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2009-04-04: FOP STAR LODGE 20 EASTER EGG HUNT
Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 11 am
Daniel Rice Field (Main @ W. Lehigh St.)
For Active/Retired Member's Families
Rain Date Sat. April 11, 2009 at 11 am
RSVP by either calling David at 610-905-0992 or by sending an email to cfenstermaker@bethlehem-pa.gov. We need to know the age and sex of the children who will be attending.
2009-03-02: Brother Andrew Kudlak passed away on 27 Feb 09. His viewing will be held at Pearson Funeral Home, 1901 Linden St., on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 from 1000 to 1100 hours. A graveside service will follow in Bethlehem Memorial Park.
2008-10-13: Enhanced Dental Benefits
Members have until October 31st to complete the application for the enhanced dental benefit option that will be available effective in 2009. Enrollment will be every October and must be done annually. See Human Resources for details.
2008-10-13: FOP Days at Ballpark
The FOP will be sponsoring several suite games or Party Porch events at the Iron Pigs during 2009. Dates will follow and the events will be open to members first. Check back for additional information soon.
2008-10-13:
Congratulations to the Spouses that took the initiative to create the first FOP Auxiliary in Bethlehem. They were sworn in by the State FOP Auxiliary President, Ann Camarotta at the FOP Hall on October 9th.
2008-07-09: Brother Frank Gyorek badge #33 passed away on 01 JUL 08. The funeral was held in Tamaqua and burial occurred in Allentown with several Lodge members paying their respects. He will be missed.
2008-07-09: Important prescription drug recall information.
The following are three prescription drug recall information sheets. Please take time to check if any of the following information applies to you.
- Heparin and Digitek heart related medications
- More Heparin information
- Digitek Digoxin tablets
2008-05-13: 2007 – 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement
As we are all aware by now, FOP Star Lodge #20 members voted by a large margin to settle for a contract which brought the membership raises of 20% (4,4,6,6,) over the next four years. In addition to that, we were able to hold the line on several key benefits. We did not lose the education benefit which means that all members are eligible to further their education at the undergrad, grad and law school levels. Health benefits were increased minimally during the latter years of the contract. Retirees and widows will now receive a minimum pension benefit of $1200/month. The membership also gained a Police Officers Bill of Rights. This is something that will benefit all of us and strengthen our position since we are all faced with much more hostile members of the public and police administration who wish to do take away our rights. The POBOR will provide us with greatly needed protections. Retirees will see the City contributions to health benefits increase during 2009 and 2010. Although the vote was not a unanimous one, we have reason to believe that considering the current economic climate this should be considered a positive contract for the membership. Additionally, it has put us in a much more favorable position to prepare for negotiations for the 2011 contract which will see the benefits of over $1 Billion in economic development within the City of Bethlehem.
2008-05-13: FOP Continuing to look toward the future
During the last year, in particular, the FOP has been working diligently to remind the City and Police Administrations that they are facing a potentially terrible crisis in regards to the impact that the casino will have public safety. As a result of the anticipated tens of thousands of vehicles projected to enter the City every day, since 2004 the FOP has called for the City to increase the staffing in the police department by at least thirty officers…immediately. Although this has not happened, there have been steps by the City to gradually increase the size of the department. Additionally, there are multiple commitments by public officials which indicate that the continued growth of the department will continue for the foreseeable future. However, the battle to stay ahead of the crime wave is not over. We must continue to focus on efforts to ensure that the Police Administration is working efficiently and in concert with the FOP when it comes to labor matters. As a result, repeated requests have been made for a City sponsored Gambling Impact Study but all have been denied. Furthermore, the FOP has requested on numerous occasions to improve the way that we do business by ensuring that officers can focus on doing police work and not data entry with the new computer system. Unfortunately, the call to stop the wasted amount of time that officers spend writing reports that have no value has fallen on deaf ears. Thus, for the time being we will continue to “do things the way we always have”. Once can only hope that visionary minds might prevail in the future so that officers can return to doing police work and not clerk work.
2008-05-13: Retirees to be Honored in October
During the last year, several officers retired and they will be honored at the October Retirement Dinner. Those brothers that are enjoying the good life are: Mario Anfiteatro, Fred Mill, Bob Righi, Willis Leidich, Lou Cressman and Scott Parry. We hope to see you all at the dinner this year so that we can pay the appropriate respect to these members that have serve distinguished careers.
2008-05-13: Changing the way we do business
Over the last year, the Executive Board has been striving to excel at become more and more professional. As a result, members have attended training at various labor seminars throughout the country that have been sponsored by experts both in and outside the FOP. In addition to that, the Lodge has finally hired a financial advisory and is obtaining the guidance that is greatly needed during these harsh economic times to ensure that your assets in the lodge are not only protected but continue to grow in a manner that is responsible. One of the goals that we have is to obtain a hall that will be worthy of instilling camaraderie within the membership for decades to come. Another reason that we made this move financially was so that we would not be as reliant on fundraising dollars where we were put at the mercy of telemarketers. As anyone who has been involved with these types of fundraising groups knows, the average split in a telemarketing fundraising drive consists of between 55-60% of the profits going to the solicitation company while the lodge gets the rest. Since we had numerous problems over the last several years with the companies involved with us, the decision was made to commence a direct mail fundraising campaign so that 100% of all contributions could be realized by the Lodge. As a result, our assets are being managed more responsibly and fundraising will not be something that we are forced to rely on for daily operating expenses. Finally, for the first time in recent history the lodge will be formulating an operating budget to ensure even greater oversight into operations and guarantee that there is better accountability for the membership.
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