motion and all approved.
Financial Report
President Hoover asked for a review of the July-August 2019 financial report. Glenn Dittmar moved to accept the financial report presented. Joe Vaughn seconded the motion and all approved.
Report of Officers and Special Guest(s)
Director Kevin Zumwalt with the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute advised that the Missouri Emergency Services Instructor Conference is November 1–3, 2019. Those wanting to attend can still register.
Winter Fire School courses have been set. The brochure and course registrations will be available in November.
The first meeting of the fire service stake holders meeting was held in September. The new center will incorporate the four pillars of first responder training including law enforcement, EMS, fire and emergency management. The training meeting went very well and advise, and recommendations were well received.
The MFA grant is now open with $24k – $25k available for training.
As previously discussed, there are new training request requirements. Those departments wanting to utilize state training funds must request their training through the Division of Fire Safety who will then designate a training entity to provide the training. Please get your training requests in.
Assistant State Fire Marshal Greg Carrell with Missouri Division of Fire Safety advised that the Division hasn’t seen a lot of training requests coming in. As a reminder, if a fire department is wanting to utilize state training funds, the fire department must initiate the training request through DFS and not through a training vendor.
The DFS recently held a fire chief’s meeting that was well attended. They received good feedback and are working towards achieving training goals and more standardized training.
The DFS is looking into possible funding through the state for higher education and trade schools such as fire academies.
The DFS Stair Climb will be October 19 in Jefferson City. Online registration is available, and all proceeds go to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
Carrell also advised that as of January 1, 2020, he will be retiring from the DFS with 33+ years of service.
The Department of Conservation will be offering a program in 2020 with funding opportunities for fire departments. More information will be released as available.
Terry Odell with the DFS is retiring. Information on his retirement reception will be sent out.
Chief Hoover advised he has been attending meetings on behalf of FFAM. There has been an emphasis for more online training opportunities.
Discussion was held on a sponsorship/donation to the stair climb. Monty Thompson moved to donated $250 to the DFS memorial stair climb. Gary Berendzen seconded the motion and all approved.
Correspondence
None.
Unfinished Business
None.
New Business
Secretary Miller advised that after a recent audit of the SAFER grant, FEMA has advised that FFAM needs a records retention resolution to designate how long grant materials will be maintained by the Association. Federal Grant Records Retention Resolution No. 2019-1 was presented. Glenn Dittmar moved to accept the resolution as presented. Greg Brown seconded the motion and all approved.
Committee Reports
Awards Committee
Joe Jennings reminded everyone that the awards deadline is February 28.
Budget Committee
Larry Jennings advised most of the committee budget requests have been received and he and Treasurer Miller will be working on the 2020 budget this month.
Bylaws Committee
No report was given.
Chaplain Committee
David Hedrick reported that the Missouri Fire Chaplain Corp (MFCC) conducted its annual meeting and training conference on September 9-10, 2019, in Springfield, MO. There were 23 attendees participating in the training. Training subjects included substance abuse, self-care, and chaplain’s tool kit. The MFCC Board is working on re-establishing a website and a qualification process for Chaplains. The next MFCC annual meeting and training session is scheduled for September, 14-15, 2020, in Kansas City, MO. Additional training classes are planned to be conducted at MU FRTI’s Winter Fire School in February.
Several Missouri Chaplains will be attending the Federation of Fire Chaplains annual conference this month in Cathedral City, CA. More information about the FFC is available on their website at: https://ffc.wildapricot.org/.
Sunday, October 6, 2019, is the 38th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service being conducted at the NFFF Memorial site at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD. The ceremony will honor 92 U.S. Firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2018 and 27 firefighters who died in the line of duty in previous years. Please remember these brave firefighters that have given their lives in the line of duty and their families and compatriots left behind.
Contest Committee
President Hoover advised that per the committee’s request, he is recommending Alan Braun to serve on the Contest Committee. Rex Reynolds made the motion to appoint Alan Braun to the Contest Committee. Terry Wynne seconded the motion and all approved.
Convention Committee
Monty Thompson advised that the Kearney convention committee is meeting regularly. All events will be held at the high school and Knights of Columbus. Kearney will also be taking care of the trophies.
Education Committee
No report was given.
Fire Prevention Committee
No report was given.
Legislative Committee
Greg Brown reported that the legislative session is getting ready to start. He encouraged everyone to get to know their state representatives as they can be strong advocates for fire service-related issues. They are working on firefighter cancer, PTSD, workers compensation funding, training money, internet sales tax and the donated fire equipment process.
Membership Committee
Secretary Miller reported the following membership counts: 493 Directors/Councilman; 313 Retired; 23 Associate; 11 Sustaining; 19 Corporate, 346 Fire Departments; 6433 Active; 20 Educational; 95 Juniors; 3 EMS Department, 80 EMS individuals.
President Hoover advised that the Missouri Ambulance Association has invited FFAM to three events next year.
Greg Wright advised that the EMS Memorial groundbreaking will be October 19, at Missouri State Western University.
November 1-2, will be the Ultimate Honors Training. Information is available in the newsletter. The EMS Funeral Response Team will be recognizing FFAM for our support of their team.
Nomination Committee
No report was given.
NVFC Committee
Keith Smith reported that NVFC has been focusing on expanding their membership. Individual membership is currently $28 per person. For those state associations that partner with NVFC, they offer a program for discounted individual membership ($18 per person). Many individual benefits include online training, scholarships and discounts on products through NVFC partners. Discussion followed. Rex Reynolds moved to partner with NVFC to promote individual NVFC membership for one year and then reevaluate the program. Roy Sims seconded the motion and all approved.
NVFC will be hosting their fall 2022 meeting in Kansas City. This will be our opportunity to give the Missouri fire service national attention. Smith advised he will be presenting a resolution at the December meeting relating to FFAM’s support of the upcoming meeting.
Rob Erdel will be attending the fall NVFC meeting in Georgia this month.
Scholarship Committee
No report was given.
State Fair Committee
Monty Thompson reported that they had a very busy fair and everything went well.
Website Committee
No report was given.
Newsletter
The deadline for the next newsletter will be November 1.
Historian report
No report was given.
Funeral Team report
Greg Wright reported that the team had been called out a couple of times. There are some changes to the PSOB benefits, and the 2019 benefits should be posted in the next few days.
Foundation report
Keith Smith reported the interior insulation of the museum will be done next week. Phase 1 should be complete in approximately four weeks. They are still raising money for Phase 2 to finish the inside which will cost approximately $250k.
President Hoover advised that he and his wife are making a personal donation to build a 24×24 shelter house in honor of Art Smith and his contributions. The shelter house and picnic tables will be at the memorial in Kingdom City.
State Farm Insurance will be hosting a fundraiser for the museum in Centralia October 12.
Monty Thompson advised that the August 2020 meeting should be moved to August 9 instead of August 2 so that it falls on the Sunday prior to the state fair.
Monty Thompson moved to adjourn the meeting. Glenn Dittmar seconded the motion and all approved.
President Hoover adjourned the meeting at 10:30 a.m.
Jaime Miller
Secretary
Fire Fighters Association of Missouri
FFAM
