Fire Chief Howard Giles thought he could come into Topeka and impose his will, making decisions contrary to the best interests of the firefighters under his command. He also decided to bring in a deputy chief of his choosing, bypassing many qualified applicants.
The IAFF local fought a battle many thought they couldn't win, taking on the city, Giles and filing a lawsuit involving the deputy chief. Now Giles has resigned, the city is listening and word came through that the deputy chief has also resigned.
For Topeka's bravest the news means they are one step closer to rebuilding a department that had switched to "spreadsheet" management. It's been a long battle but Topeka is better for it because firefighters refused to limp away.
We will discuss this in tomorrow's podcast.
Excellent News for the Topeka FF's!
It's time that City Council's realize that:
"Theory-X"-Autocratic Management is not the way to go in the 21st Century Fire Service.
Make no mistake the former Chief was given some "support" to treat his employees the way he did by the City Council. This is evident by them not taking the FF's complaints seriously.
Hopefully, he'll learn from his mistakes and that Topeka FF's get a Good Chief who
will work with them.
Posted by: uk-fb-buff | July 21, 2009 at 03:16 PM