President Larry Jennings called the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fire Fighters Association of Missouri to order at 9:00 am, Sunday, August 6, 2023, at the Missouri State Fair Volunteer Fire Department in Sedalia, MO. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call of Board of Directors and other officials
Officers
President Larry Jennings, Johnson County FPD; First Vice President Charlie Peel, Southeastern Randolph FPD; Second Vice President Grant Oetting, Higginsville 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 3, Rob Erdel, Little Dixie FPD; District 6, Gary Berendzen, Cole County FPD; District 7 RB Brown, Union FPD; District 9, Kurt Wilbanks (V), West Plains FD; District 10, Greg Brown, Eureka FPD; District 11, Billy Smith, North Central Carroll Co FPD; District 11, Billy Smith, North Central Carroll Co FPD; District 14, Rick Dozier, Southern FPD of Holt Co.
Assistant Directors
District 1, Janet Cain, Shoal Creek FPD; District 2, Vernon Cash, Shelbina FPD; District 3, Josh Loyd, Martinsburg Area FPD; District 4, Jonathan Evans, Lincoln FD; District 6, Alan Braun, Cole County FPD; District 6, Shawn Ritchie (V), Holts Summit FPD; District 7, Andrew Caldwell (V), Boles FPD; District 11, Josh Koepke (V), Kansas City FD.
Guests
Gail Hagans, David Hedrick (V), University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute; Tim Bean, Missouri Division of Fire Safety; Keith Smith, Warrenton FPD; Roy Pennington, Pettis County Ambulance; Kyler Oliver, NTA EMS; Ed Daugherty, Chillicothe FD; Roger Meyers, Concordia FPD; Larry Jones, Dale Ransdell, Madison West Monroe FPD.
*(V) denotes Virtual Attendance
Agenda
President Jennings asked for additions to the agenda. Rick Dozer moved to accept the agenda as presented. Gary Berendzen seconded the motion and all approved.
Minutes
No minutes were presented for approval. The 2023 convention minutes will be approved at the 2024 convention.
Financial Report
President Jennings asked for a review of the May-June 2023 financial report. RB Brown moved to accept the financial report presented. Greg Brown seconded the motion and all approved.
Report of Officers and Special Guest(s)
Gail Hagans with the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute reported that the Missouri Emergency Services Instructors Conference is November 3-5. They are also working on trailer maintenance and repairs.
The $50k MFA grant application period begins October 1.
Tim Bean with the Missouri Division of Fire Safety reported that there was not a lot of legislative activity this year, but the DFS budget did do well. An additional $500k was added for firefighter training.
As a reminder, training requests must be submitted through DFS. Departments are encouraged to request classes and spend the money allocated to show that there continues to be a need for funding from the state.
SB24 was a historical moment in the fire service for behavioral and mental health. The cancer pool is also available for departments.
A females in the fire service initiative started last year. It is still ongoing, and work needs to be done. A committee was created and has been holding monthly meetings.
The 2nd annual symposium will be held in October. Bean asked if the FFAM would donate towards the symposium as they did last year in purchasing lunch for the attendees. Discussion followed. Greg Brown moved that FFAM donate $1,000 towards the purchase of meals for the October symposium. Terry Wynne seconded and all approved.
A $10 million grant was given through the legislation with $3 million going into this year’s budget. This grant will be managed by the Missouri Department of Public Safety. More information to follow.
Correspondence
None.
Old Business
No old business was presented.
New Business
President Jennings received a recommendation from District 3 Director Rob Erdel for the appointment of Dale Ransdell with the Madison West Monroe FPD to the open position of District 3 Assistant Director. RB Brown moved to appoint Dale Ransdell to District 3 Assistant Director. Grant Oetting seconded the motion and all approved.
President Jennings advised that with the resignation of District 2 Director Greg Brown at the convention, he recommends that District 2 Assistant Director Vernon Cash be appointed as District 2 Director until the next election. Rick Dozier moved to appoint Vernon Cash as the District 2 Director. Gary Berendzen seconded the motion and all approved.
President Jennings advised that Larry Jones would like to resign from the convention committee.
The committee has made a recommendation that Dale Ransdell be appointed to the committee. RB Brown moved that Dale Ransdell be appointed to the convention committee. Billy Smith seconded the motion and all approved.
Secretary Miller reported that she has had several recent meetings with Rebecca Stumpf with California Casualty. Due to recent changes and restructuring in their corporation, California Casualty has announced they are withdrawing their business from the state of Missouri and will be ending their partnership with FFAM. This will also end the $5k annual allocation for the partnership.
President Jennings advised that a Lagers survey was sent out last week in reference to a retirement program for volunteer firefighters. Lagers has created a task force and is researching the potential of offering these benefits to volunteers, but they need your help so please pass along the survey and encourage your personnel to fill it out.
Committee Reports
Awards Committee
Charlie Peel reported that four department grants were awarded to Asbury FD, Monett FD, New Haven Berger FPD and St. James FPD. Several departments were disqualified for not supplying the required budget information as stated on the application.
The award nomination deadline is February 28, but applications are accepted all year long.
Budget Committee
Charlie Peel advised that 2024 budget requests are due to the committee by September 5.
Bylaws Committee
No report was given.
Chaplain Committee
David Hedrick reported on the MFCC annual training and meeting. It will be in Springfield, September 11-12, at the Greene County Emergency Operation Center in Springfield, Missouri. There will be two classes offered. One will be Stress Management for the Trauma Service Provider and the other Essentials of Fire Chaplaincy. Details will be available via newsletter and on the Chaplain’s website soon. If you have any questions, please contact MFCC Secretary/Treasurer Ed Hatcher at edhat@earthlink.net.
The Federation of Fire Chaplains (FFC) Annual Conference is scheduled for October 13-19, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Florida. More info is available on their website at:
ffc.wildapricot.org.
Contest Committee
No report was given.
Convention Committee
Josh Loyd reported that the Executive Committee met with the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District regarding hosting the 2024 convention. Their request was approved. The dates and the location are TBD.
Education Committee
No report was given.
Fire Prevention Committee
Jaime Miller reported that 5 poster winners will be attending the fair.
Legislative Committee
Greg Brown reported that the Senate only passed seven house bills last session.
The Firefighter Critical Illness Pool is working on expanding the program, and requirements as well as finding clinicians who are familiar with dealing with first responders and mental health issues.
The culture in the fire service needs to change with early intervention. SB24 is helping to bring this along.
The firefighter training funds need to be spent in order to keep receiving it so departments are encouraged to sign up for training.
If you know of any issues you would like addressed in the next legislative session, let him know. The Fire Service Alliance is having a meeting later this month.
Get to know your legislators. Those relationships are very important.
Information was distributed on the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer. This data is needed to track firefighter cancer rates. The Critical Illness Pool is currently taking care of ten firefighters in Missouri. Firefighters can join the registry at nfr.cdc.gov.
Membership Committee
Grant Oetting reported the following membership counts: 499 Directors/Councilman; 436 Retired; 18 Associate; 12 Sustaining; 22 Corporate, 350 Fire Departments; 6564 Active; 1 Educational Entity; 5 Educational Active; 128 Juniors; 4 EMS Department, 160 EMS individuals; 0 911 Entity; 0 911 individuals.
Nomination Committee
No report was given.
NVFC Committee
Keith Smith reported that NVFC is also championing the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer and encourages everyone to sign up.
Anheuser-Busch has donated water to 640 fire departments in the US with 28 departments in Missouri. The next application period for free water has just opened.
Scholarship Committee
No report was given.
State Fair Committee
RB Brown gave a special thanks to Ed Daugherty for his work on the 1929 engine.
The a/c was replaced in the bunk room and faucets were replaced in the shower. 42 new members are coming this year. August 12 is First Responder Day and first responders can get in for free.
September 8-10 the civil air patrol will be using the fire station for training.
October 14-15 MOPERC will be hosting a propane class at the fire station.
HB18 passed legislation that allocated $2.5 million to rehab and renovate the Missouri State Fair fire station.
Website Committee
No report was given.
Magazine
Jaime Miller reported that the next magazine deadline will be August 21.
Historian report
No report was given.
Fire Funeral Team report
Keith Smith advised that memorial t-shirts are available for sale on the funeral team website. The t-shirt lists the names of those who are being recognized this year.
EMS Funeral Team report
Jaime Miller reported on behalf of Greg Wright. We have had 1 non-lodd visitation and funeral since our last meeting.
Our website went down, and we are in the process of building a new one. Chris Thompson is working very hard on it. It is up but he is still working on pages for it. The url moemsfuneralteam.com or .org will get you there.
The state raffle fundraiser is going well. Grant Oetting and Chris both should have tickets if you are interested. The grand prize is $1000 in Omaha Steak gift cards and 2nd prize is a $500 Bass Pro gift card. Tickets are on sale till October 13. Drawing is October 14 at 4 pm.
The conference is getting closer. October 13-15 at the Inn at Grand Glaize. Early bird registration is $99 and ends September 1, which includes some meals, training, refreshments, etc. After September 1, registration is $129. This year’s training is on logistics, behind the scenes of a visitation and funeral. All are welcome. Instructors from Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri will be there. For more information or to register contact Greg at gwright000@gmail.com.
Foundation report
Keith Smith reported that Tracy Gray and Janet Cain are new members of the board.
The phased interior project at the museum is almost complete including electrical and bathrooms. They are continuing fundraising efforts.
As mentioned before, memorial t-shirts are available for sale. Captain Gavin Mosby, PIO St. Louis Fire Department, is the keynote speaker.
The foundation will be providing information at the state fair for patrons who want to learn more about the museum and memorial.
Charlie Peel reported that the State Fair BBQ Team cooked for Revolutionary Fire Tactics at the Lake in July. All of the food was donated by Taylors Tins and the team prepared everything for donations. $1612 was raised and a check was presented to Keith Smith for the museum project.
Smith also reported that help is needed at the memorial for site clean-up before the October services. Contact him if you are interested in volunteering. Continued help at the site year-round is also needed and appreciated.
Discussion was held on holding an FFAM meeting at the memorial in 2024 so everyone can take a look at the progress of the museum project.
President Jennings adjourned the meeting at 11:15 a.m.
FFAM
