DATE: April 8, 2003

TO:  MV Board of Directors

FROM:  Chief Steven Westermann

RE: International Directors Report

The IAFC Board of Directors met April 4-6, 2003.  There is attached a compact disc which includes the Executive Director’s project report, a Government Relations report and the Treasurer’s report for your review.

Government Relations Report

There is a printed attachment also of this report (Attachment 1) so I will only hit the high points. If you have any other questions, please feel free to call me. 

For homeland security reasons, there is a strong push to remove all hazardous materials placarding.  While we have gone on record opposing such a move, the IAFC has also recognized that there may be some areas that we can compromise.  Please see Garry Briese’s letter of April 1^st to Ms. Elaine Sdzenski of the TSA (Attachment 2).  It is likely that some manner of placard removal will take place.

As you have probably seen in your area the smallpox initiative has been severely slowed down, in part due to disagreements at the federal level between the two parties.  There is legislation being discussed that answers questions of liability and compensation in the even of an adverse reaction.

The sprinkler industry, in light of recent fires, has prepared draft legislation for sprinkler tax credits for those businesses that retrofit their properties.  This legislation also includes an increased depreciation schedule to assist the building owners.  We will work in behalf of that legislation.

Probably the biggest piece is the FIRE Act.  While we were able to keep the FIRE Act at the USFA this year, next year will be a much bigger and much more formidable fight.  The FY04 budget is currently being heard and includes $500 million for the FIRE Act.  The intent is to have this funding go through the Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) which will in turn issue the money as block grants through the states, taking off at least a fourth of the money as administrative costs.

The SAFER Act has been reintroduced  through SB 544 and HR1118.  This would provide $7.5 billion to hire 75,000 firefighters.  Because of the price tag of the current war effort and resulting reconstruction of Iraq, this bill will face an uphill battle.

In February of this year President Bush issued HSPD-5 which requires the establishment of a national incident management system.  This project has been assigned to the US Coast Guard, which uses essentially the same system as the fire service.  

Lastly, a  document entitled: The National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets can be downloaded at the following web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/pcipb/physical.html.  This document is 83 pages long and identifies the emergency services as one of the nation’s critical assets.  If anyone is fighting budget battles, it could be a good resource for the protection of your department.

Treasurer’s Report

Chief Julian Taliaferro provided the PowerPoint presentation included on the CD and in paper form in Attachment 3.  This is a balanced 2 year budget but only after several budget cuts were made. Included in the paper form is a list of several items that were removed from the proposed budget.  While the organization is fiscally sound at the moment, we are becoming concerned for the future as we see costs rise and expectations rise through the strategic plan before us.  Currently all  of the strategic goals have been addressed in either 2003 or 2004.

In a cost saving move that will affect our future, the recommendation was made, and approved to pay off the mortgage on IAFC headquarters.  We had a balance of $444,368 at a rate of 6.24%.  The monthly interest paid was $ 2,311 for a yearly total of $27,732.  We have the balance in savings currently at 2% earning $8,887 per year, so our potential savings each year would be $18,845 by paying off the mortgage.  At time of payoff, we will ask for a letter of credit against the equity in case of future need.

With our eye on the future, the Board will begin discussions with the Divisions to see if there are any areas that  can be agreed upon to shift some costs.  This will be one of the topics of discussion at FRI with Chief Ernie Mitchell and the Division presidents.

Executive Director’s Report

Also on the CD is Garry Briese’s activity report.  It was provided to each director for an aid in describing IAFC activities.  I have made copies for each of you to use in your state meetings or even regional chief’s meetings as you give your reports. I hope it will help.  As you will see, we continue to be extremely busy on many fronts, so again, a couple of highlights.

Last month in our teleconference, I mentioned an MOU signed with ICC.  There has been some reaction on the west coast with the interpretation that we are only backing ICC and that is not the case.  We have also extended the same invitation to the NFPA to develop an MOU on building codes.

Because of some funding complications at the NFA, the IAFC is assisting them with the EFO Symposium this year in facilitating the Horse Whisperer program.  This is a program where the presenter brings a wild horse into an arena and in the course of one day will train while speaking to the audience.  In every step used in training the horse, there is a similar lesson for management and leadership skills.  For instance, the first step in changing the environment of the horse is not to put the saddle on.  The presenter sets the saddle in the middle of the ring and leaves it there for the horse to get used to it, approach it carefully, smell it and become comfortable.  Same thing with change in an organization.  I believe this would be an excellent speaker for a future Missouri Valley conference.  This presentation will be a pre-conference seminar at Dallas FRI.

Constitution and By-Laws Committee

Attachment 4 is a list of proposed changes to the Constitution that will be put on the mail ballot sent in May.  The document also lists whether the IAFC Board supports the change or not.  There is one recommended change that the Board was unanimously against and that was allowing any chief officer to run for office at the IAFC level.  It was strongly felt, particularly when we are making a large presence on  Capital Hill, that a 5 bugle chief be the representative head of the organization.

Missouri Valley Report

Lastly, I had the opportunity to give a report on the MV Division and made a case for other divisions to take the time to conduct a strategic planning session and how it has helped our division focus.  I also discussed the policy book, the position statements, name change and division logo.  We are definitely still a leader in the parent organization.

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