City Manager Designates Police Chief to Temporarily Oversee Fire Operations – In what can only be viewed as a bold and brash move, City Manager Steve Pinkerton late on Tuesday announced that he has appointed Chief of Police Landy Black to temporarily oversee the Fire Department, as the city and UC Davis fully analyze the feasibility of a shared management oversight concept for the two fire departments.
The new process is expected to take up to six months.
The move, in part, is necessitated by changes at CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) which limits the amount of time retired public officials can work for other agencies. Interim Fire Chief Scott Kenley, who came out of retirement last May to direct the city’s fire department, has reached the allowable number of hours the state will permit him to work for the city.
“Leaving the permanent Fire Chief position vacant at this time allows the City the greatest flexibility in determining the best long-term fire management structure to serve the community,” according to the city’s release.
Under the arrangement, Chief Black will have overall responsibility for the fire and police departments during this period of transition, and the current fire division chiefs will continue to provide day-to-day management of fire operations.
Assistant Police Chief Steve Pierce, who manages the administration and support services functions of the police department, which includes management of the 9-1-1 dispatch center for Davis Police, Davis Fire and UCD Fire, will oversee the administrative operations for the fire department.
City Manager Pinkerton believes, “There will be no noticeable change to fire services provided to the community.”
City Manager Pinkerton told the Vanguard that the move was done in consultation with the interim fire chief.
“We were looking for an interim solution,” he told the Vanguard. “The feeling was it was a lot different than the last time we hired an interim chief in that we have three division chiefs hired right now. So you do have three fulltime people assigned for the day-to-day operations of the fire department.”
“They are the guys who run the department on the day-to-day basis,” he said.
He said that they are in need of a lot of policy implementation in the meantime, something that has been lacking in the past, and something the city manager believes to be a strength of the police department.
Mr. Pinkerton said that Assistant Police Chief Pierce already has knowledge of fire operations, given that he oversees the management of the 9-1-1 dispatch center.
“Rather than bringing another person from outside who isn’t familiar with the department, it makes sense to keep it internal since most of the fire-related issues can be handled by the division chiefs and the administration work,” which he said would be done by the public safety folks. “They’re really there in a support role to the division chiefs.”
The move comes at a critical time for the city. Chief Kenley was brought in, in part due to his ability to perform an audit. In his audit of the department, he made three major recommendations, including the boundary drop, the reduction of fire personnel to 11 on a shift, and a movement back toward some sort of joint operations with UC Davis fire – something that had been suspended back in early 2012.
On January 22, there will be a round table discussion with various stakeholders discussing in more detail the proposal that would create three three-person fire engines with a two-person independently utilized rescue apparatus operating out of the central fire station.
In Chief Kenley’s audit, he noted, “The City’s fire chief position will be vacated in early January of 2013. This is an opportune time to fully analyze the benefits to both agencies relative to the concept of shared management oversight.”
City staff recommends that the city “place on hold the filling of the vacant Fire Chief’s position until at least July of 2013, to give both agencies an opportunity to fully vet the shared management services concept. Staff will return at the first Council meeting in January with a recommendation on how to provide the Davis Fire Department with management oversight during this time period.”
So why not simply bring in another retired fire chief to run the show for the next six months?
Mr. Pinkerton argued, “I don’t think it’s necessary.” Moreover, he added, “Under the new PERS rule, we can’t bring in any more retired annuitants. We have a limited amount of time in which we can bring in a retired annuitant. Most of the people capable of overseeing the department are retired fire chiefs.”
Police Chief Landy Black told the Vanguard, “For several years the City has been on a course of evolving the Fire Department in ways that are analytically sound, fiscally prudent, and [that] improve the City’s and Department’s ability to respond to emergencies and save lives and property.”
“Chief Kenley has taken some huge steps and established a course that will permit the City to examine all the pertinent alternatives and to make changes deemed necessary,” he said. “Sadly, PERS rules prevent Chief Kenley from continuing as the Interim Fire Chief or the City hiring another annuitant, interim.”
Chief Black noted that this move would enable the department to continue “running smoothly administratively,” which will allow two things to occur. First, he said, it would “permit the professionals in the Fire Department, without undue distraction, to continue doing what they do well – delivering quality firefighting and emergency medical services to the citizens of Davis.”
Second, he said, it will “facilitate the continued evaluation and potential implementation of any of the service delivery alternatives outlined in Chief Kenley’s report to Council several weeks ago.”
Echoing the comments of the city manager, he said, “It is important to note that the Fire Department has three skilled, career firefighters as Division Chiefs. Whether the Fire Department is directed by Scott Kenley, Steve Pierce, or anyone else, these are the leaders in the field who, along with the men and women on the engine companies, have brought about the Davis Fire Department’s current and historical success.”
He added, “Chief Pierce and I, and the City’s leadership, have great faith and confidence in those Division Chiefs. The level of service the citizens will get from their Fire Department will not be diminished by the temporary management scenario.”
“Ultimately, the City Manager felt that Steve Pierce and I have the abilities to perform those temporary roles necessary to facilitate the Fire Department’s next steps,” Chief Black added. “We know that the tasks ahead of us and Fire Department may present some challenges, but we’re happy to be of service to the City and the City Manager when challenges present themselves, and hope and expect that our contributions will help lead to an even better, more nimble and responsive Fire Department than we already have.”
“We know and appreciate that this is an unusual configuration of a Fire Department, from the perspective of most of the DFD membership, but we hope that the members of the Fire Department will work with us to bring about beneficial changes and speed us and them back into relative normalcy, but with improved performance and efficiency. And in the end Steve and I look forward to returning to our regular duties with the Davis Police Department,” Chief Landy Black concluded.
Steve Pinkerton noted that the arrangement is not completely unprecedented, as a number of other communities have gone to joint public safety administrations. State law requires that police departments be run by sworn police officers, which means that these public safety departments are invariably run by police officers.
He told the Vanguard he expects no fiscal impact from that as any money saved temporarily would be used for consultant work and planning.
He stressed that this was not related to any changes in the staffing. Mayor Joe Krovoza declined comment on this announcement.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I just don’t see how this move is either bold or brash. To me, it’s a yawner. The City’s rationale for the TEMPORARY administrative adjustment was well reasoned and logical.
Having a police chief temporarily run a fire department in a California city is a fairly common practice. The Davis Fire Department has been in maintenance mode anyway for the past several months and will be for the next six. The city manager described the procedural inability to hire another retired fire chief, so few alternatives remained. Plus, it saves several thousands of dollars in personnel costs for the next six months, which surely was a consideration.
This is not a major shakeup of the fire department. It is a continuation of a time-line effort to eventually consolidate the two local fire departments into a joint effort, with a single chief at the helm.
The puzzling question that does emerge from this move is, “Why wasn’t there an interim appointment given to one of the 3 division chiefs to run the fire department?” All three were lauded for the leadership skills, yet all were passed over for consideration as interim chief. The praise seemed contrived and balm-soothing to those not chosen.
The only reasons I can think of is that all are interested in the chief’s position and nobody should receive the competitive advantage of sitting in the boss’s chair first. Another possibility is that, praise notwithstanding, none of the division chiefs are considered chief’s material.
“I just don’t see how this move is either bold or brash. “
I don’t agree at all. You’re taking all of this somewhat at face value. I’ll explain what I think is going on in a commentary tomorrow. The piece I think you are missing is that the city is largely doing this to wrest power from union. I don’t think the city has any intention of hiring one of the division chiefs as the next chief.
“The city manager described the procedural inability to hire another retired fire chief, so few alternatives remained.”
Point of clarification, please. So even if another retired annuitant cannot be hired, and even if it was not felt desirable to promote any of the division chiefs for whatever reason, why are there so few alternatives ? Why not consider hires from outside the system entirely ?
Unless it is possibly the case that there are not large numbers of potential candidates for any open position as had previously been claimed by some in disparagement of the attitude of the current firefighters.
He mentioned that as a possibility – hiring from out of state – but dismissed the idea. The key piece here is the union and not wanted a new chief that could be co-opted by the union.
I hope Interim Chief Kenley can attend the 1/22 workshop and be available during the next six months to advise if needed?
He’s certainly going to be at the 1/22 workshop. I had heard that he would be shifting to UCD, but perhaps that was not correct information.
David, wouldn’t the max hrs apply to UCD also? Will the workshop be televised?
I recommeded this as a permanent change some time ago… having a Public Safety department and one administrative and management department cover it all. Is this a first step? Maybe taking advantage of the situation to test it out for a while? Chief Black can handle it. That would be a bold and very impressive move by the city.
Everyone has stressed this as a temporary relationship. I think the wave of the future would be unified management of UCD-Davis fire. But perhaps the idea will grow on them.
Nice move Pinkerton!
There are two reasons why I think this is a great move:
1. Because I believe Chief Black is excellent. We are lucky in Davis to have him; and
2. Because Chief Black does not come from the fire department culture. He will bring new perspective that is lost on those who rose in the ranks of a fire department, even if it was not in the Davis Fire Department.
That said, we owe a great deal of gratitude to Chief Scott Kenley. He has done an outstanding job. He has brought a lot of good ideas forward. He has proven himself (quite unlike his predecessors) to be independent of the control of the Local 3494 firefighter union. His recommendations are well argued and reasonable, including those which are different from what I have called for.
I don’t honestly know enough to say that having our police chief serving this dual role is what we need for the long term. I would like to hear what Chief Black says about that, especially after his period of serving in this capacity expires.
As it happens, without knowing this was coming, I have been asking questions of both Chief Black and Chief Kenley this week regarding a type of inter-departmental integration that might help Davis employ its resources more efficiently. What they told me will be included in my Davis Enterprise column next week.
By the way, I was curious to know if the positive views I have of Chief Black are shared by his police officers. I don’t have any personal friends on the Davis Police Department force. So it’s hard to get what could be called an open airing of views. But over the last few months, on about 4 or 5 occassions, I have asked patrol officers in Davis what they think of Landy Black, and without exception their (rather brief) answers were all positive. I think they have confidence in him. Of course, because they don’t know me personally, it’s probable that if they have reservations or have negative views, they would not be willing to share them with me.
” You’re taking all of this somewhat at face value. I’ll explain what I think is going on in a commentary tomorrow. The piece I think you are missing is that the city is largely doing this to wrest power from union. I don’t think the city has any intention of hiring one of the division chiefs as the next chief.”
The column’s comments were taken at face value, which normally is not a stance to be faulted. Whatever piece I was alleged to have been “missing” was due to the fact it was not mentioned.
The Fire Union has no authority on the selection of the next fire chief. They probably would like to think they have influence and will express it in some fashion, either solicited or not. Fire Union input of a new boss is, at best, advisory with very limited impact in the final selection. In the current circumstance, a fire union endorsement of a candidate could be termed as a Kiss of Death.
[i]”The Fire Union has no authority on [u]the selection[/u] of the next fire chief.”[/i]
That is beside ths point in my opinion. I don’t think Bobby Weist had any say in picking Rose Conroy when she became chief; I don’t think Capt. Weist was the one who selected Interim Chief Bill Weisgerber.
The issue is whether the person selected sees his job as serving the interests and needs of the union or serving the interests and needs of the City of Davis as a whole.
Obviously, one job of a department head is to keep up morale, and if he is in a conflict with the union, that is a challenge, if not impossible. So many people in such positions err on the side of doing what the union wants. That just makes the chief’s life easier. It’s the path of least resistance. Yet the chief is hired (by the City Manager) to run the department on behalf of all the city’s interests, and those can come into conflict with the union’s interest.
When Weisgerber and Conroy were in charge, they went to bat for the union. If the question was our nons-sensical first-response border blocking the UC Davis FD from arriving first on scene, which absolutely and undeniably harms the interests of the people of Davis, Conroy and Weisgerber sided [i]against[/i] the citizens of Davis and in favor of the union. They made the same errors in judgment when it came to efficiently allocating resources of fire personnel–continuing the union-favored policy of having four firefighters on each fire truck.
A problem for most fire departments–and this is probably true of most police departments, as well–is that those who rise to executive management positions in a fire department grow up in a culture for 15, 20 or 25 years as firefighters, and as members of a fire department union. They don’t have any separation from that culture. So a Rose Conroy never would think to go against the union. She was a part of it.
It is for that reason that it helps to have someone who can manage a fire department who never was a firefighter and has no personal ties to the fire union culture. I don’t know if this is sustainable for the long term. I imagine there are some real advantages to having a fire chief who knows how to fight fires. I know, for example, that Davis fire chiefs, when we do have a serious structure fire, will normally drive to the scene of the fire and give instruction. If the interim chief was never a firefighter, he cannot do that. And when fire events are mismanaged, he has to rely on the knowledge and input of his subordinates to determine what went wrong, even though the fault may lie with those he is relying on for input.
[i]” So a Rose Conroy never would think to go against the union. She was a part of it.”[/i]
If you doubt this, you need to read the Aaronson report on the Davis Fire Dept. Even though it is still highly redacted, it makes it very clear how consistantly Chief Conroy acted as a union advocate in her job as the boss of everyone else in that union.
Is it just me? How come nobody is giving Pinkerton an attaboy first for bringing in Kenley and now Chief Black.
Who’s nobody. Both Kenley and this move seem positively received – no?
He’s certainly going to be at the 1/22 workshop. I had heard that he would be shifting to UCD, but perhaps that was not correct information.
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