Sept. 25--Six Orange County firefighters went on the taxpayers' dime for a three-night Bahamas cruise this month to honor recent retirees. A fuming Mayor Teresa Jacobs has prohibited using public money that way again.
The members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2057 used union pool time -- work hours set aside to handle union business -- for the outing on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas. The trip might have also triggered overtime requests to fill in shifts, Jacobs wrote in a memo.
"This activity flies in the face of the spirit and intent of the union pool time fund, which is to ensure the efficiency of fire-rescue operations by allowing union leaders and members to conduct vital business in a manner that enhances operations," she wrote.
The county contributes 1,500 hours annually toward the firefighter pool of nearly 900 union firefighters, its latest contract shows. Union members also donate an hour each of vacation time to it.
Local 2057 President Andre Perez was one of the county employees who submitted a request for pool time to go on the cruise from Port Canaveral with scheduled stops in Nassau and Cococay. Perez said about 140 people participated in the cruise, but county records show he and five other firefighters claimed 24 hours of pool time each for the event.
Based on the firefighters' hourly pay, the pool time amounted to about $2,600, county records show.
Traditionally, the union has used pool time to honor retirees, Perez said. But he said holding retirement events in a rented ballroom was proving to be more expensive than going on a cruise.
Aside from the retirements, pool time also is spent on contract talks, discipline hearings or outreach and charity efforts, Perez said. Political campaigning is prohibited.
"The county doesn't let us pick and choose which pool time we use," Perez said. However, given the mayor's concern, Perez hopes the county would be more open to allowing retirement functions to be handled with member-donated pool time.
But Jacobs on Monday directed that the cruise time be charged to the member-donated contributions.
"I will not stand for taxpayer dollars to be used for this purpose," her memo says. "Using pool time for a cruise is reprehensible and will not be tolerated."
Negotiations for the next firefighter agreement are under way. In the 2010 mayor's race, the union endorsed Jacobs' opponent, former Commissioner Bill Segal.
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