Fire unions break from telemarketing company
SPRING HILL –
Both of the local fire unions severed their ties with the charity telemarketing firm after reports it had spent 85 percent of its collections.
Scott Edmisten, president of the Professional Firefighters of Spring Hill Local 2794, said the union voted in January to discontinue its business partnership with Bay Area Council Inc.
“We stopped having them calling for us,” he said. “Nobody’s talked about reuniting with them. I have no intentions of reuniting with them.”
Edmisten said the union will continue with its boot drives to raise money for muscular dystrophy, but he doesn’t know what other kind of fundraising the union will consider in the future.
“For now, we’ve suspended all donations until we figure out what we’ll do,” he said. “We’ve been floating ideas.”
The Hernando County Professional Firefighters Local 3760 announced earlier this month its union members agreed to do the same.
All of its fundraising will be done “in house,” said President Bobby Rae.
Both he and Edmisten said they were unaware of the amount of money that was being spent by Bay Area Council for its own expenses.
The company also has solicited on behalf of Citrus County Professional Paramedics and EMTs, New Port Richey Firefighters, Pasco County Council of Firefighters, Zephyrhills Professional Firefighters, the Hillsborough Firefighters Benevolent Association and Polk County Firefighters, according to state records.
Jeff Calcutt, president of the Polk County Firefighters, said he was unaware of Bay Area Council ever collecting on his union’s behalf. He said the union doesn’t do any fundraising outside of its annual boot drives.
“That makes me mad if they’re collecting money and not distributing it,” he said.
Ron Howell, president of Bay Area Council, has refused to return messages.
The company’s practices first came to light after Ron Wegner, of Hudson, complained to local legislators that his late mother received a $30 invoice from the Professional Firefighters of Spring Hill.
A telemarketer contacted her and asked for a voluntary donation. The invoice, in turn, looked like a bill, Wegner said.
He said it constituted fraud and blasted local fire unions for their fundraising practices.
“We at least got this concession,” said Wegner.
He said he still receives calls from telemarketers claiming to collect for local fire and police unions.
Wegner thinks the public needs to be better informed, particularly seniors.
“Why are unions soliciting money to begin with?” said Wegner. “We already have charities for that … People really need to watch out for these guys.”
The American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago states the average fundraising costs for charities that use telemarketing is 30 to 40 percent. Bay Area Council spent between 84 and 86 percent from 2004 to 2007, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Edmisten was defensive when he was first contacted in December about his union’s affiliation with Bay Area Council. He refused a reporter’s request to search through the union’s financial records, which showed where the money was being distributed.
Unions are exempt from public records requests because they are private entities, he said.
Edmisten said the money collected from Bay Area Council in the past went toward a number of local charities and none went toward the union itself.
Edmisten had just been elected president. He said in December looking at the union’s fundraising was among his top priorities.
The following month, members voted to discontinue dealing with Bay Area Council. Seeing only a small portion of the total revenue was the main reason, said Edmisten.
“We’ve decided telemarketing isn’t the way to go,” he said. “Not with those percentages.”
Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or [email protected].
