Is this true

Nick,

I know you wont answer me here since you dont read this site (riiiight) but I heard that West Central Florida PBA has asked the state permission to desolve its charter, is this true ?? Isn't this something that we should have voted on ?

This is another example of why I cant stand you.

is it too late to go F.O.P. or teamsters?

Nick does not read this post at all end of story. However the answer to your question is no, that is not true. Any future questions you have for nick should be place via telephone. Be a man and talk live not on this.

It is absolutely true, I have now seen proof, It seems not every PBA chapter is intent in lying to their membership, All I had to do was inquire to my brother who works at an agency to the north east of us here in Florida, and YES, West Central Florida PBA HAS asked the STATE PBA permission to desolve the WCFPBA charter. Call me a liar and I'll have my brother scan the request and we can set up a link.... come on Code 1 dare me. . . I can't believe your lying to all of us you P.O.S.

and why does it make me less of a man to inform the rest of our chapter as to the lie your telling, I dont need Nick to take me out for a steak dinner or a round of golf to explain why I need to keep this hush hush

It is absolutely true, I have now seen proof, It seems not every PBA chapter is intent in lying to their membership, All I had to do was inquire to my brother who works at an agency to the north east of us here in Florida, and YES, West Central Florida PBA HAS asked the STATE PBA permission to desolve the WCFPBA charter. Call me a liar and I'll have my brother scan the request and we can set up a link.... come on Code 1 dare me. . . I can't believe your lying to all of us you P.O.S.

and why does it make me less of a man to inform the rest of our chapter as to the lie your telling, I dont need Nick to take me out for a steak dinner or a round of golf to explain why I need to keep this hush hush

It is absolutely true, I have now seen proof, It seems not every PBA chapter is intent in lying to their membership, All I had to do was inquire to my brother who works at an agency to the north east of us here in Florida, and YES, West Central Florida PBA HAS asked the STATE PBA permission to desolve the WCFPBA charter. Call me a liar and I'll have my brother scan the request and we can set up a link.... come on Code 1 dare me. . . I can't believe your lying to all of us you P.O.S.

and why does it make me less of a man to inform the rest of our chapter as to the lie your telling, I dont need Nick to take me out for a steak dinner or a round of golf to explain why I need to keep this hush hush

I DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the F presents all that information and the best you have is I DARE YOU ? I would have to say there is def. something going on, what I don't know but something. . .

He clearly stated to Dare Him that is all I did, he said call me a liar I dare you and I will scan the document. Well I am calling his bluff. Lets see the proof.

When will enough of us see that the pba is not working in our best interest and is only out to help themself? We were doing better when we only had to deal with the city. Now we are dealing with the city and the pba who has lied to us over and over. Its time to drop the pba.

And this is probably coming from a non-dues paying anti-PBA person in the first place who would rather place his/her trust and career in the hands of the IA and the city when the S#@$ hits the fan. Ya, they will help you when you are in need of representation. Sorry, I think I would rather talk to a PBA rep after a shoot prior to IA. Don't forget Bobby Z or Bill R, the PBA could have changed the devastating outcome of theirs.
The PBA may not be perfect, but it has saved the city retirement by us originally voting for the union. It has helped bring all the newer officers into a good pension with the rest of us. We have seen a decent salary increase.
So far nothing bad has happened yet. Little hurdles arise and they are dealt with one at a time. Stop whining and move forward!

I can't beleive what I just read. If you think we would be where we are today without the P.B.A. you've been in the evidence lockers again.

let's see, I've been with the city for about 20 years now and I think I have done pretty good on my own. I make good money, I work hard, I have a good retirement, all things that I had before the PBA. I am not getting tens of thousands more due to the PBA, I am actually getting a little less when I retire, due to the PBA and I am working just as hard as ever.

Ok lets see....

1) We can retire at 25 years with no age penalty.

2) We now have a system that compensates officers who suffer career ending injuries. Just ask Bill R. and Mike T. who they think got the better deal. Bill R. (prior to PBA) Mike T. (with PBA)

3) We've gotten raises each contract that exceed what the rest of the City employess have received.

etc. etc. The examples could continue but I think the point has been made.

Not trying to pick a fight. Just think the PBA has done more good than bad.

Have we all forgotten that the city was going to change ALL city worker's pensions to what the new hires had until the police voted in the PBA!!!!! It was because of LPD voting PBA that saved our original pension plan and screwed all new hires after October 2003.
All you whiners listen up!!! If we did not vote PBA in the first place, we would have all been in the same boat as the new hires. Everything from that point forward has been icing on the cake!

SOURCE: WCFPBA.COM POSTED TODAY.

Thursday July, 17, 2008


From the Executive Director:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is time for an update on the organization and the processes that are currently in the works.

First things first, we now have a membership that stands at a thousand members. The finances are in order and I have taken steps to reduce operational costs and expenses to maintain the services each of you enjoy. The offices in both Tampa and Lakeland are sound at this time and will be maintained although some space reduction in the Tampa office is under way.

Collective bargaining contracts with Lakeland have been agreed to and the Pension restructure is approaching First Reading this month. The Lakeland Bargaining team has worked extremely hard to find solutions that will benefit all members of the agency and to remove the unfair penalties attached to younger Officers. Although it is impossible to make everyone happy the new pension structure will provide all that has been earned to date and provide an attractive benefit for those Officers seeking employment in the future. Included are a twenty five and out and a three (3%) multiplier as well as a line of duty retirement plan competitive with the industry standard.

The City of Bartow is still considering contracting with the Sheriff for service but strong public support exists for the continuation of the Bartow Police Department which has been in existence for One hundred and twenty six (126) years. The WCFPBA has placed articles in local newspapers urging support for our members and the Department.

Contracts with Dade City, Lake Wales, and Zephyrhills are under way and will be completed prior to September.


The annual Golf Tournament has been scheduled for October 27th at River Hills Golf and Country Club and invitations to sponsors have gone out along with requests for donations. This is the final year of our contract with the Golf course and as a result the golf fees will be reimbursed while we cover food costs only. The course is in great shape and I encourage each member to come and enjoy fellowship, good food and drink and support the WCFPBA.

Finally we need to look toward the future and the guarantee of continued service to our members at the best possible cost with an eye on possible expansion of our membership in the future within our three counties.

With this in mind the Board of Directors has elected to entertain the possibility of becoming a Chapter of the Florida PBA, our parent organization.

Last month the Board met with the Executive Director David Murrell and the Assistant Executive Director Matt Puckett of the State PBA to consider the options available. This is being done in an effort to assure funding and support for our Legal Defense benefit, Political Action Screening and future membership recruitment and to avoid any undue burden on the membership.

The benefits to becoming a Chapter versus a Charter were explained and the Board sought counsel from some of the other ten (10) Chapters throughout the State PBA and our Attorney.

Currently as a Charter the WCFPBA is solely responsible for all of our duties and responsibilities including; payment to the State, members insurance, all legal fees, operating expenses to include rent and publications, salaries and liability and auto insurance, fuel and vehicle maintenance.

All political activity is also solely funded by the membership. This can become expensive as we have seen in our battles to protect those agencies being swallowed up by County Government.

Additional membership recruitment is limited solely by the lack of full time personnel to go out and make contact with other agencies.

While the present is sound the Board is acutely aware that the costs of Arbitrations and Law suits over Contracts, Pensions or Police Shootings in the future must be born by the membership through increased dues.

The advantages of becoming a Chapter of the State PBA became immediately apparent upon review and will provide for growth and financial stability into the future regardless of the potential future actions or unforeseen liabilities.



If the State Board approves the transition of WCFPBA to a Chapter the following will occur:

Membership dues for those members without a collective bargaining agreement will be reduced. Members with a collective bargaining contract will pay a standardized fee rather than a percentage of salary which will include one dollar each for PAC and operational funding.

Legal fees for Arbitrations and Law Suits will be born by the State with no set limit or cap.

Operating costs including, rent, utilities, insurance, fuel, maintenance and salaries will be born by the State.

All current contracts will remain in effect and the conduct of business for our membership remains in the hands of your elected Board of Directors.

The Offices in Tampa, Hillsborough County, and Lakeland, Polk County, will remain open.

The State membership group under Jim Wiggins will provide manpower to recruit new membership for our Chapter.

The Constitution and By-Laws of the Chapter will be submitted to the membership along with the election and or retention of your Executive Officers.

The transition to a Chapter is in the best interest of the one Thousand six (1006) members of the WCFPBA and guaranties our existence and the continuation of the highest level of service and growth of our organization without the burden of dues increases in the immediate future.

In the future when our membership reaches the level where autonomy is appropriate and affordable the Chapter may ask the State to grant Charter status by reversing the process.

I have been a Member and Executive Officer of the WCFPBA for thirty seven (37) years now and I sincerely believe this is the appropriate move for the Board of Directors and the Organization as a whole to assure our membership the service they deserve.


Sincerely,


Jim Diamond III, Executive Director

Thats weird that sounds like exactly what I was saying last week. And agian how nice of them to do this without consulting with us the members.

And I love Diamond's letter, how do you start the letter by saying there are now thousands of members in our chapter and then in the end say we have 1006 members. . . more of the general untruthfulness which this administration is all about.

he said "a thousand members" (1000)....so he was off by six. i wouldn't cite that as an example of untruthfulness.

Spoke to a friend of mine who pays the State PBA "flat rate" and his is $79.50 a month!!!

His agency is voting out the PBA and going to the FOP next February.

I still have one question. Since we are no longer a charter.....is the board still receiving $10,000 per person per year stipend???????????????

Nick, I think this is a fair question. Would you please answer it.

I guarantee you this my fellow brothers, if I have the unfortunate circumstance of being involved in a police related shooting, then a PBA lawyer will be the last person I wont on my scene. I will be calling a real lawyer who I am paying and who works for me and does not decisions based on convent time or limited by the expense of having to file a motion in court or possibly making his REPS look bad to a screwed up administration.

I have seen the work and personally spoken with several PBA lawyers and you would have thought you were talking to someone from the Public Defenders Office. I can only hope that I spoke with the rookie of the bunch and that all of the other lawyers were not like that. The conversation was ridiculous and the answers where the typical “Dance around the question” answer or the good ole “I don’t know, but I will get back to you with the answer!” answer and you never hear anything as the hope the subject will just go away. I don’t think I want either of those answers defending my career.

I am sorry but I was very open to the UNION when it came here and I think there are lots of good things to the IDEAL of a union but I think our UNION need to listen to the members of the UNION about issues we are having and then FIX them before the MEMBERS vote the union out.

I think we the MEMBERS have only ourselves to blame for what is going on, why? Because we have become lazy! We have allowed the UNION to do what we need to be doing ourselves. Yes the UNION is a good ideal but when you hire someone to dig a hole for you because you are too lazy to dig it and the hole is not big enough, then the only person you have to blame is yourself. We the MEMBERS need to take control of OUR union. Why are our REPS telling us what they are going to do or not do??? Are they not supposed to be doing what is best for our MEMBERS? I am tired of sitting around hopping that someone else will fix this problem.

God help us if the Great Grady comes over and tries to take this department over, he actually might have a good chance. Just thing about it for a moment, the City Fathers is trying to save money buy cutting officer, the officer are pissed because we are getting the shaft in bung hole every time we turn around and all the union is saying is……. “let me check on that” or “I will get back to you on that”, are these answers in a PBA answer book somewhere????

I think if Grady goes to the City Fathers and tell them how he can save them the money they need and then he come to the MEMBERS and reassure them he will make things better then there is no difference between that and what the UNION told us years ago. Our agency is so screwed up right now, I think we would believe osama bin laden if he told us he could make things better.

And Yes, I am a dues paying PBA member, all I asked is wake up, lisen to what we have to say and at lease TRY to work on some of our issues!!!!!!

Remember , we are either barker or biters, which one is our UNION?
WAKE UP LPD!!!

"Our agency is so screwed up right now, I think we would believe osama bin laden if he told us he could make things better."

Well all Bin Laden would do is have one of his cronies plow a jet into 219 N. Mass most likely shearing off the entire third floor. Oh wait, you're right, maybe he does have the answer. Bin Laden for Chief of Police!!!!! :devil: