Local firefighters have been instructed that they are no longer allowed to run "fill-the-boot" fundraisers on city roadways, said Director of Administration Tony Pires.
Pires, who also serves as public safety director, told The Breeze that he had a conversation with Lt. Will Maher, president of the Local 1261 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and informed him that the collection efforts will no longer be allowed. Pires said he was planning a letter this week to make the mandate official.
Pires said he told Maher that there were complaints about firefighters being allowed to collect money when local sports organizations were not allowed and informed him that the firefighters were violating city ordinances when they conducted their fundraiser for muscular dystrophy research.
Regardless of his own personal feelings on the situation, said Pires, the letter to the firefighters will tell them that they must "suspend those efforts going forward" and "cease and desist" their boot campaigns.
Maher said Monday that firefighters were "ignorant that we were in violation" of any city ordinances after conducting the boot campaigns for at least the past six years. He said the hope is to sit down with the City Council to see if there is some way the firefighters could get special permission to run the campaigns.