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Crestview firefighters, Crestview fire
fighters, Crestview FL, Crestview Florida, Okaloosa, |
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GREETINGS TO ALL,
Well, we have bid farewell to 2007 and a good friend in Alan Hoffman. He
is dearly missed, but as a fire service we owe it to our Brother and
ourselves to move onward and upward.
We have quite a bit on our plate this year. First and fore most is the
January 29th vote on the Save Our Homes amendment. We hope everyone can
see through the smoke screen the legislators in Tallahassee are putting
up and vote NO on Amendment 1. It seems at first look that it would be a
benefit for the property owners, but upon closer reading it will
definitely do more harm than good. Layoffs, a loss in services and the
fact that after a year or two the State can raise taxes without a vote
to whatever they fell they need to, so as to regain lost revenue from
the amendment.
Contract negotiations will start again in May. The issue of receiving
our 2nd of three 7% pay increase still must pass budgetary workshops and
a majority vote from our City Council. We have the 64th Annual Florida
Professional Firefighters Convention in Tampa during June. Also, we have
two MDA Boot Drives to try and top our ’06 draw of $11,000. We fell
short in ’07 with a final tally of $7000, but to our defense we had a
huge set back with the loss of our Brother and friend Alan Hoffman.
On a much brighter note, the completion of Station 3 is coming along
nicely. It will be a welcomed addition to the Department and community.
We should be receiving our new Scott SCBA’s anytime now and with a
little luck (and many prayers answered) we will be granted our request
for manning increases. We also hope our Safer Act grant for more
firefighters will be awarded. Keep your fingers crossed!
And lastly, remember to have your chimney cleaned and be mindful of
space heaters/kerosene heaters. Complacency kills!!!
Be safe out
there.
Sincerely,
Richard Brown
Vice-President L2680 |
