A longtime Mehlville Fire Protection District firefighter who recently resigned his membership in the firefighters’ union hopes he can build a “bridge” between district employees and the Board of Directors.

That bridge, says Tim White, was “mandated” by voting taxpayers with the election of three reform candidates to the Board of Directors — Chairman Aaron Hilmer and Treasurer Bonnie Stegman in 2005 and Secretary Ed Ryan in 2007.

White, a firefighter/emergency medical technician who has been employed by the district since 1985, told the Board of Directors Feb. 29 that he recently had resigned his membership in Local 1889 of the International Association of Fire Fighters — a difficult decision, particularly because his father was a charter member of the union.

He also asked the board to consider a six-point proposal involving pension and other benefits. After White addressed the board, Chairman Aaron Hilmer said the board would have a response for him when it meets at 7 p.m. today — March 13 — at the fire district’s Training Facility, 11020 Mueller Road.

Local 1889 members recently voted to reject an offer from the Board of Directors to settle ongoing litigation involving the pension plan and intend to pursue an appeal of a ruling upholding the board’s authority to make changes to the pension plan.

Asked what he hopes to accomplish with his proposal, White said, “To build that bridge that the voting taxpayers have mandated. To find that balance between the employees and the board so we can move forward and build this fire district into the best in St. Louis County. This is what the taxpayers need and this is what the taxpayers want.”

A balance can be found, White believes.

“I’m putting myself into the gap between the board, the Local (1889) and the taxpayers and finding the truth. And what is best for serving not only the needs of the taxpayers, but the needs of the employees and the needs of the board. There is balance there to be found and it can be found. That’s what I’m hoping to accomplish,” he said.

Asked if he believes the Board of Directors is working with employees, White said, “I feel they try and I feel Local 1889 tries. It’s a difference of opinion, but the taxpayers have spoken when they elected three reform candidates to run their fire district.

“The voting taxpayers want us to find balance, and it is our job to find that balance. They voted for our benefits to be reduced — but not too much. They want us and our families to be taken care of, but they also don’t want us to receive benefits that they feel are too much,” he continued. “I feel the taxpayers are thinking that they want us to work together for them.”

Local 1889 employees and the board have been at odds since shortly after the April 2005 election in which Hilmer and Stegman defeated two union-endorsed incumbents.

During their campaign, Hilmer and Stegman ran as a team, vowing to roll back a 33-cent tax-rate hike approved in November 2004 and cut what they termed fiscal waste.

As Hilmer and Stegman began making good on their campaign promises to trim costs, including employee benefit packages that previously included 100-percent dependent coverage for medical, dental and vision insurance and numerous vacation and sick-leave days with full pay, the relationship with Local 1889 quickly began to sour.

In June 2005, Local 1889 filed a lawsuit that sought to prohibit the board from implementing a disability-benefit contract with Standard Insurance and eliminating current disability benefits from the district’s pension plan.

On Feb. 24, 2006, the board’s motion for summary judgment was granted, dissolving a preliminary injunction and dismissing the lawsuit. In January 2007, a three-judge panel of the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Ap-peals issued an order affirming the dismissal. In May, the Missouri Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit.

In March 2006, the union filed a lawsuit just days after the Board of Directors voted on March 16, 2006, to adopt an amendment and two resolutions changing the district’s pension plan from a defined-benefit plan to a defined-contribution plan. Shortly after St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Thea Sherry denied the union’s motion for a new trial in late December, Local 1889 attorney John Goffstein encouraged union leadership and board members to work toward a settlement.

White’s Feb. 29 proposal includes:

• Any employee in the next month who either retires or voluntarily resigns will have an opportunity to be immediately rehired without any loss of rank or seniority for the purposes of determining vacation, longevity, salary and any other fixed employee benefits, including the employee’s entered-on-duty date. Any such employee will return to work under the provisions of the new defined-contribution pension plan.

• Any employee who is enrolled in the new defined-contribution plan, including all employees hired after March 31, 2006, will be eligible for a 2-percent matching provision and will receive credit for total years of service to the district for determining the contribution rate.

• Employees who accept this offer have the opportunity to have their defined-benefit accrual as of the present date disbursed to them under the terms of the existing defined-benefit plan.

• Employees who accept this offer will be given access to their sick-leave accounts, which will be liquidated and disbursed or choose to leave the accumulations in their account with a variable provision that these days can be split in any way to the employees’ choosing. If they liquidate below 60 days, they will fall under the provisions of the Employee Manual of Policies and Procedures, or EMOPP.

• That the defined benefit be extended to the present date for all employees hired before March 31, 2006, before switching to the defined-contribution plan that was outlined in the offer from the board as well as outlined within the EMOPP.

• Employees who accept this offer may liquidate vacation days for this year only if they wish or any portion thereof.

Asked about the ongoing pension litigation, White said, “Most firefighters and paramedics want the original pension offered to them at the time of employment. It was the defined benefit, giving them a fixed retirement amount. The employees were counting on the defined-benefit pension when they retire and have went to court to keep it.

“The board feels that after examining the plan that there was a problem with the plan financially. Before they were elected, the plan needed hundreds of thousands of dollars infused into it, which was a necessary step, according to the actuary of the district, just to keep the plan at its current levels. The board also feels that the plan is a financial liability on the books of the district that adversely affects the balance sheet.

“Even if this board decided to keep the DB (defined-benefit) plan, there would have been substantial changes to protect the taxpayers’ investment in the employees’ pension,” he said. “The employees wouldn’t like that either. So the board decided to change the plan completely to a defined-contribution plan. This releases the district’s liability and makes it solvent for the taxpayers. The trick is to find that balance between what the board feels the taxpayers want and what the employees want under a defined-contribution plan.

“And there’s the problem and the disagreement. What is that balance? That is what my current proposal to the board does. It tries to accomplish what the taxpayers want, what the board wants and, hopefully, still meets the needs of the employees and their families.”

White said he believes taxpayers always have supported the district’s firefighters and paramedics.

“The taxpayers have always supported us, and we are so very grateful,” he said. “But the taxpayers are tapped out — at least the voting taxpayers. They may want to give us more, but just can’t afford it anymore.

“They want the understanding that: Yes, we love and care for the firefighters and paramedics who serve them in the most dire circumstances, but we can only afford so much right now. This is what we can afford. They want us to understand that they will always support us financially within reason and are grateful for what we do.”