A highly anticipated audit says internal strife could threaten public safety, and it recommends a revamp of the organization.
By Howie Padilla & Myron P. Medcalf
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
Copyright 2007 Star Tribune
All Rights Reserved
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hours after a 326-page independent audit of the St. Paul Fire Department was released Wednesday, firefighter union president Pat Flanagan was doing his best to answer questions about it from anxious union members.
“This thing is so hot, I’m going to throw it into a puddle of water,” Flanagan said of his incessantly ringing cell phone. “To say the members are eager to find out what’s going on is an understatement.”
Despite the release of the highly anticipated audit, little was immediately clear about the department’s future under embattled Fire Chief Doug Holton, who recently was on the losing end of a no-confidence vote taken by firefighters and supervisors.
The audit includes 138 recommendations, including reducing the number of firehouses in St. Paul from 16 to 13, reorganizing the management structure and finding a resolution to the department’s “internal crisis” - a reference to the divide between Holton and union members, many of whom say the chief’s management style is heavy-handed and autocratic.
In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Chris Coleman said the report makes it clear that everyone should share in the blame for the deteriorated relationship.
But, the mayor said, “It is the responsibility of the chief to set the tone and direction of the department.”
Coleman promised action, assigning teams from within and outside the department to examine the recommendations for six months before putting together a five-year strategic plan for the department.
One of the groups, which will include City Council President Kathy Lantry and former Mayor George Latimer, will aim to bring community input and a focus on community services.
The other group, which will have its first meeting Friday, will include Holton and a firefighter chosen by the union’s executive board.
“I hope that this deflates some of the emotion and lets us get to work,” Holton said Wednesday night.
TriData Corp. of Arlington, Va., the public-safety management consulting firm that conducted the audit, suggests that its recommendations be gradually implemented, in part because of the current strife within the department.
“The problems have not yet affected delivery of service to the public but could easily do so if not addressed,” the audit states. “The absence of trust between firefighters and the fire administration is a key factor affecting poor relations between labor and management.”
‘A road map for progress’
Holton acknowledged last week that he is among five finalists to lead the Milwaukee Fire Department. He will go to Milwaukee next week for a series of interviews; officials there hope to name a new chief by early next month.
Flanagan said that no matter what happens in Milwaukee, he welcomes the management reorganization called for in the audit.
“This is a new beginning for our Fire Department,” he said.
City and fire officials have been here before. In 1989, another outside audit was released with much fanfare and 150 recommendations - including closing three fire station, hiring 55 firefighters and eliminating simultaneous fire and emergency duties for firefighters. Few changes resulted.
Coleman promised that the study released Wednesday, which cost the city $215,000 out of the Fire Department’s budget, would not go to waste.
“This audit is a road map for progress in the Fire Department,” he said.
It recommends that the department beef up emergency medical services, which account for 80 percent of emergency calls to the department.
In the long run, it says, two of the city’s 16 stations should be closed, two stations merged and two others relocated to improve coverage.
The report calls for the city to close No. 7, at 1038 Ross Av. on the East Side, and No. 20, at 2179 University Av. in the Midway district. Two West End firehouses, No. 1 and No. 10, would be merged in a new station between the two. Those moves alone would cost the city more than $20 million.
“There’s a lot of recommendations in that thing, and that’s all they are at this point,” Flanagan said. “A lot of these things are going to be stonewalled because of the budget.”
The report links a perceived abuse of sick leave to the ongoing rift between the union and administration. There’s evidence, the report says, that firefighters are using more sick time in warmer months.
One thing in the report that Coleman said he will immediately implement is a need to address the department’s emergency preparedness.
TriData suggests that emergency preparedness responsibilities should be handled under a new unit that would answer directly to the mayor. Coleman said he plans to create the unit and will soon name someone to lead it.
Coleman also said he has asked Holton to make immediate changes in management staffing but declined to elaborate.
Flanagan said that he plans to answer union members’ questions during his regular firehouse visits this weekend. He said he backs the decision to do the audit and has no problems with TriData.
“I feel the company is credible,” he said. “But I feel the real experts on the St. Paul Fire Department are the members of it.”