By Fousia Abdullahi
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
GRAPEVINE, Texas — The ongoing disagreement between the Grapevine Fire Department and members of the Grapevine Professional Firefighters Association took another turn on Friday, Aug. 14 when the union announced its members overwhelmingly voted no confidence in its leaders due to a lack of morale and lack of trust in all three of its chiefs.
While the vote has no official bearing on the employment status of the department leaders, it shows a documented record of the union’s lack of confidence in its chiefs.
The union has been vocal in recent months about the department’s reallocation plan that moved the department toward an EMS focus. This move led to Engine 1 being shut down and replaced with a squad truck. Union members also say they are concerned that leaders are not listening to their opinion or involving them in decision-making that directly impacts their jobs.
Nearly 94% of the Local 3113 union members voted for a no-confidence vote for Fire Department Chief Darrell Brown. Assistant Chief Wes Williams received an 87.9% vote of no confidence and Assistant Chief Stuart Grant received an 82.2% vote.
The association said in a statement that its members have been raising concerns with the department for two years about its leadership and the direction the department was going in.
“During that period, members have raised concerns involving community and firefighter safety, leadership, communication, transparency, accountability, operational decision-making, and other matters affecting the department,” the statement from the association read. “Local 3113 has brought concerns forward through established channels. The Association maintains that many of those concerns have not been adequately addressed.”
In addition, the association said that some of its members’ employment has been impacted by documented threats and intimidation due to disagreement with leaders’ decisions.
The union said as part of the vote, members were also able to submit their individual “concerns and experiences,” which were then incorporated into the rationale behind the vote.
In previous statements, the association said the new squad truck would have fewer personnel and equipment to substantially fight a fire before a fire engine arrives. The association said it was concerned about the impact on fire emergency capabilities, especially at high-traffic locations such as Grapevine Mills and large hotels and entertainment venues including Great Wolf Lodge and schools in the area.
In the rationale document provided to the Star-Telegram, the association highlighted several points about the department’s management and communication process in recent years that led to the vote of no confidence, including:
- Operating in silos and concentrating significant decisions among a small executive group
- Failing to seek, consider or value meaningful member input before major operational and organizational changes.
- Using data inconsistently or selectively to support predetermined conclusions
- Reducing frontline fire-response capability and system redundancy without a transparent risk analysis.
- Creating strategic inconsistency between stated concerns regarding EMS workload and reductions in field staffing on EMS incidents.
- Making resources and capital decisions that raise questions about alignment with actual community risk and service demand
- Failing to value employee experience, institutional knowledge, mentorship and succession planning
- Allowing a culture of perceived retaliation and punitive accountability to develop
- Communicating in ways that have damaged morale, trust, connection and confidence.
In a statement posted on the city’s Facebook page, Grapevine City Manager Bruno Rumbelow said public safety is one of the city’s top priorities and acknowledged an ongoing disagreement between department leadership and union members. Rumbelow called out members for publicizing its issues with the chiefs and the department.
“Instead of focusing their energy on the work that has made this department great – serving our residents, protecting families and working together as professionals – they have chosen to publicly malign a chief who has spent his career advocating for firefighters and building one of the finest fire departments in Texas.” Rumbelow’s statement reads. “That is not constructive, and it is not representative of the professionalism I expect from the men and women of the Grapevine Fire Department .”
Rumbelow said the infighting was not constructive, and he didn’t think the members were showing professionalism in their conduct.
“Leadership requires making difficult decisions,” Rumbelow said. “Resources are not unlimited, and Chief Brown and his team must balance staffing, equipment, emergency response demands, taxpayer resources, and the safety of our firefighters and residents.
“I know every decision will not be popular. But good leadership is not measured by whether every decision is popular, but rather measured by whether those decisions are made responsibly, professionally, and in the best interests of the community.”
The Star-Telegram requested to speak with both the city manager and Chief Brown for additional comments about the rift between the department and the association.
“The statement previously shared represents the city’s complete response regarding this matter,” a spokesperson for the City of Grapevine said. “At this time, we have no additional information to provide.”
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