Polk County to review circumstances surrounding the firing of a fire battalion chief

The firing of a Polk County Fire Rescue battalion chief has prompted calls by county commissioners to hire a third-party consultant to dive deeper into the circumstances behind the termination and find out why leadership problems have plagued the county agency for years.

At Tuesday's meeting, the county commissioners discussed next steps following the firing of Battalion Chief Charlie True over hours that were logged by crews during disaster-relief response following the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia in August in Levy County.

A union representative contacted by phone on Thursday said the union has appealed True’s termination.

Commission Chairman Bill Braswell called for further investigation by an independent third party into the county’s fire service and directed his comments toward County Manager Bill Beasley.

“I do think we have a problem,” he said. “I think we have a management problem in our fire department and Mr. Beasley, that starts with you.”

“I've been here seven years and I have watched problem after problem come out of our fire department,” Braswell said. “It was easy to say it was rank and file for a long time, but the fact remains we still have problems.”

Braswell said he wanted the hiring of a consultant to be discussed again by the time the commissioners meet for their next agenda review, which is set for Jan. 22 at the County Administration Building in Bartow.

To identify a consultant, he was going to meet with Polk County Clerk of Courts Stacy Butterfield, whose duties include overseeing public funds and records, Braswell said on Tuesday. 

Each commissioner agreed with Braswell about the benefit of another set of eyes looking into the county’s emergency services agency as they discussed next steps. In addition to media reports, public comments during the meeting also raised issues about the firing.

A consensus of the board was to have Braswell, county attorney Randy Mink and Beasley work together to develop a scope of work, timeline and budget to hire a third-party consultant to do a thorough review of leadership and management of PCFR.

According to Jon Hall, vice president of the Polk Professional Firefighters Union, the crux of the problem was over hours worked vs. hours they were told to work by administration. The firefighters and EMTs were about to be deployed for disaster relief duties when an administrative chief told True verbally to keep the first responders to 12-hour shifts instead of the typical 24-hour shifts they work in Polk County.

“Historically, they always worked 24-hour shifts on these deployments; work from the time they leave till the time they come back and kind of rest when they're able,” Hall said.

“Their mission is to go there in support of the Sheriff's Office,” he said. The PCFR protects deputies from potential threats of fire and possible medical emergencies in disaster zones. They also provide a self-sustaining element to deployments by the Sheriff's Office by not being a burden on the local first responders and bringing their own.

The Sheriff’s Office does operate 24 hours a day but on 12-hour shift rotation, Hall said. Most of the work is assisting in evacuations, getting people out of homes and into shelters, cutting up downed trees and other disaster recovery efforts.

But so did the PCFR, Hall said.

“They're not just sitting around waiting for something to happen to the Sheriff's Office,” he said. “I mean they're there working as well. But part of their task is, you know, that the true reason that they're there is to provide EMS and fire suppression for that operation.”

Despite the verbal directive, True quickly realized that 12-hour shifts were not realistic once they arrived, Hall said. “So they ended up working longer than the 12-hour shifts, up to 24 hours” and sleeping when they could.

Hall said that because they were on deployment, the PCFR staff were not able to get uninhibited free time or sleep at home or their fire station. So under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the union members wanted to be paid for 24 hours each day.

“People who make those decisions don't necessarily know that that's the way it's supposed to be,” Hall said.

Hall added the county claims it had to pay an unexpected $60,000 toward the deployment, but he was not sure how the figure was derived. He said health insurance and other benefits would have had to be paid regardless of the deployment, and a firefighter's wage is not very high.

When the union insisted that the county pay the union members for hours worked, the two parties in charge of the operation were placed under investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, Hall said. True was later fired.

“They didn't follow this order that, you know, wasn't really able to be accomplished,” Hall said. “And also ... like I said, it doesn't coincide with what the law says and what our longstanding past practice has been. So we're in the process of appeals now.”

In an official statement, a county spokeswoman said, "On Friday, Polk County terminated Battalion Chief Charlie True on Jan. 5 for failure to supervise, insubordination and untruthfulness. His annual salary was $93,708."

In his personnel file, it shows he was hired as an EMT in 2006 and received employment references that stated, he was "friendly," “honest" and a "good worker," among other positive traits for the new role.

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“The county will have no further comment regarding this investigation at this time, honoring the grievance policies and procedures for employees that are in place with the county and the firefighters’ union,” Mianne Nelson, county spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

"Additionally, Polk County Fire Rescue has submitted all hours documented by the employees deployed for hurricane relief efforts to be included in their pay," she said. "Failure of BC True to follow the Direct Order of his commanding officer will cost Polk County Government and its residents about $60,000 of unreimbursable expense that were not reported to FEMA."

His termination form obtained from the county shows the order for 12-hours shifts was given by the agency's assistant chief of operations. In another document the county released, it shared the relevant section of the county's contract stating the county's management rights and had highlighted a portion of the following passage:

"Except as expressly limited by any provision of the Agreement, the County reserves and retains exclusively all of its normal and inherent rights with respect to the management of its operations ... to establish and change work schedules and assignments."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County to review fire department after firing of battalion chief