Orlando Sentinel
APOPKA, Fla. — Veteran Apopka Fire Chief Lee Bronson is no longer in charge of the fire department, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Instead, Deputy Fire Chief Ray Thompson is running the department, city spokesman Robert Sargent said today. Sargent said he couldn’t elaborate on why Bronson isn’t in command of the 75-firefighter department, explaining that it is a personnel matter.
However, the spokesman said Bronson is still on the city payroll.
Bronson said city officials last week began pressing him to sign a separation and general release agreement that would terminate his employment without cause, effective May 3. So far, the document remains unsigned, he said.
The fire chief said he doesn’t know why the two-year-old city administration led by Mayor Joe Kilsheimer wants him out.
“I never had a problem, and all the sudden I am a problem. Something isn’t right,” said Bronson, who was hired under former Mayor John Land.
Bronson said he has turned in his city identification, access card and badge and is no longer receiving city emails.
Under the separation agreement, the fire chief would’ve received 20 weeks of severance pay, he said. However, the document would not have allowed him to retain his current health benefits, he added.
Bronson has sought outside legal counsel to determine his next steps, he said.
The shift in leadership at the fire department is not impairing the agency’s ability to carry out its mission, Sargent said.
“The men and women of the Apopka Fire Department operate one of the best emergency agencies in the country and continue to do so,” he said.
Apopka Commissioner Doug Bankson said he doesn’t know what led up to the departmental changes. However, during a visit to the agency late last week, he learned Bronson had left and wasn’t expected to return to his leadership post.
“He’s been a wonderful public servant,” Bankson said. “I’m very disappointed to see him go, and, like everyone else, I’m really wanting to know more information.”
Bronson has served as Apopka’s chief fire administrator since 2007 and draws an annual salary of $129,705.16, his employment records show.
This is his second stint with the city, the documents indicate.
He originally joined the Apopka workforce in 1974 and had a long career in the fire department, retiring in 2005. He returned to city employment about a year later as a plans examiner before stepping in to lead the Apopka fire agency.
In addition to his current salary, he takes in $4,272.66 each month in firefighter pension pay. As chief fire administrator, he was enrolled in a second city pension plan, his personnel file shows.
A copy of Bronson’s most recent contract, signed in 2014, allows him to resign or terminate his employment agreement after giving 90 days of notice to the city. The city is permitted to terminate the employment agreement without cause after providing 30 days of written notice or immediately in cases of negligence or misconduct, the contract states.
Bronson said the drafted document presented to him last week would supplant the 2014 contract.
Copyright 2016 Orlando Sentinel
All Rights Reserved