political coruption

[dchydesr]

Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 15
political coruption

Looking for information.......
Recently lost out on bid for fire chiefs job....Have been Deputy Chief for past 13 years and acting chief for past six months in which time I turned around a huge budget deficit without having to cut out any staffing or services ( previous chief was a very poor budget manager) The person I lost out to was the previous chiefs' son who was a Lt. for the past 5 years ( appointed by his father , no management experience). The
x chief is good friends with several selectmen and has spent the past six months working to get his son the chiefs job .The selectboard did a real dog and pony show to make it look good.. The selectmen that appointed him stated it was because they liked his idea of forming duty groups to respond to fire calls ( we are a paid/ call dept.) this will save money. The adjustments I made in the past six months have already saved a significant amount of money without putting anyone in danger by cutting our response .

If anyone has any information of similar cases where this has happened and was challenged in court I would be interested in this information .

Thanks.. dchydesr @aol

[EFD840]

Is the chief's position a career position or simply POC like the rest of the department? Also, are you guys a municipal department or fire district?

[dchydesr]

salaried / municipal

[EFD840]

Unless your town has a civil service system in place that mandates testing an ranking of applicants, you may be out of luck. City councils have pretty wide latitude when it comes to appointing department heads like the police chief and fire chief. Section 11 of the code of Alabama covers Municipal corporations. You can see it online at http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/coatoc.htm . Section 11-43-5 talks about appointing the fire and police chief.

Since it is a career position, then the rules of the Alabama Fire College come into play. Their authority is also in the code of Alabama Section 36-32. 36-32-7 sets some of the rules for career FFs and the fire college sets the rest. THE big one is that the 160 course doesn't cut it. You've got to be career FF-I certified.

I know none of this really answers the question you asked, but it may give you some places to start.

[dchydesr]

Thanks for the input, I do have an attorney and he does have a plan , we have already filed charges


Thanks again