Page 34 - convention booklet

Texarkana Local 502

Texarkana has been relatively the same for many years. We have
had very little communication or cooperation from our fire chief or
the city manager. We seem to face issue after issue and we seem

to end up on the short end of things. We lost a position within our
department and additional budget cuts for this fiscal year. Our
police department gained 5 positions however.....Our city

manager has cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars in law suits
over the past couple of years as well as being double paid for his
services. These city manager issues have obviously caused a
strain on our department and the city as a whole. I am happy to

report that we now have several fire friendly board members who
took office January 1st of 2015. The city manager will be leaving
in June of this year and our fire chief will be gone in April of 2016.

The wind of change is blowing through city hall and it couldn't
happen at a better time. Our membership suffered tremendous
losses in numbers over the past 4 to 5 years due in part to
political views. That bottomed out last year at 32%. I'm happy to

report that with a membership drive over the past year we have
increased to 53%. That's certainly not satisfactory but it is finally a
move in the right direction. With all the positive turnover in city hall

and our continued effort we will increase our numbers even more.
Our goal is to be proactive in political activities and to have
friendly members in at least four seats on our board. To be a part

of the decision making regarding our next fire chief. To become
more involved in the APFF and all the many resources at our
disposal. In short we believe our future is much brighter than our

past.