THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS SENT BY UNION PRESIDENT ANDREW PANTELIS TO THE COUNTY COUNCIL,
VOLUNTEER JONATHAN BIGONY SENT A REPLY / REBUTTAL TO THE LETTER INCLUDED ARE THE ORIGINAL
LETTER AND THE REBUTTAL
BOTH THE ORIGINAL LETTER AND THE REBUTTAL ARE INCLUDED IN THIS TEXT WITHOUT ANY EDITING,
CENSORSHIP, OR CHANGES TO EITHER PARTIES STATEMENTS
Union President Pantelis letter is in regular type and the rebuttal is in BOLD TYPE
13 October, 2011
Dear Sir or Madam Councilperson:
We are providing to you a copy of a letter that was posted on FaceBook by Mr. Pantelis, the IAFF Local
1619 President, to the members of the Local’s FaceBook page, that contains numerous unsubstantiated
accusations and falsehoods regarding the Fire Commission. He is presenting this letter as a guide to
his members to solicit and direct the text of email from them and their families in to you in an attempt to
sway your votes on CB-45-2011 and
CB-60-2011. The Volunteers have not and were not given sufficient opportunity in a public forum or
before you to address the accusations, misinformation and outright falsehoods leveled by the Fire chief,
his staff, his rank and file employees, and his Union, in this letter, in the “Q&A” and in various position
papers, newspaper articles and press releases from the Fire/EMS Department. Our comments are in
bold type.
Thank you for reading and considering our rebuttals.
The Volunteers
From the UNION ONLY FB page:
Andrew Pantelis,
On September 19th, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker introduced two pieces of legislation to the
County Council, CB-45 and CB-60 are two “Fire Protection Oversight” bills that propose changes to the composition
and the responsibilities of the Prince George’s County Fire Commission.
The current Fire Commission is an outdated model that goes back to the enactment of the County Charter (sic) in
1970. While Prince George’s County and the Fire/EMS Department have changed dramatically in the past 40 years,
the Commission has failed to evolve accordingly.
Mr. Pantelis claims that the Fire Commission is an outdated model. The Union organization of which he
is the President has been around a lot longer than the Fire Commission. Has the Union evolved? Is it
outdated? Does the leadership of his organization reflect the diversity of Prince George’s County?
Prince George’s County is a rapidly growing and diverse community. We have evolved from a rural farming
community to one of the most affluent predominately African American communities in the nation. Our Fire/EMS
Department has evolved from a conglomerate of independent volunteer fire companies to one of the busiest
combination (career and volunteer) emergency response agencies in the United States.
Does the Fire/EMS Department employee diversity reflect the diversity of the County?
Whereas, career and volunteer members are now equal in our numbers, we have failed to ensure that all
Department members have an equal voice at the table. The current Fire Commission members are exclusively from
the volunteer ranks and are elected by the individual volunteer fire companies. This election occurs with no
involvement or oversight from our elected officials or independent citizens.
Mr. Pantelis claims that “career and volunteer members are now equal in numbers.” This is a
falsehood. Operationally, the Volunteers outnumber the uniformed sworn personnel by almost 3-1. The
Union has always “had a seat at the table” since the “table” was in fact being set by members of the
Union! Mr. Pantelis apparently believes that “everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others.”
As the elected members of the Commission are sworn in by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, his statement
of “no involvement” is a falsehood.
Failure to include career members on the Commission often results in a structural imbalance in the strategic and
operational decision making process that impact our working conditions. Furthermore, failure to include
independent citizens on the Fire Commission has resulted in policies and practices that often do not have our
citizens (sic) best interests in mind.
As the primary duties of the Fire Commission are financial oversight and support related, the
Commission is rarely asked to provide input on “strategic and operational” decisions that affect the
career personnel. What “policies and practices” do not have the “citizen’s best interests in mind?”
There is no evidence to support this accusation.
This legislation proposes to change the make-up and the duties of our Fire Commission. It recommends a new
Commission that is more diverse, is appointed in a manner that is consistent with other Boards or Commissions as
described by Charter, and has responsibilities that are more in line with the modern fire service.
The Commission has actively and continuously attempted to recruit candidates that reflect the
“diversity” of the County. If there is a quota, then we should be made aware of what it is. We work,
some of us more than 30 hours a week performing the duties of the office to which we were elected. We
receive no compensation, save for a small pension of $2,700 per year after 25 years of active service as
does every other Volunteer who meets the criteria. Glittering generalities about “responsibilities that
are more in line…” are just that. Without specificity, how can this be quantified?
Specifically, if enacted, the new Commission would be comprised of three career members, three volunteer
members, and three independent citizens who have no actual or family affiliation with either Departmental entity.
Members would be nominated by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Council. Furthermore, the
legislation proposes to consolidate the Fire/EMS Department budgets into one singular budget. Such a move would
significantly improve Department operations by ensuring accountability and transparency in our expenditures and
that tax payer dollars are being spent efficiently and in the best interest of our citizens.
There is no proof of the Commission operating inefficiently, no claim of malfeasance in office or illegal
use of County funds. The County Council’s own auditing team stated that there would be no change in
monetary impact by eliminating the Commission. Meeting publicly twice a monthly, we provide far more
transparency that nearly all other County agencies or organizations. Are the Union’s meetings open to
the public?
The volunteer component of our Department vehemently opposes the changes that have been proposed. They
desire to hold on to an inefficient and unbalanced program where their primary concern is control and power. They
have resorted to fear mongering by alleging that these changes will detrimentally impact service delivery and place
our citizens lives in danger. Such statements are not only disingenuous, they are outright lies that are perpetuated
by the few self-serving members that would lose power.
Our primary concern is not “control and power.” That statement is an outright lie. We fight this
proposed change because all of the Volunteers will suffer at the hands of their avowed enemy, the IAFF
Local 1619, as nearly all employees of the Fire/EMS Department are IAFF Local 1619 members who
consider every Volunteer and every Volunteer Fire Corporation rival organizations and people. Part of
our mission is to ensure that the interests of the Volunteers and their Corporations are protected the
best ways possible under law. We constantly must balance this against what is just and prudent and in
the best interest of the County.
This week at the Council’s Public Safety and Fiscal Management Committee meeting, Council members heard from
the volunteers on this bill. Now it is important that they hear from you. As County employees, as County residents,
and more importantly as stakeholders who are on the front line providing service, how is the time to let your voice be
heard.
We challenge Mr. Pantelis to provide a certifiable head count of the Fire Department’s paid personnel
and employees that live in and pay property taxes in Prince George’s County. Rumor has it that it is less
than 50% of their complement. They take out tax dollars (in the form of their salaries and benefits) to
many of the surrounding Counties in MD, VA and PA. Yes, there are many Volunteers in Prince George’s
County that live outside of the County, but they give freely of their time and energy to serve the citizens
of Prince George’s County.
I am asking you, your family members, and your friends to send emails to all Council members requesting their
support of this legislation. In addition, I am requesting you all to specifically ask Councilwoman Mary Lehman and
Councilman Eric Olson why they are opposing this legislation that would diversify and modernize the Fire
Commission and ensure that all Department members and our citizens are equally represented.
The career personnel and others in the Fire/EMS Department are not members, they are employees.
They have a union to represent them and bargain for them at the contract table. They enjoy the
protection of binding arbitration. They are covered by EOE statutes and labor regulations. The
Volunteers enjoy NONE of these privileges and protections.
The email contacts are listed below. There is no need for your email to be lengthy and please be professional and
courteous. The time to act is now. Please contact any union officer with questions or concerns. Thank you.
Fraternally,
Andrew Pantelis
President