We just received a phone call from St. John’s Lutheran Church where we hold our monthly meetings, notifying us that we will not be able to have our September 2009 meeting at the church because they are having a huge church garage sale.

This notice came as a surprise as we schedule our meeting dates a year in advance with St. John’s and felt we had a contractual agreement. We are now in the process of locating an alternate meeting location which may become a permanent meeting location change depending on the facility, location, parking and the cost.

We don’t want to have this happen again, particularly with a shorter notice. Be sure to see the notice for the September meeting location elsewhere in this Newsletter. We are trying to locate a meeting room in the vicinity of St. John’s with parking to limit the confusion. I n the future unless otherwise directed by the Board, we are going to combine the July and August Newsletters into a joint Newsletter. The months of July and August are in the middle of the summer months when we are not having monthly meetings. Many of our members are away and some of our business activities are reduced. The joint July- August Newsletter will eliminate one Newsletter which will result in about a $900.00 savings.

I want to inform those of you who were acquainted with Lyle Goodrich that Lyle recently lost his wife Betty and has now moved into a retirement home in Federal Way.

Lyle is a retired Everett firefighter and the grandfather of Washington Fire Service Training. He hired many active firefighters around the state as instructors who helped develop and taught various fire service courses. Some of those instructors have since passed but many of you are here and may be living in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Otis Hay, a former fire service training instructor, former Deputy Chief in the Tacoma Fire Department and a former Director of the Retired Firefighters of Washington would like to schedule a luncheon in Tacoma with Lyle, perhaps at the retirement facility where Lyle is living or at a restaurant in Tacoma. If you would be interested in attending to visit and share some old stories please call Otis Hay at
253-472-6230 in Tacoma. Lyle is living at the Village Green Retirement Campus, 35419 First Ave S, Federal Way, 98003. His phone number is
253-661-3956 and would certainly enjoy a visit or a phone call.

I received a call from a member who had worked in the Seattle FD, resigned as a lieutenant with nineteen years of service and later retired as the chief of a fire department in another Washington city. He is a dual member who was employed under the Prior Act and retired under the LEOFF 1 Pension Law.

He was concerned about his Prior Act service credit in Seattle. Regardless of his contractual agreement with the city where he retired as chief, his prior service credit followed him as he became a member of the LEOFF system. He retained his excess of benefits under the Prior Act.

Whether his prior service (under the Prior Act) contributions where transferred to the second city is another question. When he retired as chief under LEOFF 1 in the second city, he retired with two percent for each year of service, Prior Act and LEOFF, at the salary he was receiving at the time of retirement with future cost of living increases. In so much as the Prior Act limited the retirement salary to the rank of battalion chief, he will not receive a benefit from the Prior Act unless at some point his current retirement salary is less than it would be if computed on the salary of an active battalion chief. If at some point his salary is less, he will then receive a second check from the city. As a result of the passage of HB 1506 in the last session, those of you who worked under the Prior Act, RCW 41.18 and retired under the Prior Act or under LEOFF should have or should at any time receive a letter from your local pension board explaining the amendment to the law and the new survivor options that are now available to you. Please remember, this amendment only affects the Prior Act and that the Prior Act is administered by the local board not by the State Department of Retirement Systems. The benefits or options as a result of HB 1506 have already been included in the LEPFF 1 Law. Originally under the Prior Act a member had to be married for five years before retirement to qualify for the selection of a survivor option. The amendment now allows a member who was married for less than five years before retirement, married after retirement, or marries in the future to select a survivor benefit. You have a choice of selecting a survivor benefit that will pay 100% of your current pension, two-thirds of your current pension or fifty percent of your current pension, which will be reduced depending on which survivor option you select.

The reduction is based on the age of the member and the age of the spouse. Once the percentage of the reduction is computed it will not change. You and your spouse will still be eligible for any future cost of living increases. If your spouse precedes you in death your pension will pop up to the full amount. The second change is that the survivor of a member who retired on a disability pension can now remarry without forfeiting the pension.

This also applies to a second check those of you are receiving from your former employer for employment under the Prior Act and who retired under LEOFF.

This amendment was effective on July 26, 2009. If you are now married and didn’t previously qualify for the survivor option you have until July 26, 2010 to make your selection. If you marry in the future you have one year from your first anniversary to apply. These time periods are important and will not be waived. There is more information available than I have space for in this Newsletter. Be sure to contact your pension board for any additional information.

Ray Sanderson, a member of the Yakima Pension Board, Steve Brown, the Executive Secretary of the Seattle Pension Board, and I have developed an information packet that has been made available to all the other boards. The packet includes additional information, questions and answers and an application for the new survivor benefit. If you have not received this packet contact your local board. I want to thank Ray Sanderson and Steve Brown for their hard work and collaboration on this issue.

The Washington State Supreme Court has issued a decision in the McAllister vs. City of Bellevue Firemen’s Pension Board. The court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals, ruling against McAllister, stating that the pension board committed no error. The decision was unanimous.

The State Supreme Court decision should also settle the Conklin vs. City of Tacoma Pension Board lawsuit. The complaint was that a member who was employed under the Prior Act and retired with a rank above a Battalion Chief and who retired under LEOFF 1 should have the pension benefit calculated on the current salary of the position the member held at the time of retirement, Deputy Chief, Assistant Chief, or Department Chief.

The RFFOW decided not to join in the lawsuit when asked, as we felt the decision of the Bellevue Pension Board was correct.