The one percent committee will be accepting nominations for delegates to the SCSFA annual conference from now until May 16, 2011 at 1700 hours.  The committee is bound by the court agreement to designate funds for the Columbia Fire Department Delegation to attend the annual conference.  Anyone wishing to have their name added to the ballot please e-mail your name and current shift / unit assignment to cfdjhelms@columbiasc.net.  The one percent committee will present a complete list of all nominees, for review, prior to voting.  Please mark your e-mail as SCSFA nomination.   The conference will run from Monday June 6, 2011 until Saturday June 11, 2011.  Delegates will be required to attend from Wednesday thru Saturday.  Only apply if you are able to attend all four of these days.  The Department will cover the staffing hours during the time you miss.

Note: Remember that if you are elected you will be required to attend all general sessions / business meetings, a minimum of one seminar per day and all voting sessions.  Also, remember that all delegation members will make a combined written presentation back to the committee, which will be forwarded to the membership after their return from the conference.  Any delegate, which fails to meet the required participation listed above, will be required to repay the one percent fund for the cost of their trip.  Each delegate will be given funds to cover the cost of travel, meals and hotel expenses.    

We will be sending sixteen delegates to represent the Department, one of which is the Fire Chief.  The Chief is an automatic delegate and is not voted on by the membership.  Two alternates will be selected to fulfill the position of any delegates that is unable to attend at the last moment.  Anyone associated with the Department to include Suppression (paid and volunteer), Administration, Training, Prevention and Logistics are eligible to submit their name for consideration.  Ballots will be specific for the paid staff and volunteer staff.  The nominees will be ranked in order by the amount of votes they received and this will determine the delegates / alternates.  The alternates will be the next highest rank from the voting results, one from each side.  Should there not be enough personnel from both the paid and volunteer staff to fill the 10 and 5 member requirements, personnel from the other list can be used to round out the delegation list.  The individuals used will be placed on that list based on the election results.  All election results will be certified and signed off by the one-percent oversight committee.      

The Department will conduct the voting on electing these delegates starting May 18, 2011 and continue until May 21, 2011.  We must have the delegates picked and the names sent to The SCSFA by May 23, 2011.  If you are scheduled off on these days it will be your responsibility to vote.  Each department paid member can vote for up to ten nominees, from the paid ranks and all volunteer members will be allowed to vote for five people from the volunteer ranks.  Any ballot that has more than the allotted number of votes will be discarded. 

Please ensure that everyone working within your station, battalion or under your command see this e-mail.  Please post in every Fire Station.

If you have any questions please call or e-mail one of the committee members.

Jamie Helms, Robert Joyner, Tony Rodriguez, Ken Gypin, Terry Capone, Brantley Hanna, Sean McCutcheon, Charles Wiggins and James Ballentine