MSFA Weekly Report for County Associations and Partners
Week ending 7.15.2022
PDF: MSFA Weekly Report week ending 7.15.22
President Kurtz has announced the following Executive Committee meeting dates for
2022–2023. MSFA PP Steve Cox is now the Executive Committee Chairman.
August 20–21, 2022 Jarrettsville VFC
December 3–4, 2022 Showell VFC
February 11–12, 2023 Prince Frederick VFD
April 1–2, 2023 Flintstone VFD
Meetings will start at 9am on Saturday and Sunday and all are encouraged to attend.
This past weekend, President Kurtz held a transition meeting with all newly elected MSFA
Officers and appointed Committee Chairs, as well as the Executive Committee and Staff, in an
effort to bring everyone together to discuss the initiatives of the upcoming term.
One of the topics discussed was the failure of the proposed name change at Convention last
month. President Kurtz is committed to continuing the progress that was made during PP
McCrea’s term to bring the necessary change for the MSFA’s name to reflect the operational
diversity of its membership. President Kurtz has directed a taskforce to create a survey for all
member departments to complete that will collect data on what was the driving force behind the
failure of the name change. There was much discussion on the interference of outside forces
that were not sanctioned by the MSFA. President Kurtz has been very clear that if we are to
move forward with changing the name of the MSFA, it will be on terms created and driven by
the membership itself.
President Kurtz asks that NO NAME CHANGE PROPOSALS BE SUBMITTED until after
January 1, 2023.
Also at the transition meeting, several new committee chairs were present and gave reports on
the direction of their committee for this upcoming term. We are asking that ALL committee
chairs visit their committee page on the msfa.org website and ensure that all members of your
committee are listed, the documents associated with your committee are current, and any new
information is posted as soon as possible.
The Cancer Committee’s announced its 2023 Walk in Annapolis which will be held on April
24, 2023. They hope to have an excellent turn out again next Spring!
The Ways and Means Committee reminds all departments that tickets have been distributed to
all Executive Committee members. Please be sure to contact them to get your tickets!
Reminder: If your department is in need of Mental Health Awareness training, please contact
Teresa Crisman at tacrisman@hotmail.com. The Mental Health Awareness Taskforce will hold
training statewide to ensure that our membership has what they need to provide support and
resources to our fire service brothers and sisters.
As mentioned in the last weekly report, the MSFA SAFER grant team is nearing the release of
the new Statewide Mentorship Program which will be rolled out in regional sessions within the
coming months. The online customizable recruitment marketing materials will soon be
available to all member companies as well. Once these programs are released, the regional
coordinators will reach out to arrange dates for the training as well as how–to sessions for the
online platforms.
The regional coordinators continue to review each county marylandvolunteer.org page to ensure
that each department has a current profile listed.
Each company is encouraged to visit the site
and submit any necessary changes to their regional coordinator.
Heather Gorski; SAFER Program Manager hgorski@msfa.org
Tracey Johnston; Eastern Shore tjohnston@msfa.org
Dale Bowen; Southern Maryland dbowen@msfa.org
Nicole Stotelmyer; Western Maryland nisoles@msfa.org