Local union severs ties with telemarketer

A local fire union voted unanimously this week to discontinue its association with a Tampa-area telemarketing company, which had previously helped with the group's charity solicitations.

The Hernando County Professional Firefighters Local 3760 will be conducting "in-house" fundraising from now on, said President Bobby Rae.

Bay Area Council Inc., which has an office in Port Richey, came under fire a couple months ago after Hernando Today reported it had spent roughly 85 percent of the money it raised on behalf of local fire unions.

Among its clients were the unions for Hernando County and Spring Hill fire departments.

Rae said Bay Area Council will be notified by a certified letter of the union's desire to end the partnership.

"We want to be on the right side of this issue, not the wrong side," said Rae.

Last year, Local 3760 raised $30,000 on its own and gave most of it to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, said union spokesman John Athanason.

It collected roughly $4,500 from Bay Area Council.

Scott Edmisten, president of the Professional Firefighters of Spring Hill Local 2794, was unavailable for comment Friday.

In December, he said his union had no intention of dropping its affiliation with the telemarketing company.

Terry McElroy, a spokesman with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said Bay Area Council had filed a renewal application.

He said there was no reason to think the company wouldn't have its license reinstated.

Bay Area Council's registration expired in July.

Representatives with the company have repeatedly ignored calls and messages.

Athanason said Local 3760 members dropped Bay Area Council because they were "concerned about its practices."

Roughly 15 members met Tuesday to discuss their future dealings with the agency. All of them voted to end that relationship, he said.

Rae, who became union president in January, said union officers and members didn't know much about Bay Area Council's collection methods until they read the articles in Hernando Today.

"We were a little shocked ourselves," he said.

He said Local 3760 had been in partnership with the agency for about eight years.

"We actually never gave it much thought," said Rae. "We knew a check was coming in the mail every year."

The union is looking to host fishing and golf tournaments next year and will continue to collect money for muscular dystrophy through its boot drive.

"We're built up enough now where we can do our own fundraising," Rae said.

The first complaints about Bay Area Council came from Ron Wegner, of Hudson, who found an invoice while sorting through his deceased mother's mail.

The invoice was for a $30 donation to the Professional Firefighters of Spring Hill.

Wegner was agitated because it looked like a bill. He complained the invoices were created in a way to dupe seniors into thinking they were paying a fee for fire services rather than voluntarily offering a donation.

He thought it constituted fraud. He filed a complaint with the state.

Financial records show most of the revenues generated by Bay Area Council from 2004 to 2008 were used to pay salaries, postage, subcontracting, rent and other miscellaneous expenses.

The company also has solicited on behalf of Citrus County Professional Paramedics and EMTs, New Port Richey Firefighters, Pasco County Council of Firefighters, Polk County Firefighters, Zephyrhills Professional Firefighters and the Hillsborough Firefighters Benevolent Association.