Bullhead City firefighters and the fire board have reached an agreement that puts in place a meet and confer agreement between management and firefighters.  The agreement, passed Nov. 19 by a unanimous vote of the fire board, serves as the outline for contract negotiations, or memorandums of understanding.  “It's very exciting,” said John Kelley, engineer and president of the Bullhead City firefighter's union.  Kelley said the union has been trying to get the meet and confer passed since 1995. Kelley has been the president since January.  “I tried to bring in people from the state union to demonstrate to the fire board the reasons why we should have the meet and confer,” he said. “It works well everywhere else, why not Bullhead?”  Fire Chief Rick Southey said the meet and confer was initiated by employees, not management or the fire board.  A meet and confer sets down guidelines for the union to discuss personnel issues with management.   It allows the union to bring ideas about wages, hours and benefits to the table,” Southey said.  If the two sides reach an impasse, the fire board will adjudicate the matter.  Approximately 82 employees belong to the union. Chief fire officers are not able to be members of the union.  With the meet and confer in place, the union and management will negotiate an employment agreement for the fiscal year 2010-11. Negotiations begin in February with an MOU finished by the end of April.