Report to the Executive Committee February 18, 2012 Sudlersville, MD

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1 MARYLAND STATE FIREMEN S ASSOCIATION Representing the Volunteer Fire, Rescue and Emergency Medical Services Personnel David W. Lewis President 533 Oakton Rd., MD Home Cell dlewis@msfa.org Report to the Executive Committee February 18, 2012 Sudlersville, MD Vice Presidents Denver and Olson, Chairman Donaldson, Members of the Executive Committee, Officers, Committee Chairs, and Guests: I begin today s report with a heavy heart following the loss of two past presidents and great leaders of this association, Raymond Adkins and Charles Jenks Mattingly. We were also saddened just last week to hear of the death of Rick Meighan from MIEMSS. I ask that you keep Reverend Harvey Dixon, Reverend Fred Bahr, and Reverend David Coblentz in your prayers as they suffer through illness. Also, our prayers are with Past Presidents Ed Preston, Leonard King, and Clarence Carpenter as they too, are dealing with personal illnesses, On a positive note, I extend our sincere congratulations to Past President Robert Knippenburg on 50 years of service and Past President Oscar Baker on 70 years of service. Also congratulations are extended to Trumpet Editor Amber Leizear and husband Ricky on the birth of baby Caroline on January 26 and to Assistant Secretary Kristi Reppe and husband Dan on the birth of baby Brody on February 3. season is in full swing. Since January 1, I have received 48 invitations to attend the annual banquets of member companies and more for March and April are just beginning to filter in. Understandably, I am unable to attend them all, but have designated a representative of MSFA to attend each invitation that is received. Thanks to the Officers, Executive Committee, Past Presidents, and others that have filled in for me. And thanks to the companies for your kind invitations.

2 Since mid-january, the MSFA Legislative Committee and the three Presidents have been busy tending to the legislative agenda in Annapolis. PP Danny Davis will provide you with a full report this weekend. Thanks to PP Danny Davis and PP Richard Yinger for continuing to do an outstanding job for us in Annapolis. I also need to thank Rose Davis and the other ladies from LAMSFA for assisting in staffing the office during the legislative session. We also hosted another successful Legislative Reception on January 31 with 143 people attending. Thanks to Sharon Worthington for her continued support of our reception by providing an excellent assortment of food items. I am happy to report that all funding requirement for the MSFA were included in the Governor s budget, including the small increase to the Charles Riley Tuition Reimbursement Program to ensure that all current applicants are fully compensated. Unfortunately, we did not get the increase in the Trustee s benefit fund that was requested. However, we should consider that even small pluses are a win in the current economy. I also note that we have been in discussions with Senator Garagiola in reference to SB365 that would establish a volunteer firefighter scholarship program. MHEC was in opposition to instituting both this program and the Charles Riley Tuition Reimbursement Program so we have been negotiating to have this scholarship program implemented in place of the Riley program. You will also hear this weekend from the Convention Committee on plans for the upcoming convention and conference. We had the opportunity on January 19 to visit the Convention Center and meet with the staff as well as Mayor Rick Meehan. I extend my personal thanks to Ron Siarnicki and the entire team on their hard efforts to make sure that the convention is a success. Thanks to all the fire prevention ambassadors for their continued efforts to spread the life safety message and to take on goodwill projects. Since our last meeting, several of the ambassadors completed the Blankets for Children project and a number of them participated in the Polar Bear Plunge. Thanks to the ambassadors for everything that you do. I am excited about a new initiative of the Fire Prevention and Life Safety Committee initiating a web site dedicated to FP&LS, One of the goals that I had established for the Fire Prevention Committee was to replace our current public highway billboards with virtual billboards on the Information Highway. The launch of this new web site is another opportunity to spread the fire prevention message and provide access to information to our member companies. I am sure that DSFM Bruce Bouch and Megan Hiltz will have more to report on this project this weekend. I also want to thank the Recruitment and Retention Committee on their efforts to initiate some grassroot efforts to improve volunteer member recruitment across the state. Chairman Joe Chornock and his committee have done an outstanding job of putting together a survey to assess what our member s capabilities and needs are. They also

3 have arranged to a leadership seminar to be held on March 24. Space is limited so please sign up early for this training opportunity. The Safety Committee and the Training Committee have also been participating as part of the Maryland Emergency Services Life Safety Task Force in the planning for the next safety seminar. This training event, Courage to Work Safe and Live Healthy, will be held on Saturday, May 5, at the Howard County Public Safety Training Center. The focus of this seminar is on health and wellness and we encourage all family members to attend and participate. This training event is in direct support of NFFF Life Safety Initiative #6. We have worked hard this year on our goal to improve our communications to our membership. I am certain that you have seen our contributions to the Maryland Fire Dispatch and our bi-monthly releases of the Volunteer Trumpet. Please continue to support these communications by submitting articles and picture to Amber Leizear, trumpet@msfa.org. After hearing many concerns on the new EMT program, I submitted a letter to Dr. Bass (MIEMSS) addressing our concerns for the extended length and complexity of the new program. Many of you have repeatedly expressed your concern for this new program and its effect on the volunteer system. We held a meeting with MIEMSS and MFRI on February 2 and have outlined some proposals to help address our concerns. However, I don t feel that we have fully arrived at a conclusion that will be acceptable and additional discussions will be necessary. I also have listened intently over the past couple of years as many of our jurisdictions are experiencing problems with the career influence over the emergency services system. In response to these issues, I felt that the MSFA could no longer stand back and consider these as local issues as many of the jurisdictions were having common challenges. In response, I have scheduled a Volunteer Leadership Summit on February 28, at 7pm, and VFC, to discuss these concerns and identify some possible paths to challenge these issues. I recognize that we can t find all the answers in one evening but I believe that this is a starting point and that a task force may be needed to take the actions identified in the summit and develop a white paper to address them. I extend an offer to the leadership of county associations/chief s committees statewide to attend and participate in this landmark event. It is a great honor and privilege to serve as President of the MSFA. While the position requires a great amount of time to attend the many activities, I can t think of any other opportunity that delivers the experience that serving in this position provides. I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome that my wife Gloria and I have received to each place that we have traveled. In closing, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to each of you for your continued support of the MSFA. Thank you for what you do on behalf of the Association and its members. Thanks to the Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Company for hosting this

4 weekend s meeting and Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company for hosting Friday night s welcome reception. A copy of my itinerary since our last Executive Committee meeting is attached, representing my participation in 109 activities and traveling 6520 miles on behalf of the members of the MSFA. Respectfully submitted, David W. Lewis President

5 Itinerary November 2011 FRI 11 Executive Committee Parsonsburg SAT 12 Executive Committee Parsonsburg SUN 13 Executive Committee Parsonsburg TUES 15 Harford County Res Sprinkler hearing Bel Air WED 16 ATAC Columbia Howard County VFA Savage THURS 17 HEMS Study Group MIEMSS Washington County Leitersburg FRI 18 Planning meeting /Crisman Greenbelt SAT 19 Meeting Stone/Kelso West Friendship SUN 20 Eastern Shore VFA Westside, Bivalve MON 21 PFESI Dinner Camp Hill, PA TUES 22 Funeral Viewing Avenue SAT 26 Miss Fire Prevention Sub-Committee Westminster MON 28 Southern Maryland VFA Huntingtown WED 30 AACo Strategic Plan meeting Glen Burnie December 2011 THURS 1 Delmarva Power Smoke Alarm donation Salisbury AACVFA Riviera Beach FRI 2 Funeral services Bel Air Fundraiser - John Denver North East SUN 4 MSFA Christmas Party MON 5 Carroll County Westminster WED 7 Dinner meeting - STC Baltimore THURS 8 Convention Steering Committee FRI 9 Kent Queen Annes Millington SAT 10 Life Safety Task Force Kent Island Ridge Rescue SUN 11 Harford Cecil Miss Fire Prevention Level MON 12 AA Volunteer Appreciation Night TUES 13 EMS Board MIEMSS EMSOF Coalition MIEMSS Company meeting WED 14 MFRETC Howard County PSTA Prince Georges Co VFA Allentown Road THURS 15 Metro Chiefs Orchard Beach Carroll County Commissioners Westminster Montgomery County VFA Rockville FRI 16 Excomm Planning Sudlersville SAT 17 Blankets for Children Greenbelt SUN 18 Training Committee MFRI NCRO MON 19 AACVFA Board of Directors Millersville TUES 20 ATAC Executive Committee Columbia Blankets for Children DC

6 January 2012 MON 2 Funeral PP Ray Adkins Berlin WED 4 Memorial Foundation Millersville FRI 6 Anne Arundel County VFA Arundel SAT 7 Life Safety Task Force Kent Island Leonardtown SUN 8 EMS Committee Pikesville TUES 10 Company meeting WED 11 Legislative Session opens Annapolis Worcester County VFA Girdletree THURS 12 Memorial Service - Hedrick Morningside FRI 13 Fire Service Legislative work group Annapolis Harford-Cecil VFA Susquehanna Hose SAT 14 LAST team meeting Glen Burnie Ocean City MON 16 Maryland Fire Dispatch AACVFA Board of Directors TUES 17 Joint EMS Board/SEMSAC MIEMSS MSFA Foundation Laurel WED 18 Howard County Elkridge THURS 19 Ocean City Convention Center Ocean CIty Lunch meeting - Mayor Meehan Ocean City Funeral PP Jenks Mattingly Hollywood FRI 20 IFSTA Winter Meeting Tulsa, OK SAT 21 IFSTA Winter Meeting Tulsa, OK SUN 22 IFSTA Winter Meeting Tulsa, OK MON 23 IFSTA Winter Meeting Tulsa, OK TUES 24 Life Safety Task Force Marriottsville Fire Prevention Information Exchange WED 25 ATAC Columbia Harford County VFA Level THURS 26 Rocky Ridge FRI 27 Fire Service Legislative work group Annapolis SAT 28 New engine housing Midland MON 30 EMSOF Coalition MIEMSS Southern Maryland VFA Indian Head TUES 31 Legislative Reception Annapolis February 2012 WED 1 AACVFA Board of Directors THURS 2 EMS Work Group Annapolis EMT program discussions MIEMSS SEMSAC MIEMSS FRI 3 Fire Service Legislative work group Annapolis Budget hearings - MHEC Annapolis Anne Arundel County VFA Edgewater SAT 4 Life Safety Task Force Kent Island Pikesville

7 SUN 5 Delmarva VFA Rescue, Cambridge MON 6 Anne Arundel County Council Annapolis TUES 7 Fire caucus Annapolis Convention Committee Glenn Dale WED 8 Bill hearing - SB365 Annapolis Prince George's County VFRA Branchville THURS 9 EMS Work Group Annapolis Bill hearing - SB331 Annapolis AACVFA PAC discussions Riviera Beach FRI 10 Fire Service Legislative work group Annapolis Kent/Queen Anne's VFA Kennedyville SAT 11 Chestnut Ridge SUN 12 Training Committee SMRTC, La Plata MON 13 Budget hearings - MIEMSS Annapolis AACVFA Board of Directors Millersville TUES 14 EMS Board MIEMSS Company meeting WED 15 MFRETC Shady Grove Recruitment & Retention THURS 16 Bill hearing - HB366 Annapolis Baltimore County VFA Middle River Fire FRI 17 Fire Service Legislative work group Annapolis MSFA Executive Committee Sudlersville SAT 18 MSFA Executive Committee Sudlersville United Communities SUN 19 MSFA Executive Committee Sudlersville Eastern Shore VFA Queen Anne Hillsboro