TO:                 Missouri Valley Association of Fire Chiefs

FROM:            Bob Pottberg, International Director

SUBJECT:            IAFC Update

DATE:            May 29, 2001

The IAFC Board of Directors meeting was held on May 13 and 14 in Anaheim, CA. The location was selected to facilitate participation in the NFPA meeting, which followed the Board meeting. The Western Division also held their annual conference at the same time. This gave the Board a great opportunity to participate in everything that was going on.

The following is a summary of issues discussed at the meeting a full set of minutes will be available soon:

1.      The Treasurer presented the 2000 audit. All finances are in order and the organization received a very good letter from the auditing firm in reference to improvements made since the last audit. Chief Garcia thanked staff for the outstanding work they did on the budget and for their assistance during the audit. 

2.      Officers and Directors gave Activity reports, which reflected the great amount of work going on in the organization and the Divisions. Other Divisions are starting to develop Strategic Plans and are being encouraged to develop Position Statements which would be shared between Divisions so everyone would know where each division stands on the issues. Again, it is evident that the Missouri Valley Division is ahead of other divisions and continues to be a leader.

3.      The Executive Directors report included items to numerous to present in this report but I will cover some of the issues there have been recent changes in:

A)    The Strategic Plan has been sent to all meeting attendees, as well as to the 50 state fire chiefs associations. Action items assignments have been made and will be tracked and reported on at each board meeting.

B)    The conference rotation has been changed. The new rotation is as follows

2002 Kansas City

2003 Dallas

2004 New Orleans

2005 Denver

2006 Dallas

2007 New Orleans

2008 Denver

2009 Dallas

C)    The Leadership Partnership program continues to be a great success. A video is now available to interested parties that outlines the program and its importance. Workshops have been conducted in LA, Missouri, Kansas City and the Central Jackson County FPD. In May workshops will be conducted in Ohio and Colorado.

D)    The ICHIEFS/IAFF Initiatives on physical fitness is progressing. The peer fitness trainer certification is on track for completion this summer. Information workshops on this new program will be offered at FRI. USFA is going to provide ICHIEFS and the IAFF each with $50,000 to implement this program.

E)    An outside contractor has been hired to assist in the update of the ICHIEFS web site. Changes should be seen soon.

4.      Chief Debra Carlin gave a report for the Fire Safety in the Built Environment committee. This groups focus is on codes and the single national code issue. There was no recommendation at the board meeting as there is still some work to accomplish. The solutions that might be considered are support ICC, support NFPA, Get both groups back to the table or not support either on and be involved in both processes. Final recommendations will be given at FRI in New Orleans.

5.      The Constitution, Bylaws and Resolutions Committee report was primarily about the legal opinion received about the Board of director’s seats and who could run for those positions. After lengthily discussion the Board took action and passed a motion that all IAFC Board seats must occupied by active five bugle Chiefs of a fire department. In addition the Board also passed a motion that this requirement would not apply to the Divisions thus maintaining the autonomy within the Divisions in how they choose to operate.

6.      The EMS section brought forth three issues the Board took positive action on. The first is to examine the feasibility of the IAFC involvement in ambulance billing. Second to authorize the HCFA task force to work toward increasing the conversion factor for HCFA ambulance fee schedule and third to endorse the EMS section in their legislative efforts on EMS issues. These include the expansion of the definition of “Emergency Ambulance Service”, Sustaining Access to Vital Emergency Medical Services Act of 2001, Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2001 and Medicare Education & Regulatory Fairness Act of 2001

I would like to personally thank everyone in our division who serves on any of the committees and task forces for their work. Without this commitment by our members our organizations would not be as successful as they are. Keep up the great work!

As everyone knows by now NFPA 1710 and 1720 were passed at the NFPA conference. There will be a lot of questions about the impact this will have on the fire service. In an effort to assist departments in handling the new standards an IAFC task force has been appointed and is meeting in Denver to develop an “Implementation Guide”. This meeting will be held on May 30 and 31 and information should be available as soon as it can be put together.

In closing I want to thank everyone for their input and support as we deal with the national issues that face our organizations. This type of support will continue to make the Missouri Valley Division a leader in today’s fire service.