Hannibal Mayor Barry Louderman: ‘Hang on, give me a week or so’ to fix years-long retention issues at Hannibal Fire Department

HANNIBAL — According to the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), a fire can progress from a small flame to a serious concern within 30 seconds. Unfortunately for the city of Hannibal, the retention issue at the Hannibal Fire Department (HFD) is one that’s been burning for years.

After a packed-house meeting that lasted roughly an hour and a half adjourned with little to no progress made on the issue Tuesday night, the Hannibal City Council failed to resolve any issues relating to concerns that the HFD currently lacks the manpower to safely and adequately fight fires.

“We’re to the point of bleeding out,” International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1211 President Steven Meyer said towards the end of the meeting. “We’re beyond critical.”

Meyer said the department has lost 41 people since he joined in 2017. The problem, he says, is the money — or lack thereof.

After Meyer took to the podium to introduce himself, Mayor Barry Louderman asked him what he was asking for. Meyer responded that, to make the department competitive with others in the area, the starting salary needed to be around $48k, an $8k increase from the current base rate of $40k.

A salary increase of roughly 10 percent for firefighters and police was approved by the council in 2023. Following the approval, a public safety sales tax was proposed to support police and fire department funding, prompting the January 2024 introduction in the Missouri Legislature of House Bill 2290 — which would grant Hannibal the authority to enact such a tax for public safety. 

Louderman explained that the bill was in the House and that — hopefully, eventually — it would make its way to the governor to sign. 

The bill appears to have stalled after a public hearing in February 2024. It is not on the House calendar, nor are there any hearings scheduled for it. 

For now, though, the city is operating at a $500,000 deficit. Louderman said there isn’t much that can be done until the bill passes.

“I understand that, and I know it’s a bigger problem, but we’ve got to look at a short term fix,” Meyer said. “We’ve lost some guys just since the beginning of this year.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” Louderman said. “Right now you’ve got 37 firefighters —”

“No,” Meyer interjected.

“Yes,” Louderman insisted. “As of this morning you have 37 firefighters.”

“Who are they?” Meyer asked. “I would love to see all 37, because Mayor, we operate on 36 minimal trucks, that’s three 12-man crews. We haven’t been at three 12-man crews since before I started (in 2017).”

The IAFF outlines the number of firefighters needed during an initial alarm deployment for various types of fires:

• Low hazard: 15
• Medium hazard: 28
• High hazard: 43

The count of 37 included a new hire, as well as admin personnel. The Local 1211’s collective bargaining agreement with the city says, “Full staffing at the Hannibal Fire Department shall consist of three 12-man crews and five administration personnel, which includes one civilian employee.” 

Meyer explained that even with a count of 37, the number was still short; additionally, one firefighter is out on injury and another is out on sick leave until his retirement.

“We don’t have the bodies on trucks, regardless of what the papers say,” Meyer said. 

He warned that a solution needed to happen within the next 30 days or less.

“We’re hemorrhaging at such a rate that one (fire) station being shut down might not be the end of it,” he said in reference to one of three fire stations that closed in December due to staffing issues. 

Scott Haycraft, 1st Ward Councilmember, said that it would be difficult to pass any salary increases at this time, but that such an increase was deserved.

“We appreciate it, and we don’t feel undervalued by the city,” Meyer explained. “It’s just the fact that we can’t make ends meet.”

An average firefighter works 48 to 56 hours per week, which amounts annually to hundreds of work hours more than the average American working a 40 hour workweek. Meyer said he wasn’t aware of anyone in the department who didn’t work a second job.

Charles Phillips, 4th Ward Councilmember, suggested there might be certain parts of the budget that might have a little wiggle room, and Meyer said the department was exploring grant options. 

Mike Dobson, 2nd Ward Councilmember, mentioned the possibility of increasing the property tax — a suggestion he first proposed after the 10% increase in 2023, but was overruled — but any tax-related solutions would be at least a year out from going into effect and wouldn’t provide the short-term solution the department so desperately needs right now.

“There’s no short-term,” Dobson said.

“There’s no short term? So we’re just going to keep bleeding people mercilessly and putting ourselves and citizens at risk?” Meyer challenged.

“No, I’m not saying that,” Dobson explained.

“Mike, I’m not trying to cut you off or sound rude, but we’ve got two guys leaving for Quincy. I’ve got a guy retiring end of March, another guy that’s retiring in September,” Meyer said. “I’ve got at least three other guys looking for other opportunities.”

Combined with the seven people the department has lost just since December, more than an entire 12-man crew (when the department is “fully staffed”) will have been lost in less than a year.

Louderman said that those who are unsatisfied with the current pay rate knew what they were signing up for when they took the job.

“When you’re hired to work for a company, you’re told what your starting salary is, your benefits and all that goes along with it, so it’s your choice to come on board,” he said.

The sentiment was one that prompted Will Baker, a 16-year veteran of the department, to speak. He described the conditions of the department when he started: three 12-man crews (fully staffed) plus additional community service support; lower percentage in pension contributions; and affordable health insurance that enabled them to have their first child — born via emergency C-section — for $200.

“Now we have three eight-man crews. Our pension contributions are much, much higher. I’m not bringing home near the money that I was back when I came on board with the fire department,” Baker said. “The days off available — it doesn’t matter if I get 100 vacation days a year or not because I can’t get off anymore to spend time with my family, go watch my daughter’s cheer competitions, so on and so forth.”

“Once again, when you guys did your contract back in ‘22, you knew what your contributions were going to be to the pension fund, what the rates were going to be.” Louderman said.

“I guess mayor, with all due respect, what I was getting at is: what I signed on for when I got hired —,” Baker said.

“Sure, that’s what I’m asking,” Louderman said.

“That’s not the case now,” Baker continued.

“So what you signed on for and what you’re being paid is not what you were told when you signed on, correct? Is that what you’re telling me? I honestly want to know,” Louderman asked. 

Baker again mentioned pension contributions and insurance rate increases.

“And let me just add, he signed on because he’s a fireman and he loves his career,” Baker’s wife Jessica asserted from the gallery. “And at 40 years old, he can’t just leave and start a career somewhere else. He’s got to finish out the rest of his career so he can retire. It doesn’t matter if his contract and his pension contributions change. He can’t just leave that.”

“I understand that, and I’m not —” Louderman started.

“I don’t think you really do,” Jessica Baker fired back. 

“I think I do. I ran the fire board for years, and my goal when I sat on the council and now as Mayor is nothing but support the fire department,” Louderman said.

“It sure doesn’t feel like that right now,” she said.

“Tell me where you want me to cut,” Louderman said.

Jessica Baker emphasized the need to reallocate existing funds to prioritize the department. The department was in an emergency, she said, and the ISO ratings (a quantifiable measure used to indicate to insurance companies how prepared a community is to handle a fire) on insurance costs would be passed down to constituents — a statement that was met with applause from the gallery.

Another woman echoed Jessica’s statements.

“I want answers here because this is ridiculous. This has been going on for years,” she said.

“What’s going to happen when they go on strike and they all walk out and there’s nobody to put out fires?” asked April Azotea, candidate for 2nd Ward Councilmember. “Did any of you look at any of these children of these firefighters or (their) spouses and say that their life isn’t worth it?”

The other woman questioned the emphasis on firefighter support during Louderman’s 2023 campaign for mayor. He recently announced he would not be seeking reelection.

“There’s not a single person up here that does not want to see the firefighters succeed and get what they should,” Nathan Munger, 6th Ward Councilmember said. “We need suggestions. We need ideas. This last meeting we had, we had some good ideas come out of it, but yelling and threatening strikes and talking about people’s children — that’s not helping.”

“I don’t think we’re threatening, we’re just trying to shed light,” Azotea interjected.

“That’s not helping the situation, though. There is not a single person up here who has not lost sleep over this issue. There is not one. We are all dealing with this. We all feel this. We all have to work together on this.”

After about 10 minutes of back and forth between council members and community members in the gallery, Meyer returned to the podium, where light discussions were had regarding the efforts of lobbyists to get the HB 2990 passed. 

The issue returned to the present, and Meyer again stated the need for an immediate response. Without it, he said, he’ll just have to tell current employees to continue on their job search elsewhere and start writing their letters of recommendation.

A final speaker, former Hannibal Mayor and Fire Chief Roy Hark, emphasized the need to take care of the firefighters and suggested a sales or property tax.

“I know I’m going to get cursed by a lot of people for saying this, but we have not had a property tax in years. You cannot run a city on 1920 taxes.”

In closing, Meyer told Louderman that if he had any words of encouragement or anything to say to the firefighters in the room, that would be the time. Louderman said he’d “look at every dime.”

Meyer then exited the chambers as those in attendance applauded his advocacy.

After the meeting, when asked what he would say to the firemen in the department who are on the verge of walking away, the solution seemed simple to Louderman.

“Hang on, give me a week or so and I’ll get it fixed,” Louderman said. “At least in the short term.”

Meyer isn’t convinced. 

“It’s always the same thing with the city: ‘Come back, we’ll have some answers. Not this year, maybe next year, not this year and not — maybe next year. We’re doing the best we can,’” Meyer said on a phone call following the meeting. “I mean, hopes and prayers only get guys so far.

“It’s a big blow when we show up somewhere with a glimmer of hope that somebody says ‘We’ll have some answers.’ I can take a bad answer or an answer that I don’t want to hear better than I can deal with getting strung along for another two weeks and getting strung along for another two weeks. I think they call that bread crumbing.

“Being in this career field, there aren’t many things that I don’t think I can fix. It’s been my goal to try and make this place sustainable, make it a career department instead of a stepping stone department. It just seems like every time I think I’ve got just a glimmer of hope, somebody comes through and turns the lights off on me.”