Page 27 - Binder1_Neat

El Dorado Professional Firefighters

IAFF Local 1074 • P.O. Box 10835 • El Dorado, AR • 71730

Brothers and Sisters,
This has been an interesting year for the El Dorado Professional Firefighters Local 1074. We ended the
year in 2016 deep in budget fights with our mayor and council. A 10% decrease in sales tax revenue left
the city searching for ways to cut the budget. The fire department was in the forefront of these topics.
Using social media as our weapon of choice, we were able to fight against what started out as a 10% cut
in our budget ending in the council accepting a 4.5% cut. At one point a council member stated that she
could not even go to the grocery store without someone asking why she hated the fire department. We
still took a toll. The department lost 1 position and our minimum staffing was reduced by 1 firefighter
per shift. Currently the tax revenue is up approximately 18% so we hope to get that staffing back where it
once was.

We welcomed in a new Vice President, Clay Doherty. Chris Hayden chose not to run for another
term. We also welcomed in a new Secretary, Will Silvey. Our Treasurer, Matt Taylor and myself were
not up for re-election.
Representative Sheppard was our only local legislator to get re-elected for another term. Our
relations are still poor. Senator Bobby Pierce lost to Senator Trent Garner. John Baine did not seek re-
election and Representative Sonja Barker took his spot. We have been able to make new relationships
with our new legislators and I believe we will have a good working relationships in the future.

Our department just implemented a new station and shift bidding policy. Our local did not vote
in favor of the policy. Our Chief decided to move forward with policy without the Local’s blessing.
Chief Mosby did however meet with the union officers to work out the details of the policy to make sure
that we were able to get the most fair and equitable policy possible. So far, the policy has seemed to work
as expected. There is some wording that is not favorable but the policy is working fine.

We recently sent 1 member to the IAFF Political Training Academy. Justin Tolin attended the
21 IAFF Political Training Academy. Justin is our 2 member to attend the academy in the last 5 years.
nd
st
I have been accepted to attend the IAFF Communications Academy in May.
We have spent a large majority of our time planning for the APFF Convention. We hope that you
have a wonderful time in El Dorado and hope to return to our town for one of our many festivals and
musical events.

Fraternally,
Seth Rainwater, President

El Dorado Professional Firefighters L-1074