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 3, 2025, at the Missouri State Fair Fire Department, 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; Second Vice President Grant Oetting, Higginsville FD; Sergeant-at-Arms Jonathan Evans, Lincoln Comm FD (V).
Directors
District 2 Vernon Cash, Shelbina FPD; District 3 Rob Erdel, Little Dixie FPD (V); District 5 Terry Plumb, Southern Stone FPD; District 6 Shawn Ritchie, Gravois FPD; District 7 RB Brown, Union FD; District 8 Bob Floyd, El Dorado Springs FD; District 9 Mark Arnold, Thayer Rural FD; District 11 Billy Smith, North Central Carroll Co FPD; District 12 Rob Francis; District 14 Rick Dozier, Southern FPD of Holt County.
Assistant Directors
District 1 Janet Cain, Shoal Creek FPD; District 1 Blake Callen, Grundy County FPD; District 3 Dale Ransdell, Madison West Monroe FPD; District 3 Josh Loyd, Martinsburg Area FPD (V); District 5 Dylan Honea, Southern Stone FPD; District 6 Mike McNeill, Moreau FPD; District 11 Josh Koepke, Kansas City FD; District 11 Jason Deitch, Brunswick FD; District 14 Kyler Oliver, Rosendale FPD.
Guests
David Hedrick, Gail Hagans, University of Missouri Extension Fire and Rescue Training Institute (V); Tim Bean, Missouri Division of Fire Safety (V); Keith Smith, Warrenton FPD; Larry Eggen, Kegan Wilson, Tim Caudill, Johnson County FPD; Gary Berendzen, Cole County FPD; Greg Wright, MO EMS Funeral Team; Romona Kaminski, Fenton FPD; David Frost; KJ Spurlock; Victoria Horn, Beaufort Leslie FPD; Tim Frankenberg, Washington FD (V).
*(V) denotes Virtual Attendance
Agenda
President Jennings asked for additions to the agenda. New business was amended to say IAFC endorsement, not IAFF. RB Brown moved to accept the agenda as amended. Rick Dozier seconded the motion and all approved.
Financial Report
President Jennings asked for a review of the April – June 2025 financial report. A discussion was held and the board was advised to file the report for the annual compilation.
Report of Officers and Special Guest(s)
Gail Hagans with the University of Missouri Extension Fire and Rescue Training Institute reported that they started their new fiscal year July 1. ARFF Specialist Mike Lloyd retired this week. Lance Seacore will be taking over the program.
Missouri Emergency Services Instructor Conference will be held November 7-9 in Lake of the Ozarks. Registration should be out within the next two weeks.
Tim Bean with the Missouri Division of Fire Safety reported that this has been a busy legislative year at the Capitol. LODD benefits were reinstated and also included an increase from $25k to $100k through SB 71. Fireworks legislation needed to be updated, along with a new fee structure. After working on it for three years through the industry, it did pass. SB 71 also created tuition support for first responders, allowing career personnel to expand their education. Volunteers were not included in the bill. The volunteer piece will be addressed in the future. SB 3 is focused on taxation for fire districts. There are town hall meetings being held across the state to reference information on this bill and the effects to special districts. Funding for training is still good. There are some concerns due to the economy for next year, so there may be budget cuts moving forward.
President Jennings got feedback on our presence at Firefighters Day at the Capital. The legislators did listen and extended the LODD benefit and also provided the increase, so it is important to talk to your local legislators. In reference to SB 3, in order to pass the KC stadium package, a lot of additions were made regarding property taxes. If you are a fire protection district, you need to become familiar with this bill, as it will affect your taxation. Tim Frankenberg reported that SB 3 has a provision that it has to go in the April 2026 election for those affected counties. A lawsuit was filed three days ago questioning the constitutionality of the bill. School districts will also be greatly affected. Legislators want to hear how this will affect your department.
District reports
District 2
Vernon Cash attended a Region B fire chiefs meeting.
District 3
Josh Loyd reported that Farber and Van Far are merging, and they are having conversations about how to move forward with FFAM. Dale Ransdell is still working with Howard County.
District 6
Shawn Ritchie reported that the Lake Area Fools Ball will be October 25 at Margaritaville. Information is in the magazine.
District 7
RB Brown reported that Andrew Caldwell attended the Gerald Rosebud safety day and met the new chief.
District 8
Bob Floyd reported that he met with Milo FD, Sheldon FD and Cedar Co Ambulance regarding signing up. He has received very positive feedback on the video
District 11
Billy Smith reported that Hardin has rejoined. Josh Koepke reported that there are three educational agencies interested in joining.
District 12
Rob Francis reported that he attended the Region E meeting. The SEMO district fair is coming up in September, and they will have a booth there to recruit firefighters.
Correspondence
None
Old Business
No old business.
New Business
2nd Vice President Grant Oetting reported that while he was attending the MAFD Conference, Retired Chief Greg Brown asked if FFAM would endorse Lee’s Summit FD Mike Snider for the International Association of Fire Chief’s (IAFC) 2nd Vice President. Discussion followed. RB Brown moved that FFAM endorse Mike Snider as IAFC 2nd Vice President. Billy Smith seconded the motion and all approved.
President Jennings advised that the remaining 2025 and part of 2026 meetings will be held in the Youth Building on the Missouri State Fairgrounds.
RB Brown reported the need for additional funds for the purchase storage/shipping containers for the storage of items in the fire station prior to its demolition. Two individuals have also expressed interest in purchasing those containers after they are no longer needed. The shipping containers are 40’ units and will cost $7,000. They are also requesting funds to purchase new bunk beds and mattresses to replace the existing beds, which were acquired around 2006, at a cost of approximately $30,000. Charlie Peel was approached about the beds and mattresses by a supporter of the FFAM. The individual may be interested in purchasing the beds, mattresses and wall lockers for the new station. Discussion followed. Mark Arnold moved to allow a one-time expense from the reserve funds up to $40,000 for the purchase of storage/shipping containers, new beds and new mattresses for the new fire station. Terry Plumb seconded the motion and all approved.
President Jennings is recommending Chief Romona Kaminski of the Fenton Fire Department as District 10 Director. Rick Dozier moved to appoint Romona Kaminski as the District 10 Director. RB Brown seconded the motion and all approved.
Committee Reports
Awards Committee
No report was given.
Budget Committee
Charlie Peel reported that budget requests are due by October 1.
Bylaws Committee
No report was given.
Chaplain Committee
Dave Hedrick reported that the Missouri Fire Chaplains Corp (MFCC) will conduct its annual Conference and Training session on September 8 & 9, 2025, at the Jefferson City Police Department Training Room. Registration is $120 per person, lunch included. For more information, contact MFCC Chaplain Ed Hatcher at edhat@earthlink.net.
The Federation of Fire Chaplains (FFC) will be conducting its annual Conference on October 17–23, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. More information is available on the FFC website at ffc.wildapricot.org.
Contest Committee
No report was given.
Convention Committee
Josh Loyd reported that Maryville FD is still on hold due to hotel issues. Discussion followed. If Maryville FD isn’t able to host, it will fall to the Board.
Dylan Honea reported that for the 2025 convention, there were 286 attendees and 40 vendors. Dylan Honea presented a check for $1,000 to Keith Smith for the Fire Fighters Memorial Foundation.
Education Committee
Josh Koepke reported that the board class was well attended. The Committee will be sponsoring a vehicle fire class at the state fair.
Fire Prevention Committee
President Jennings reported on behalf of Andrew Caldwell, 6 out of 10 winners for the poster contest will be attending the fair. Fire Prevention Week will be October 5-11, and the theme is “Charge into Fire Safety: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Your Home”.
Legislative Committee
Tim Frankenberg reported that in addition to SB 3, MERC was reinstated in the budget. There is a firefighter’s bill of rights that has had multiple language changes that is trying to get pushed through. They are working to get volunteers out of it, but they are watching it.
Membership Committee
Grant Oetting reported the following membership counts: 482 Directors/Councilmen; 441 Retired; 26 Associate; 26 Sustaining; 14 Corporate, 345 Fire Departments; 6751 Active; 2 Educational Entity; 16 Educational Active; 150 Juniors; 4 EMS Department, 52 EMS individuals; 0 911 Entity; 0 911 individuals.
Grant Oetting reported that he attended the MAFD conference. He has been asked to attend again next year. The JeffCo Engine Rally will be on September. September 6 is the Gail Harley Davidson tribute ride from Higginsville to Richmond. All proceeds will go to the Fire Fighters Memorial Foundation.
NVFC Committee
Keith Smith reported that NVFC continues building international relations, connections and mutual friendships. Past President Kevin Quinn has been able to travel to many countries on behalf of NVFC creating long standing relationships. That was recently detailed in a letter from the Japan Firefighters Association regarding the Flash Flooding in Texas.
Greater awareness regarding the rising cost of Fire Apparatus is taking hold. A recent request from the Executive Director of NVFC, Sarah Lee – “Do we have any subject matter experts on the board (or that you know) that could talk about the rising costs of apparatus? We’ve seen an increasing number of media inquiries regarding this topic.”
NVFC continues to look into logical and creative ways to support the volunteer family. They recently presented a Webinar entitled “Challenges of a Firefighter Marriage”. When someone becomes a volunteer firefighter, it impacts the whole family. Spouses, in particular. These are recorded and can be accessed through the NVFC Webinar Library. They have also just released the 2nd Edition of their Family Guide.
NVFC membership is now up to 42,700 individual members, an increase of 14% from 2024 and 56% over a 5-year period. While this is a positive development, it also recognizes a lot of room for growth with over 675,000 volunteers in the United States. There is another takeaway from this NVFC summary comment. They referenced over 675,000 volunteers. Keep that in mind when considering that in the 1970’s they estimated there were 1.4 million volunteers in the US Fire Service.
The 2025 issue of Firefighter Strong is now available. This annual publication is mailed to all volunteer and combination fire departments in the U.S. and is also available digitally.
Nomination Committee
Ken Hoover reported that the District 10 Director position is now filled.
Public Relations Committee
Gail Hagans advised that the next magazine deadline is August 29.
Scholarship Committee
Larry Eggen reported that the continuing education recipient recently received his EMT license.
State Fair Committee
RB Brown reported that the fair is August 7-17. The building will be torn down after the fair in preparation for the new building. Help will be needed to pack up the contents of the building if anyone is available to help the weekend after the fair. Larry Eggen reported that they have been using the Kansas State Association sprinkler trailer for demonstration. This year, the National Sprinkler Association Representative KJ Spurlock, will be at the fair volunteering as needed and helping with the sprinkler demonstrations.
Historian’s report
No report was given.
Fire Funeral Team report
No report was given.
EMS Funeral Team report
Greg Wright reported the team has responded to 3 non-LODD responses as well as attending the National EMS weekend of honor in Arlington, VA. The EMS and Fire Funeral Teams attended the Supporting Heroes Gala in Kentucky last week. They are still working on a permanent Missouri EMS Memorial. The conference will be October 17-19 at Lake of the Ozarks. Everyone is invited to attend. 117 fire, law and EMS will be honored at the banquet. They have voted to make FFAM a corporate partner for their support of the team.
Foundation report
Keith Smith reported that the next phase of the museum project is underway. Interior walls are going up in the Northend, including the mechanical and storage mezzanine. We are going to hold off on the classroom/theater for now. Also, in the process of securing electrical supplies for a partial build-out of power and lighting, following the framing.
All things related to the October 2025 memorial services are underway. Your Foundation has been meeting monthly since the 1st of the year and that pace has increased into a 3-week interval. We will be honoring 10 LODD and 94 non-LODD names on October 4 and 5. This is the largest number of LODD names since the memorial was dedicated in 2002. In the 2023 service, we had 8 names, largely involving COVID.
Our keynote speaker on Sunday morning will be Russell Hobbs. He is a firefighter and the surviving Son of Rickey Hobbs, who passed in the line of duty on Sept. 14, 2021.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the first PSOB firefighter suicide on June 22. Upon review, the NFFF approved the name as LODD and will be honored in their 2026 service. This will be their first firefighter suicide to be honored. As this was a Missouri name, Supporting Hero’s reviewed and approved it. His name and family were honored in their 2025 Hero’s Gala. It then came to the Memorial Foundation for our administrative determination if the name would be accepted for honors as a LODD in the Missouri Memorial. It was not an automatic decision. It was discussed over the course of a week before the roll-call vote on June 30. Matthew Shafer of the Lawson Fire & Rescue Protection District has been accepted as a line of duty in the Missouri Memorial and will be honored this October. It took the DOJ 4 years to render the PSOB determination. Matthew Shafer passed on June 4, 2021.
Wall and brick engravings closed 4 weeks ago, but our website is taking orders for 2026. We are currently behind where we wanted to be with the memorial shirt process. At this time, we do not have a 2025 shirt proof on our website, but the screen printer has our information. We will obviously have to extend the shirt order deadline to the first of September. The cut-off for flag orders is September 12. The Sunday Service will be live-streamed either YouTube, Facebook or both. Full details in the next FFAM Magazine.
We still need people to assist with the October 4 and 5 services. A few of you have responded, but we need several to optimally manage the expected numbers over two services. If you can just come in for one of the two services, it would be greatly appreciated.
We have a new Treasurer for the Foundation, effective July 1. Her name is Courtney Shiverdecker and she lives in Fulton. She has a bachelor’s in accounting and an MBA. She is an accounting specialist with Ameren Missouri, Central Electric Division.
President Jennings adjourned the meeting at 11:00 am.
FFAM
