By Matt Lakin
Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee)
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Mike Taylor knew how to save a burning building but not how to put out fires in his own department, his former boss testified Thursday.
“His employees didn’t have respect for him,” said Gary West, who served as Gatlinburg fire chief from 2001 to 2005. “He didn’t communicate with them. In my opinion, he wasn’t capable of being fire chief. It would be a disaster for him to be fire chief.”
Taylor, a longtime Gatlinburg fire captain, filed a federal lawsuit against the city after he got turned down for the chief’s job when West left. Taylor says city officials never got over a grudge against him that dated to 1989, when he and nine other firefighters sued for overtime pay. He wants $60,00 in damages.
The city says he’s a good firefighter who didn’t deserve the top post.
Taylor and his lawyer, Bill Lockett , wrapped up their case Thursday afternoon. The city’s lawyer, Robert Watson, said he expects to finish his defense today.
Lockett took Taylor’s case before winning election as Knox County law director earlier this year. The county charter allows him to wrap up existing obligations, and Lockett said he’ll collect no fees personally from the lawsuit.
Jerry Brown, a retired Gatlinburg fi refi ghter,swore in an affidavit that City Manager Cindy Ogle told him officials would never stand for having a man who sued the city promoted to fire chief. Ogle testified she didn’t become city manager until after the 1989 lawsuit was filed and that she regularly approved pay raises and promotions for Taylor.
West, the city’s former fi re chief, called Taylor the department’s best scene commander but a poor supervisor.
He said firefighters complained that Taylor never told them about new policies and wouldn’t deal with problems, such as some firemen’s embarrassment over a female firefighter’s habit of stripping down between two fire trucks to change into her gear. The woman complained that Taylor wouldn’t provide a secluded spot for her to change or help her adjust to the all-male environment.
“His employees were all disgruntled,” West testifi ed.
Lockett said the chief never asked Taylor for his side of the story. West said he couldn’t remember.
Senior U.S. District Judge Leon Jordan said he hopes to see the case go to the jury by this afternoon.
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