February 2026 newsletter 
President's Report
CLARENCE M. KELLEY AWARD NOMINATIONS
First Vice President Todd Ackerman is soliciting nominations for the Kansas CMK Award to be presented in Manhattan. Email your nomination to him [email protected].
The deadline for submission is March 25th.
Todd will be looking for nominations for the Missouri CMK in the near future. That award will be presented during the Fall conference at Margaritaville.
The Newton relaxer was a great revival of a top steak dinner for a reasonable price! Bruce Jolliff, 192nd, did a terrific job arranging the event at the American Legion Post #2. Normally closed on Tuesday, they opened just to host us and grilled local ribeyes. Old-timers even said it felt like the comfortable environment in the 'old days' at Wichita Knights of Columbus. All present agreed we should return for future relaxers.
The Kansas City relaxer was also a great success! Dave Brown, 243rd, hosted us at Secure Passage in South Kansas City, aided by President Elect Mark Terman, 245th. Another great meal catered by Jack Stack in a unique setting, and thanks to T-Mobile for co-sponsoring, as well as the GKC Public Safety Credit Union for the desserts!
Welcome New Members
Session 297 is winding down, with graduation scheduled for March 18th. We look forward to welcoming Chief Escalante, Captain LaRow, Captain Thorne, and Captain Young back to the chapter. Just in time to attend the Spring re-trainer.
Session 298 will have their field office orientation on March 2nd. Attendees are Don Shepard (Peculiar, MO), Matt Seichepine (Shawnee, KS), Edward Ochs (Garden City, KS), Michael Papasifakas (University of Central Missouri), and Jonathan Talley (McConnell AFB). Good luck and safe travels
Calendar of Events
RETRAINER REGISTRATION IS OPEN
Register for the spring re-trainer at the chapter website https://fbinaakswmo.org. We have another great meeting planned for you! We already have some 30 members signed up!
MANHATTAN HOTEL RESERVATION DETAILS
To reserve by phone, call the hotel at 785-473-7091; when prompted, press 0 (zero) for reservations. Say you are part of the FBINAA group, and reservations will be able to help you.
To reserve online, go to the website www.bluemonthotel.com, click on the "Book Online" button at the top of the page. Select your check-in and check-out dates, and look for the Promo/Group code section, enter b585952, and click "Search." You'll be able to see and choose available room types, group pricing ($106 per night except for exec suites), and make your reservation.
SAVE THE DATE - Fall re-trainer - September 8-11
General Newsletter
COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES
You may have noticed the membership renewal process started early and ended early for this year. One other big change occurred in the national database: failure to renew by the January 31st deadline moved member records to non-member status.
Behind the scenes, it is my responsibility to download the national member database on a regular basis, as this is how we populate the email list that we use to send newsletters and the like. I missed the significance of the change and didn’t download soon enough, causing many members to be “lost” in the process.
I apologize for the confusion and the loss of communication with many of our members. I believe we are mostly up to date, and the process should be much smoother going forward.
As a reminder, any changes to your contact information, email address or phone number have to be made within your national profile. If we change something locally, it will revert to the information in the national profile every time we download a new roster.
We still have about 30 members who are not getting our communications from the chapter due to "soft bounces" or "hard failures" in the delivery to their email providers. If you know a member who says, "I haven't heard anything from the chapter in a while." Have them contact Kevin Freeman, [email protected], to work through getting reconnected.
News of the Membership
NA Coordinator SA Rob Gunderson is headed for a special assignment to Quantico for the next few months, after which he will retire. We were fortunate to meet his replacement, SA Laura Ferguson, at the relaxer. We look forward to working with you, Laura!
Major Jim Bagley, North Kansas City, Session 260, retired after 35+ years with the City of North Kansas City.
Captain Mike Costanzo, Riverside, MO, Session 271, retired after 31 years with the City of Riverside and three years with the City of Platte City.
We wish them all well in their new life chapters.
