labor firegeezer on 04 Sep 2008 02:19 pm
Illinois Fire Dept. Losing More FF’s
THE CLINTON, ILLINOIS, FIRE DEPARTMENT has been in turmoil for the past three months.
Prior to then, there were apparently two factions within the department that had disagreements on how the largely-volunteer organization would operate. But it had never affected the operations of the department at emergency scenes. The small department has three full-time drivers and is authorized for up to 42 paid-on-call volunteers.
When the fire chief’s position came open in November, the city council, which appoints the chief, advertised for the position and narrowed the search down to 10 applicants. Meanwhile the council appointed two members to the position of assistant chief to provide a leadership position. They were Shaun Milton and his brother-in-law Brian Armstrong.
The fire chief position comes under the control of the Public Health and Safety Commission headed by Councilman Jerry Milton, Shaun’s father. In the third week of August the city council awarded the chief’s office to Shaun Milton. Immediately his brother-in-law resigned from the department and several of the other members did, too. Their concern was over the fire chief being directly responsible to his father for the operation of the department.
To amplify the split, the council swore in the new chief within hours after the appointment in a secret meeting. Their only explanation was that they needed a chief right away “in case we get a big fire.”
Within days, members have started dropping out of the department over the contentious issue. This past Tuesday one of the Captain’s resigned and now the membership is down to 23, dangerously low for the department’s needs. There is no indication that the situation is about to get any better soon.
Read yesterday’s article in the Bloomington Pantagraph HERE.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 6:03 pm 1.Just Plain Craig said …
At least thier taking a stand. How many times have FF’s complained and done nothing about it. It’s happening at my fire company. I told them the only way to make change is to boycott out of district runs. We’re talking about 250 out of 325 calls. Until then the BOD and leader will not change.