9th BattalionI attended the General membership meeting on Wednesday August 7 at 0900 hours. Here are
my notes from the meeting:
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The latest revision of the bids is out and seems to be accurate but members are encouraged to
look carefully and report any mistakes to the staffing officer that they may find.
Jason White reviewed the Locals budget. A motion was made to review the “short” version. The
budget was very close to projected in both revenue and income. The local cut some funds in
multiple places as we are 125 paying members short.
New recruit class is tentatively set for Sep. 16 and will be 8 weeks but things seem to be
progressing slowly as there is still no definite plan of action. I’m not holding my breath. 36
people have got the call for the first class and this list will be used for the next 3 classes of 36
recruits each. This number assumes all passing background checks and passing of the physical.
Almost all of the recruits in the first class are either vets or have prior experience at another
department.
We are currently 170 positions short, mostly at the rank of paramedic, and they project that
number to be at around 240 this time next year as we lose more folks through attrition. What
that means is that if we hire 3 recruit classes per year it will take several years before we catch
up on staffing. That, combined with the new recruits not being able to work overtime for their
first 12 months means that the Paramedic overtime is not going away anytime soon. There was
no talk of drivers or any other rank picking up Paramedic OT.
Overtime. Overtime in the Dpt. Is projected to be around 18 million for the year. This is about
double the amount it “makes sense” to pay, that is, its cheaper to pay overtime than to hire
until somewhere around 9 million. Some individuals within Trauma Hawk and at the airport
want to be included in the paramedic department wide over time. The department is not
going to allow either bided position to come out and work over time. There has been much
misinformation out there but it is the department that has decided to not allow this to happen.
For the AARF/TH crews I will send out a separate email for you guys detailing what was
discussed at Labor Relations and what their rational is.
Telestaff. Telestaff is now able to sort from everyone for mandatory unanticipated OT, as it was
before the program was only sorting the off going shift. Auto assign for all ranks other than
paramedic is working. Starting the first Wednesday B shift in September Medics will be able to
use the autoassign feature for their Kelly days only.
Vacations. A ratification vote on the reopener of Article 28-Vacations for collective bargaining
personel shall take place on Tues. Aug. 20 and Wed. Aug. 21 at the union hall. Q and A will begin
at 0900 and voting promptly at 12. Look for an email from me outlining the changes and it will
be posted ion the stations as well. FF, EMT, PARAMEDIC vacation spots will no longer be
separated, giving medics more oppertunity for vaca spots.
Arbitration for the 3% pension contribution is set for September 25.
PBCFR reserves are estimated at 120 million.
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Delray Beach continues to have pension issues. They were estimated to have an unfunded
liability of about 92.8 million as of last October and the estimate for this year (October) is
approx 98 mil.
Greenacres seems to have lost their fight to join the IAFF and most likely will be staying in the
PBA union.
Congrats to Chief James Schaffner for promotion to chief of training. You will be missed in SPOS
but I don’t think the department could have picked a better person for the job. Chief Schaffner
was also a union trustee and his position will need to be filled there.
DO YOUR CEU’s!
Please ask around and let me know if any members are not receiving this email and have
them send me their info so that they will in the future! Proud to serve,
John T Nickels EMT-P
Lieutenant, SPLOPS
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
Station 34 “B” Shift, “The Firm”
561-707-5239, Shiftwork31@Gmail.com, DVP9@iaff2928.com
Two things define you. Your patients when you have nothing, and your attitude when you have
everything. -Unknown