For the first time in over four decades, Fairfax County’s police officers and firefighters got an opportunity this year to negotiate their pay, benefits and working conditions with the local government.
The collective bargaining process led to new contracts for Fairfax County Police Department and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department employees that union representatives and county leaders both lauded as meaningful wins for public safety workers.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 on Dec. 5 to approve the agreements with the Fairfax chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association (SSPBA) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2068, committing the board to making a “good faith” effort to funding the pay increases and other contractual obligations in the county’s next budget.
Set to retire at the end of this year, Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross called the collective bargaining agreements “the heaviest lift” of her 28 years as chair of the board’s personnel committee. Though there was interest in letting employees negotiate their contracts when she was first elected, Virginia didn’t give localities that authority until 2021.
“It took seven terms to get us there and a change in the General Assembly,” Gross said. “But I am very pleased we are where we are…I think we are now in a place where we will be able to move forward with our employees, especially for our [public] safety and firefighters, and this is a nice note to go out.”
What’s in the contracts
Gross and Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay credited IAFF Local 2068 as an early advocate for collective bargaining. The board approved an ordinance in October 2021 that gave police, firefighters and general county employees the ability to negotiate their contracts through a union, an option that Fairfax County Public Schools workers also secured this past March.
Key provisions of the Local 2068 agreement include a new pay plan with a higher starting salary and annual raises for the first 25 years of service, pay for training, an additional period of light duty for workers after a pregnancy and a pay incentive for higher education, according to IAFF Local 2068 President Robert Young.
The contract also lets the union create a committee to review and make recommendations on insurance coverage, and both parties agreed to form a Joint Labor Management Committee to recommend future contract changes — potentially including reduced work hours for FCFRD workers who go into the field. A study to determine the cost and a timeline for a reduction must be completed by Jan. 1, 2026.
“We believe that this contract will be a solid foundation for future negotiations and give us the ability to collaborate to resolve future issues,” Young said in a statement. “…We were able to forecast some future needs like work hours and some of our vendors for benefits.”
Young said he’s confident that the contract’s financial components will be funded in the fiscal year 2025 budget, which will start on July 1, after the county and union negotiators “spent several months working to deliver a contract that was fiscally responsible and resolved some of the issues our members faced.”
Ratified by union members on Nov. 8, the contract will be in effect from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027. In addition to firefighters, medics, mechanics and other FCFRD personnel, it covers 911 call takers and dispatchers in the Department of Public Safety Communications.
On the police side, the SSPBA announced that its contract will increase officer pay by 12% over the next three fiscal years, provide “more equitable access” to leave and a more “streamlined” grievance process that includes the right of employees under investigation to be accompanied by a union steward. Read More
A plethora of administrative and logistical issues led to the Town of Herndon’s decision to permanently put the Herndon Festival to bed after a 43-year run, staff say.
At a Herndon Town Council meeting on Tuesday (Dec. 12), Town Manager Bill Ashton II laid out several issues that nearly derailed the festival in previous years and ultimately prompted the permanent cancellation of the four-day event, announced earlier this week.
“In my mind, the question was, ‘Should we spend these countless hours planning and preparing, or could this be an opportunity?’” he said.
According to Ashton, last year, town officials scrambled to find a security company to conduct bag checks during the festival.
Two companies abruptly cancelled their commitments — one of them just a day before the festival was set to begin. Staff scrambled to ratify a contract with a company just 1.5 hours before the festival’s gates opened. Local police officers are prohibited from checking bags at the festival without probable cause.
“It was that close,” Ashton said.
Ashton also said the Herndon Police Department must pull every officer that is not on actively watch for rotating shift. Like other public safety entities, the department has faced hiring and recruitment challenges in recent years, and the town can also no longer rely on regional partners to bolster the police presence at the festival site.
Ashton also noted that, in the event of a significant public safety emergency, the town would have no choice but to cancel the festival if a police force was required outside the festival.
“If we have a significant incident…we would have to shut the festival down to adequately put crime scene [officers] and detectives on site,” he said.
Town staff also struggled to secure dedicated volunteers for the event, which relies heavily on volunteer manpower from key organizations and community partners. Many of those groups cited a major dip in volunteerism in general, particularly as key volunteers age out.
Ashton said volunteers are critical to the event, even with staff putting in thousands of hours of work.
“Everybody’s leave gets cancelled or disapproved. Everybody has to be there,” he said. “If you aren’t there, you better have a doctor’s note.”
The Town of Herndon has major knowledge gaps as well. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the parks and recreation department has undergone 100% turnover, and its director, Cindy Roeder, recently retired.
A major construction project to improve Spring Street is set to kick off this spring near the Northwest Federal Credit Union, where the festival would have taken place.
As part of the project, a state contractor will be working on the intersection of Spring Street and Herndon Parkway, requiring lane closures and changes to pedestrian access. Ashton said the town is not an a position to delay the project, which has already seen cost overruns in utility relocation and land acquisition.
Ashton said the community should instead see the cancellation of Herndon’s staple event as an opportunity to pursue more micro-events in the future — similar to the approach adopted last year for the Celebrate Fairfax! Festival. He noted that Fairfax County is open to partnering with the town.
The Fairfax County Times reported that Celebrate Fairfax Inc., the nonprofit organization that organized the county’s annual festival, has officially ended the event after a “private decision” by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, citing a tweet from Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity.
Photo via Herndon Festival/Facebook
(Updated at 2:25 p.m.) Kilmer Middle School in Tysons has stepped up the presence of its security team today (Friday) in response to an alleged threat of gun violence heard during a fight.
In a message sent to parents at 3:10 p.m. yesterday (Thursday), principal Steven McFarlane said the school had been “made aware of an alleged threat of gun violence that was overheard by students during a fight” that afternoon.
The incident prompted an investigation by the school’s Office of Safety and Security and the Fairfax County Police Department, which jointly determined that there was “no direct threat” at the time.
“Out of an abundance of caution, tomorrow we’ll have extra Safety and Security presence to ensure our students feel safe,” McFarlane said in the email.
According to the FCPD, its school resource officer at Kilmer began an investigation after someone reported overhearing one of two students involved in “an altercation” say that they “may bring a gun to school.”
The police department initially told FFXnow that it was determined “no threat to bring a gun to school was made,” but a spokesperson later clarified that the investigation is still ongoing.
“The students involved have been identified,” the FCPD told FFXnow by email. “There is no active threat to the school at this time. FCPS will conduct their own risk assessment with the student(s) as a follow-up.”
FCPS didn’t return a request for additional comment.
According to McFarlane, the investigation included a risk assessment. Fairfax County Public Schools requires a team of school staff to conduct an assessment “when a student makes an explicit or implicit threat or demonstrates concerning behaviors that may pose a danger to the safety of school staff or students.”
McFarlane’s full message is below:
November 30, 2023
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We have been made aware of an alleged threat of gun violence that was overheard by students during a fight this afternoon. Fairfax County Police and our Office of Safety and Security are involved in the investigation, which includes a risk assessment. It has been determined that there is no direct threat to the school at this time. Out of an abundance of caution, tomorrow we’ll have extra Safety and Security presence to ensure our students feel safe.
The safety of our students is our primary concern, and we will always investigate these incidents as soon as we are made aware. The first step that you should take if your child shares a safety concern with you is to contact authorities. If your safety concern is an emergency, please call 911. FCPS Office of Safety and Security also has a safety tip line that you can access anonymously online, by text or by phone.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Steven McFarlane
Principal
Image via Google Maps
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is working on ways to improve service by reorganizing units and tackling recruitment and staffing challenges.
The changes were discussed at a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ safety and security committee meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 28).
The FCFRD is focused on using data to inform changes to operations, guiding how and when medics are converted to ambulances and where units are located, department officials told the committee.
According to a presentation delivered by Fairfax County Fire Chief John Butler and Operations Chief Dan Shaw, the department reorganized and reassessed its emergency medical services delivery between 2021 and 2022.
In January 2022, eight advanced life support units were converted to basic life support units. The following month, four more advanced life support units were converted.
The FCFRD has also studied ways to improve its EMS dispatch protocol and overall service delivery and deployment. In September, for example, the department implemented a new emergency medical protocol to ensure needs are properly understood as resources are dispatched to handle emergencies.
In January, the department plans to convert another eight advance life support units to basic life support. A paramedic will remain at each fire station.
The department also plans to introduce a new EMS specialist position that can offer a higher skill set and bring more advanced intervention and equipment to the incident. Shaw said the position is a big moment for the fire department.
“This allows the opportunity to employ a paramedic and deliver a higher level of service,” Shaw said.
Still, a national shortage of paramedics is a challenge due to a notable decrease in people pursuing public safety professions overall, officials said. To maintain its minimum staffing of 363 personnel, the FCFRD relies heavily on mandatory overtime.
The department has around 100 vacancies, according to FCFRD spokesperson Ashley Hildebrandt.
“While we are not immune to the recruitment challenges being experienced nationwide throughout the fire service, our department has worked, and continues to work, diligently to increase recruitment efforts to ensure the residents of Fairfax County continue to receive the high quality services the department is known for,” Hildebrandt said.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity said he continues to be concerned by the drop in the number of paramedics.
“Fairfax County needs to do better than the national trend and the national average,” he said.
The fire and rescue department is currently in the midst of analyzing its staffing model and hours of overtime recorded by personnel.
At the meeting, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay countered Herrity’s assertion that the county needs to step up its efforts to address staffing challenges by stressing that the county and its public safety agencies are investing time and resources to tackle the issue.
“It is disgraceful to the people who are killing themselves recruiting people,” McKay said, adding that he’s “tired of this nonsense.”
McKay said repeating incorrect statistics about the number of vacancies — particularly in the police department — works against the county’s goal of recruiting more people and establishing the progress that has been made.
After reporting 206 vacancies in early April, the Fairfax County Police Department welcomed over 100 new trainees across two academy classes this year. A cohort of 56 recruits this spring was trumpeted as the FCPD Academy’s largest class in almost 10 years, and it was followed in the summer by an even bigger session with 59 people.
According to McKay, the FCPD’s vacancy rate is now closer to 127 positions.
The county’s Department of Public Safety Communications, which operates the 911 center, has also chipped away at its vacancies to the point where the department anticipated reducing required overtime this fall.
A Lorton man was arrested earlier this week for shaking a dog, threatening its owner with a knife and driving wildly down Richmond Highway with police in pursuit.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Franconia District officers were called to the 9600 block of Eaton Woods Place in Lorton at 4:03 p.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 24) by a man who said he’d been threatened while walking his dog.
“The victim stated he was walking his dog when he was approached by the suspect,” the FCPD said in a news release published yesterday (Thursday). “The suspect then, without provocation, picked up and shook his dog. The suspect initially fled the area but later returned with a knife and threatened to stab the victim.”
Police say investigating officers were then “flagged down” by community members who reported that “someone was ramming vehicles and driving recklessly on the roadway.”
An officer encountered the suspect — identified as Daniel John Sol, 30, of Lorton — in a 2017 Black Toyota Yaris at the intersection of Richmond Highway (Route 1) and Telegraph Road, according to the police scanner traffic on Open MHz.
The officer told a dispatcher that the Toyota was “doing donuts” in the middle of the intersection and “facing the wrong way in traffic,” hitting multiple vehicles in the process.
“He flipped me off and is taking off,” the officer said, noting that the driver was “doing the speed limit” and suggesting that the people at the intersection get checked for possible injuries..
Per the scanner, the chase proceeded north on Route 1 for several miles with the Toyota driver “swerving in front of traffic, trying to cause an accident,” an officer said. Sol then turned onto Old Mount Vernon Road and crashed into a tree at the Ferry Landing Road intersection.
The chase covered 12.5 miles, and no injuries were reported, though several vehicles “sustained minor damage” before police arrived, according to the FCPD.
Currently held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, Sol has been charged with “Cruelty to Animals, Attempted Malicious Wounding, three counts of Assault on Law Enforcement/Fire/Medical Services, four counts of Felony Hit and Run, two counts of Reckless Driving, Felony Eluding, and Driving Under the Influence,” police said.
After years of debating the issue of “panhandling” in board rooms, Fairfax County will now actually talk to the people asking for money, often from sidewalks and street medians.
At Chairman Jeff McKay’s request, the Board of Supervisors approved $75,000 for a survey of people engaged in panhandling as part of a budget carryover package adopted on Tuesday (Sept. 26).
“Understanding that asking for money is a protected act under the First Amendment, it is imperative that the County better understand the needs of the people who are panhandling and explore innovative approaches to responding to panhandling,” McKay wrote in his request that the item be added to the package, which allocated $203 million in leftover funds from fiscal year 2023.
Per the memo, the survey will be conducted by a contracted firm that should have experience surveying “marginalized populations” and “a proven track record of producing high-quality data.”
Collected data could include:
Demographics; reasons for panhandling; how long they have been panhandling; experiences with employment, poverty, and homelessness; panhandling income and spending patterns; possible coercion and collaboration among people panhandling; and opinions on what it would take to stop panhandling.
The memo notes that the surveys “must be conducted safely and confidentially.”
A start date hasn’t been determined yet, but the survey is expected to take six months. The results will be presented to the board at a future committee meeting.
The planned survey will be the county’s latest effort to address panhandling, following rejected attempts to prohibit the practice or install anti-panhandling signage. The county did launch a clean-up program in 2019 that gives temporary work to people experiencing homelessness.
While panhandling is protected as free speech, the county discourages community members from giving money to people on the streets who ask for it, arguing that it’s more effective to connect them with long-term assistance.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, who has led the charge against panhandling, said earlier in Tuesday’s meeting that he’s reviewing “ordinances involving prohibiting the exchange of objects in the roadway that have been successful in other jurisdictions,” including Loudoun County. Read More
Fairfax County officials are exploring ways to crack down on the illegal use of fireworks.
At a meeting Tuesday (Sept. 12), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to consider expanding the enforcement powers of the Fairfax County Police Department related to fireworks.
Currently, FCPD officers don’t have jurisdiction to issue citations for individuals using fireworks illegally — a problem that Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, who introduced the proposal, says “stifles” the county’s ability to prevent and end unlawful fireworks displays.
The county’s code currently designates the Office of the Fire Marshal as the only enforcement agency for issues related to fireworks, which can only be sold locally from June 1 to July 15 each year.
Around Independence Day, the office lacks bandwidth and staff to respond to calls for service and on-site safety protocol, according to Lusk.
The change was sparked by an increase in the number of fireworks-related incidents tackled by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, particularly around the Fourth of July.
According to the board matter, Deputy Fire Chief John Walser has said that this July 4 had “the most significant number of incidents of any [day] in the time I have been in the Fire Marshal’s Office.”
Between July 1 and 4, the police department received 60 calls of service related to fireworks displays in the Franconia District station alone. Just on July 4, county firefighters responded to 12 fires, “almost all of which were certainly related to fireworks,” Lusk said.
Staff will now work on drafting language for an ordinance that will be considered by the board before the end of the first quarter of 2024. A renewed interagency public awareness campaign on fireworks rules and safety is also planned.
Photo via FCFRD/Twitter
The McLean Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) is a step closer to obtaining a brand-new ambulance.
The department got the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous approval on July 25 to borrow up to $250,000 from a private lender to buy fire and rescue equipment.
Federal tax law allows volunteer fire departments to obtain loans for fire and rescue equipment “at a lower tax-exempt interest rate” if the financing is approved by “the elected body of the locality” served by the department, county staff said in the board meeting agenda.
The loan will supplement a $13,000 donation that the MVFD got in June from the Woman’s Club of McLean, a charitable group that organized a Kitchen and Garden Tour this spring as a fundraiser for the department.
The department also raised funds through Christmas ornament sales and other activities to pay for the new ambulance, which will cost a total of $335,000.
MVFD currently has two ambulances. Department officials previously told FFXnow that the new “state-of-the-art” vehicle will have a power load cot system and other upgrades that will make it safer and easier to use for paramedics.
The ambulance is expected to arrive late this summer or early fall, MVFD President Patricia Moynihan said.
After acquiring the ambulance, the department hopes to get a new fire engine. The approximately $500,000 cost will be split between MVFD and the county.
Handling 911 calls has never been a regular 9-to-5 job, but a national staffing shortage has increased the hours and pressure felt by call takers and dispatchers across the country.
Fairfax County’s Department of Public Safety Communications wasn’t spared from the workforce challenges that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping from close to 180 staffers before 2020 to about 160 people right now.
The gap is sizable enough that workers are required to take about two overtime shifts every four months, but it’s not as drastic as the vacancy levels reported at other sites, even though the DPSC is the biggest 911 center in Virginia and one of the largest in the U.S., Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Officer Paul Ballerini says.
For instance, Richmond’s 911 agency, the state’s second largest center, reported earlier this year that it was 30 operators short, while D.C. had 39 call taker and dispatcher vacancies.
“Two additional mandatory shifts per person for a third of the year is not bad, especially hearing [about] other centers, reading online how some other similar-sized agencies are just doing tons of overtime,” Ballerini told FFXnow.
Initially, the pandemic didn’t have much of an impact on the 911 center. With people generally staying home and minimizing interactions with others, the volume of calls declined, according to Ballerini.
However, after a while, DPSC started seeing some of the same turnover that has hit other professions, from the police to trash collectors and restaurants.
“Like most other professions, people just started jumping jobs,” Ballerini said. “Not in a bad way, just people spent more time on themselves and learned about themselves and moved to other professions. So, we were hit the same as everybody else…so we started ramping up hiring and training.”
About 3,952 911 workers across 774 centers in the U.S. left the profession in 2022, often citing the stress of the job and options for better hours, pay and opportunities as their reasons for leaving, according to a study released earlier this year by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch and National Association of State 911 Administrators.
While 27% saw no change in staffing levels over the past four years, nearly one-third of the study’s respondents reported vacancy rates of 30% or higher, including 13 that said at least 70% of their positions were unfilled.
Ballerini says Fairfax County’s current 911 staffing levels are slightly above its minimum standard after hitting maximum levels before the pandemic.
Every 12-hour shift must have at least four police dispatchers and four fire dispatchers on each of its four squads, which manage two district stations each. There are also ideally 20 call takers per day, though there can be as few as 13 people on the phones depending on the workload.
“Some people get through parts of training and realize it’s not for them and end up dropping out, but we work hard to try to stay consistent levels, not just for the public, but for morale inside the center,” Ballerini said. “I feel we’ve been pretty decent about doing that.” Read More
The McLean Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) will soon get a new and improved ambulance, thanks in part to the success of a recent “Kitchen and Garden Tour.”
The Woman’s Club of McLean, a local charitable group, presented a check with the $13,000 raised by the tour to the fire department on Monday (June 19), fulfilling a promise that got deferred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think most of us have had the benefit of calling the fire department,” Women’s Club member Kay Burnell said, recalling one time when her husband got ill and collapsed. “…Most of us have had an experience with them where there’s a fire or an accident, so we just felt we needed to support them and say thank you to them.”
Organized by co-chairs Burnell, Karen Moore and Silke Soff, the Kitchen and Garden Tour on April 27 gave community members a chance to explore the kitchens and gardens of houses on Ballantrae Farm Drive and Countryside Court at Holyrood Drive.
The Woman’s Club, which was founded in 1958, had organized a kitchen and garden tour just once before to raise money for veteran housing at the retirement community Vinson Hall, according to Burnell. The concept was revived this year as an alternative to the usual Holiday Homes Tour fundraiser, which has been on hold during the pandemic.
The pandemic also delayed MVFD’s 100-year anniversary celebration, which got pushed from 2021 to 2022. The Woman’s Club had planned a fundraiser for the department in 2020 to support the festivities.
“Because of the pandemic we were unable to raise the money,” Burnell said. “This year we tried again and happily were able to make good on our promise of 2020.”
The change in timing turned out to be fortuitous for the fire department, which is looking to add a fire engine after acquiring the new ambulance.
With a total price tag of $335,000, the ambulance is expected to arrive later this summer or early fall, according to MVFD President Patricia Moynihan. The department also raised funds through donations, Christmas ornament sales and other activities, including taking out a loan.
Replacing one of the department’s two ambulances, the new vehicle will be a “state-of-the-art piece of apparatus,” Moynihan says.
“We’re super excited and I know the ladies have worked really hard on this, and so we’re really appreciative,” she told FFXnow.
According to MVFD Emergency Medical Services Captain Lynn Clancy, one of the biggest improvements will be the addition of a power load cot system.
“We are always looking to improve safety and this system will use mechanical lifting to move the stretcher into and out of the ambulance,” Clancy said. “It is safer for the EMT/Paramedics and the patients. Back injuries are the biggest career-ending injuries in EMS. Additionally, under our capital equipment replacement plan, it is time to replace one of the existing, heavily-used vehicles, which is becoming unreliable.”
The new engine will cost about $500,000, half of which will be covered by Fairfax County, Moynihan says. The volunteer fire department hasn’t started fundraising for its half of the costs yet, though the Woman’s Club likely won’t be as involved as it was for the ambulance.
According to Burnell, the organization typically gives equal amounts to the different charities it supports, so another big fundraiser for the MVFD isn’t in the works.
However, a repeat of the Kitchen and Garden Tour may be on the table for next year. After experiencing a decline during the pandemic, the Women’s Club has seen an uptick in members since this year’s tour, which Burnell says “was such a festive day and was so well-received.”
Those who miss the traditional Holiday Homes Tour, which saw volunteers decorate houses in McLean for participants to visit, can rest assured that the club feels the same way.
“We’ve done it for over 55 years. So, we’re very hopeful that we can do that,” Burnell said. “If we can’t, then probably we will do this kitchen garden tour as our main fundraiser.”
Photo courtesy MVFD
