Tuesday, December 15, 2009
President-elect K. Andes Holiday Message
I want to wish each of you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As we begin our 152nd year as a Department, please remember the goodwill we feel over the holidays and allow it to carry over throughout the year. I also ask you to keep in your thoughts and prayers our brother Gary Shortt and his family. We as a Department hope for a full recovery and await his return to full-active duty. Please also remember our fallen brothers and their families. I can only imagine the loss they feel which is only worsened during the holidays. Please continue to check on their welfare and update us of their needs when possible.
To those who are retiring this year, thank you for all you have done for us. Continued good health, and know you will be missed.
I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead for our Department. I want us to strive to be the best of the best. We will be visiting each of you to formulate ideas for the future of our Department. Please take the time to put some thought into how we can prosper as individuals, as companies, as a department, and for the citizens of Richmond.
Again, I wish you Happy Holidays and please take a minute to say a prayer for the safety of our men and women of the armed services who continue to make sacrifices for us.
Merry Christmas and Please Stay Safe,
Keith
Monday, November 23, 2009
November Meeting Minutes
November 18, 2009
General Meeting
Pledge
C. Newbill elected to city council. Local supported with $500 donation. Newbill sits on Public Safety Committee.
Public Safety Committee Meeting
Since the committee meeting all council members have been provided with presentation packet.
Planning has started for presentation to council on fire growth.
To meet budget constraints the department has frozen 14 positions.
Grant given to city to build new Station 17 ($3.5 million) City must provide $1.5 million. Station has to be built at 22nd and Semmes. There is a time constraint the city must meet or lose the grant.
Fire Chief Meeting:
CDP – only three members may be awarded grandfather status to old program.
Recruit class – Start in February 2010 and run through June 2010. 16 new hires.
Will mean closed houses unless OT is hired.
President — Keith
Sec/Tres. — Tom Brandon
Good and Welfare
George and Chip Bridgers’ father passed.
G. Short is making progress in his recovery.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
October Minutes
General Meeting
Pledge
Roll Call
T. Brandon gave the Financial Report. Move to accept Garland, 2nd Chambers. Passed
Old:
Staffing — Local to attend Council meeting on November 16, to ask for $350,000 to fix staffing problem. Chief has been notified. Need massive attendance from firefighters to make this happen.
Farber has created blog to publicly document companies being marked out of service for staffing shortage. Address is: www.richmondfirefighters.blogspot.com
PPGs — Language in PPGs about automatic termination regarding seatbelt use and stoplights discussed.
Recruitment — Ross reported 1700 took hiring test; 308 will be interviewed for 16 positions. Class being planned for early 2010 start.
Vacancies — By end of June 2010 there will be 44 vacancies in the department.
Sick Leave — Pulliam is going before Personnel Board to recommend 90% sick leave accrued be counted towards retirement time. Chief will support.
Grant — $3.5 million received from FIRE Act for new 17, $1.7 million more needed.
New:
Spanbauer reported that AL 11 was being stationed at #5. This means that both Utility 5 and AL 11 are being marked out. Quint 5 forced to mark out of service or respond with three personnel in case of working fire when AL 11 must respond.
Liverman working on plan to convert Quint 13 and Rescue 3 into a task force. Spivey spoke against task force plan.
T. Brandon moved to donate $50 to Manassas firefighter and $25 to Massachusetts firefighter; VonMille 2nd , passed.
7th District having special election. Cynthia Newbill is the Locals choice in the race. Brandon moved to contribute $500 for election, Garland 2nd, passed
P.O. Box rented for election; $60, stamps and envelopes purchased as well.
Nominations follow:
President — Dave Pulliam, Sr., Keith Andes, Wesley Taylor
Sec/Tres. — Tom Brandon, J.R. Hall
Rec. Sec. — Barney Ring
Vice Pres. – six positions — Rodney Spruill, Danny Owens, David Loving, Melody Spivey, Chris Wells, Kurt Gran, Zak VonMille, Patrick Stewart, Alex Farber, David Ross, Chris Stowell
Sgt-at-Arms — Ray Neville, Rob Gray
Trustees — Jim Chambers, Bill Andrews, Gary Lewis
Ballots will be mailed within seven days, must be received by November 17, 2009.
Good and Welfare
J. Hohnbaum finished with radiation therapy beginning chemo, looking good.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
September Meeting Minutes
General Meeting
Pledge
Roll Call
Reading of minutes from June’s meeting. Move to accept Chambers, 2nd Andrews. Passed
T. Brandon gave the Financial Report. Move to accept Andrews, 2nd Chambers. Passed
Old:
MDA — Pulliam explained the circumstances about the collection this year. MDA did not take the appropriate steps to ensure success i.e. meeting with mayor, filing an independent attorney opinion. $30,000 collected
Operations Chief — Batt. Chief M. Carter promoted to Operations Chief
Staffing — City and department not taking advantage of available SAFER funding. Could help alleviate problem with vacancies. Local giving information to city council and mayor’s office.
Apparatus — Money that was allocated in past budgets for apparatus but never spent is unaccounted for. Finance department investigating.
Beat the Heat 5K — Chief Glidewell commented that the 2009 race was a success. More than 400 runners participated.
Station 5 — Asbestos problem fixed, roof still leaking.
New:
Chief conferences — Three meetings held between Chief and staff and the employee groups (Local & PB&SC)
Subjects discussed – staffing, vacation and sick accrual, recruitment, CDP, apparatus replacement
Employment testing on September 26, more than 3,000 applied.
Possibility of holding joint meeting with PB&SC to discuss unified action on behalf of employees.
Farber to chair committee in order to release public information about out of service dates.
Local elections to take place in November, Nominations taken at October 15
meeting or by contacting Election Committee chairman P. Ledbetter. Full slate of officers up for reelection.
Good and Welfare
G. Short is improving
J. Hohnbaum receiving radiation therapy
S. Jones earned Master’s Degree from UR
Pulliam recognized the efforts of Spivey, Ross, Harris, Ashby and Ring for work done on Local’s behalf during the summer.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
September Meeting
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Minutes from June 19, 2009
Roll Call
Motion to suspend reading of minutes Pulliam, Andrews 2nd passed
T. Brandon gave financial report; Chambers moved to accept, Andrews 2nd passed
OLD:
EMS-Nothing new to report
MDA Fill the Boot — Researching options in the city will not let personnel collect on duty.
MDA Summer Camp — W. Taylor reports best week ever.
Operations Chief — no new info on why Wakeham fired. Search process has begun. 40+ applicants, one applicant from inside department.
Staffing — companies will continue marking out of service for foreseeable future.
Local blog — Feedback has been positive
CDP — trying to get members grandfathered into process if they had already begun in old system. Ashby and Harris to form committee to investigate and bring options to local for action.
Building sale — nothing to report.
NEW:
Floor waxing — question about whether the desist order on floor waxing has been rescinded. Some companies are waxing; some are not.
Call diversion — Companies are being diverted from calls to higher priority calls. New CAD is responsible.
Response profile — Chief Creecy has asked the Local and BSC to submit ideas for reworking the department’s response profile (i.e. Quints, Engines, etc.) Open forum on the subject at HQ tonight. Ross and Ring representing Local. Scheduling conflict with Local’s meeting was unintentional.
Grievance — A member called D. Pulliam, Sr. for assistance during a grievance hearing. Pulliam was in Florida on Local business. The member was unhappy about not having Local representation at the hearing. This member also thought the Local was acting counter to membership interests in regards to sick leave. The Local has asked for sick leave records to prove that sick leave abuse is non-existent among department members and is not to blame for the staffing shortages.
Asbestos complaint — Pulliam responded to complaint of asbestos at Station 5. Found obvious asbestos insulation cracked around pipes and brown goo running down walls in kitchen and dayroom. Pictures were taken and a complaint filed. Station 5 may be shut down during cleanup.
Beat the Heat 5K — L. Glidewell moved the Local to be a sponsor at $500. 2nd Chambers. Chambers amended that the money would come from savings account, Ashby 2nd. Brandon asked that amendment be removed and the money come from general account. Passed.
Burn Tournament — Brandon moved to pay half of sponsorship fee from Local funds and the players pay the other half to play. Players must be Local members. $700 total. Chambers 2nd, passed.
Local picnic — Chambers moved to hold annual picnic at Cobblestone if the cost can be kept under $1500. Other Locals invited. Plan for end of August. No crabs. 2nd Ashby, passed.
E-Board will meet in July to plan.
GOOD & WELFARE
J. Hornbaum recovering from surgery
A. Meadows passed away
G. Short’s condition continues to improve.
Adjourn
Friday, June 5, 2009
Next Meeting
Friday, May 22, 2009
Minutes from May 21, 2009
T. Brandon gave financial report. Moved to accept Andrews. Jones 2nd. Passed
OLD:
No attendee selected to attend IAFF EMS conference because of perceived opposition to Local’s involvement with RAA acquisition planning.
Staffing shortage appeared to be fixed until after the meeting last month when department’s policy changed.
Retirees have received COLA.
NEW:
April 17 the shutting down of companies began. Pulliam met with Chiefs Creecy, Wakeham, Jackson and Pulliam to discuss Local’s response. They were told the mayor’s office was the next stop and then the press would be contacted.
A press release was created and all major media outlets received a copy. Channel
6 did an interview immediately; the other media outlets’ response was delayed until a second press release was sent and several members of companies affected by the shutdowns handed out flyers in the districts affected.
Fire Department personnel participating in the flyer distribution are as follows: M. Spivey, M. Smith, J. Harris, S. Edwards, R. Nelson from Station 10 and L. Neville, T. Butler, R. Nunnally, C. Shears, C. McMillin, B. Ring from Station 13, and R. Neville from Station 1.
Calls were made to attempt to have several fire personnel attend the city council meeting the following Monday. Nine people attended. Many were the same who distributed flyers.
Budget Process:
Additional money added to department budget to boost overtime money available; still no sufficient to fund overtime for entire fiscal year.
Budget will be voted on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. No additional money is in budget for fire department budget.
Motion by VonMille not to fund any sitting council members campaign in the future. No second.
Department studying sick leave usage for signs of abuse by employees.
New snow day policy in effect. Shifts which work during time of emergency closure will be paid double time for the hours worked during the closure.
No official reason released for dismissal of Chief Wakeham.
Gran moved to direct third dues payment in May to the Building Checking account. 2nd Salotti. Passed.
Motion made by VonMille to place building up for sale pending appraisal and investigation into capital gains tax burden. 2nd Ledbetter. Passed.
Taylor moved to request Local 995 representation on any city committee that may discuss the acquisition of the RAA by the fire department. This is not an endorsement of any said acquisition. 2nd Gran. Passed
Career Development Change
Ring to meet with concerned members on CDP changes and present Local’s position to the fire chief.
MDA
Summer camp June 8-12. Volunteers needed every day, Richmond day is Tuesday. Contact W. Taylor for details.
MDA representatives have forwarded an ordinance that will allow fire personnel to collect on duty. Seven council members are patrons. The city attorney’s office is refusing to approve language in proposed ordinance based on legality of the language.
GOOD & WELFARE
J. Hohnbaum-lung cancer J. Rixner-going through rough personal times
R. Gray-recovering from surgery A. Meadows-passed away
D. Salotti-Birthday June 9, 61 years old.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Richmond Fire Beat the Heat 5K
June 20, 2009, in Byrd Park.
Info and registration here: www.richmondfirefightersbeattheheat.org/cms/
Thursday, April 30, 2009
April 2009 Minutes
April 16, 2009
Pledge
Roll Call
Motion to suspend reading of the minutes, motion passed.
T. Brandon gave financial report, motion to accept and file Andrews, 2nd Von Mille passed.
OLD:
Still waiting on final approval for snow day hours
Working on policy affecting staffing on a daily basis.
Retiree COLA retroactive to January 2009
NEW:
Pay raises for 2009 frozen (pending budget approval)
Budget: Department facing a 5-percent cut. Hiring freeze should take care of budget shortfall.
Stimulus Package
Station 17 will be built from fund
Apparatus replacement: 21 million operating budget
Need to find status of technical rescue equipment ordered some time ago.
ICS system, possible changes coming
Public Safety meeting
Possibility of department assuming EMS response: transition period 2 to 5 years
E board motion to send one member to EMS conference in Miami, FL cost approx. $1500, Von Mille 2nd, passed
Employee Wellness Fair
May 4th at Arthur Ashe Center
MDA organization meeting at the Omni Hotel on April 22, 2009; Shears, Wells, Pulliam and Brandon to attend.
Adjourn
Next Meeting
Topics for discussion will include staffing, MDA and other important topics. Your input is needed and appreciated.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
March 2009 Minutes
General
Membership Meeting
March
19, 2009
Pledge
Roll Call
Motion to suspend reading of minutes Andrews, VonMille 2nd passed
T. Brandon gave financial report; Andrews moved to accept, VonMille 2nd
passed
E Board moved to close fund raising account and move $175.88 to savings account; Williamson
2nd passed
NEW:
Building Bridges Package released
Public Safety Meeting-City investigation collecting taxes twice/year to up bond rating
City will have $21 million deficit at end of fiscal year
Pulliam is working with Chief Creecy on budget.
Minimum safe staffing is reduced to 98 from 101
Chief Creecy discussed history of staffing and how the department arrived
where it is now. Chief also gave views on the need for staffing to increase to
meet current safety standards. City is growing up and this increases
public safety danger as well as responder safety issues.
Council indicates it recognizes need for increased staffing.
Under stimulus plan from feds, no matching funds needed for SAFER Act
Retirement news-COLA increase of 1.5% retroactive to January 2009 on council agenda.
Richmond Retirement System fell from $700 million to $350 million over the
last reporting period.
MDA-Lockup on March 26th, need volunteers to transport prisoners back
Council Members Jewell and Tyler to address panhandling laws in April
Local Sponsorship of Marvin Griffin Golf Tournement W. Taylor moved for the Local to donate $500 to Marvin Griffin Tournement, VonMille 2nd, passed
City Council-Council ordered Chief Creecy to apply for SAFER grant and any funds
department is eligible for under federal stimulus package.
No news on CAO appointment.
GOOD & WELFARE
C. Ellis wife passed
Retirees Luncheon had 123 attendees; Phillip McCarter 14B, received the Lt. B. Emerson
Honor Guard Member of the Year award.
Adjourn
February 2009 Minutes
General
Membership Meeting
February
19, 2009
Pledge
Roll Call
Minutes read; Andrews
move to accept and file, Spivey 2nd passed
New member present:
Clinton Lewis 10C
T. Brandon gave
financial report; Andrews moved to accept, VonMille 2nd
passed
E Board moved to close
fund raising account and move $175.88 to savings account; Williamson
2nd passed
Deputy Chief R. Wakeham
is the newest member of the Local.
OLD:
Post ’91 vacation
issue: Patrons for the paper being selected; waiting for budget to be
finalized.
COLA for retirees:
waiting for budget to be finalized before action is taken
Council member D.
Conners working on correcting pay plan for employees who have been
omitted.
Local is endorsing C. Bessler for CAO
Details on new apparatus plan forthcoming
Tridata will deliver final portion of BBP in mid March
NEW:
Andes letter to Richmond Times-Dispatch discussed
Thank you letters from Hilbert and McQuinn for political support read
President Obama’s stimulus package includes $8.8 billion for public safety and $210
million for capital improvements and the SAFER program for fire
departments
Only one complaint came to Local for DMV check on all members.
Local needs to check on police dept.’s supervisor career development
General Assembly will send bill to Governor making killing a fire investigator an automatic
capital offense. Governor will probably veto.
Fire Chief asked to cut $4 million from budget. Chief offered Station 21 and 25. No action
taken.
Budget must be completed by April 30
James “Duke” Stewart is hired as civilian EOE officer for one year contract.
Jerry Overton resigned as RAA director
Shears moved to request $630 to pay for an entry fee for RFD softball team. Owens 2nd
passed.
C. Shears, C. Wells are MDA volunteers as of now; need A shift volunteer.
Chief Creecy working on disciplinary procedure
GOOD & WELFARE
Don Etheridge-passed
Russ Acor’s father-passed
Keith Andes-shoulder surgery
Kelli Stowell-pregnant
Adjourn