Opinion ID: 163283
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Safety and Health Committee

Text: -6- All four Plaintiffs allege that their “speech” as union representatives on the Safety and Health Committee related to a matter of public concern, because this committee “addresses issues dealing with the safety of firefighters while performing their job.” Aplts’ Opening Br. at 7. None of the Plaintiffs, however, point to any particular statement that he made as a member of the committee. The only evidence in the record relating to the work of the Safety Committee comes from Major Weaver, who served on the committee for six years between 1984 and 1998. He testified that Safety Committee discussions with management often became “heated,” Aplts’ App. at 476, particularly with regard to the “water quality issue at Station 28,” and issues relating to “bunker equipment or protective clothing” and the use of “hand lines.” Id. at 477. But the record does not indicate the content of these discussions, when they were held, or which of the Plaintiffs, if any, spoke out on these issues. Even assuming that the subject matter of the committee’s work touched on a matter of public concern, Plaintiffs’ evidence is insufficient to demonstrate protected speech under the First Amendment. “In order for a public employee’s speech to be of public concern, . . . it is not always enough that its subject matter could in [certain] circumstances, [be] the topic of a communication to the public that might be of general interest. What is actually said on the topic must itself be of public concern.” Koch v. City of Hutchinson, 847 F.2d 1436, 1445 (10th Cir. -7- 1988) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted; brackets in the original; second emphasis added). Here, no Plaintiff has presented evidence of anything that he actually said while on the Safety Committee. Thus, Plaintiffs cannot rely on their participation on the Safety Committee to support their free speech claims.