By Jessica A. York
The Vallejo Times Herald
VALLEJO, Calif. — When Vallejo’s most controversial firefighter leaves at the end of the month, Fire Chief Russ Sherman fears others may follow.
Sherman said department veterans like Kurt Henke take a lot of local history and tradition with them when they leave. Henke served for nearly 25 years as a Vallejo firefighter, and about 15 as the leader of the Local 1186 of the International Association of Firefighters.
As to the political toll of Henke’s relocation, Henke said late last week that issues firefighters care most passionately for and their politics will remain the same, with or without him.
The fire union, which represents six fire departments in the area, “is in tremendous hands,” Henke said Friday. He acknowledged there inevitably will be a change in “management style.”
“It never was a single individual that was running it — it always was a large group of executive members at the direction of the membership at large,” Henke said. "... the transition will be seamless.”
Henke would not comment on whether he believes his Vallejo coworkers will follow his lead out of the city, other than to say they, including police and other city workers, are the best he has ever worked with.
Sherman, though, raised some concerns.
“You always have, on a yearly basis, a loss of one or two employees because they’re due to retire,” Sherman said. “My real fear is this is just the tip of the iceberg — just the start. We’ve lost four senior people in the last six months. There’s the potential to lose up to 10 more in (coming months).”
Sherman said that with steep department spending cutbacks, he fears more retirement-eligible firefighters may leave.
City Manager Bob Adams, in an e-mailed response to a reporter’s questions, would not say whether or not the city still has a firefighter hiring freeze in place.
“It hasn’t been determined yet what will happen with proposed vacancies,” Adams wrote. “The (fire) chief will have to weigh in ... regarding what he needs to do the job ... within the
current budget.”
As the city leadership was within months of unanimously approving a bankruptcy petition last year, 13 firefighters submitted their resignation and retirement notices in February 2008.
“The big challenge is not replacing one or two individuals ... ,” Sherman said. “When you lose, say 13 in one day .. and you add another 10 (potential losses) ... you’ve got a lot of training problems.”
Councilmember Erin Hannigan said the political “landscape” of negotiations will be changed when Henke leaves, but that the City Council is concerned with providing firefighting and police services to the community above political issues.
“They’ve been leaving since February 2008,” Hannigan said of the city’s firefighter exodus. “I think the trend started then. We have a long way to go, but the city and the employee unions have to come to an agreement. So we still have to follow through on that.”
Henke’s departure to a high-ranking management position with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department — otherwise known as Sac Metro — comes years into the city’s fiscal meltdown, which often involved years of haggling over employee salaries, working conditions and benefits.
Henke called his departure from Vallejo’s politics and people “bittersweet.”
“I’m extremely excited to be going to Sac Metro,” Henke said Friday. “It truly is a chance of a lifetime. The situation in Vallejo really has nothing to do with it. The city of Vallejo could have been in a completely opposite situation than it is now and I would have taken advantage of (the job offer).”
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