The 10^th anniversary conference of the NationalCoalition of Firefighter Credit Unions, scheduled for October 9-12in New Orleans, will provide these first responder CUs a chance toswap notes about the common challenges they face.

The Firefighter Credit Union Summit, as the conference is known,will also mark the start of a formalized trade structure for thegroup by electing board members, replacing an advisorycommittee.

“With election of directors, we're hoping we can do lots more tosustain the firefighter network and help our members survive,”explained Grant Sheehan, executive director of the coalition andformer president of Miami Firefighters FCU.

Sheehan said that among the nation's 110 firefighter CUs thosein the $10-$20 million range continue to find the roughest going onincome generation “and yet we have some larger ones that are doingjust fine.”

In a separate development related to the conference, twoconsulting firms, William Rogers & Associates of St. Louis andSupport Processes Corp. of Washington which put on the annualfirefighter event. said they have added a third firm, MentonConsulting Co. of Tulsa, Okla. to provide added “speaker andorganizational input.”

Rick Menton, who heads up the firm and is a veteran state leagueexecutive, will be speaking at the New Orleans conference drawingon his training and strategic planning experience covering suchareas as charter expansion, executive recruitment and sales.

Menton is former senior vice president of the Oklahoma CreditUnion League and has served as trustee and chair of Consumer CreditCounseling of Minnesota.

In an interview, Sheehan acknowledged that talks have continuedover the years about affiliating Police CUs into the organizationbut there is nothing pressing at the moment “although we havemembers who would like to get police credit unions to join up.”There is no formalized police CU federation based on his knowledge,he said.