The Editorial
Week of July 3, 2005
By Jeffrey J. Ortiz
Dear Reader,
Nederland has a leadership crisis!
Last week, the Nederland City Council voted 5-0 to separate Mike Lovelady from his duties within the fire department. Let me say this...Mr. Lovelady was NOT fired from issues concerning the Command Van Incident. According to city officials, he was cleared of that and put on administrative leave with pay. I have reviewed the report completed by Mr. Mike Clawson concerning "Issues relating to Personnel and Operations of the City of Nederland Fire Department". After reviewing the report, I thought how could anyone make an educated decision as to how to vote especially a newly elected official.
I thought this part of the report was interesting. It can be found on page four the last paragraph.
Finally, it was offered by most if not all of the firemen interviewed that the problems within the department concerning limited resources and the behavior of the command staff is known by upper management and elected officials. On a daily basis they see the Chief ridiculed or made fun of by various city and community officials.
OK, wait! So, upper management and elected officials ridiculed and made fun of the Chief? Are we in elementary school? Come on! Let's grow up! Being a manager of a retail establishment, if I heard that one of my employees were being ridiculed and made fun of the person or persons tormenting would be FIRED! No questions asked!
That just goes to tell me that upper management and our elected officials wanted him gone.
Below are options that Mr. Clawson gave in his report that the City could use. The report stated these options...
Nederland has a leadership crisis!
Last week, the Nederland City Council voted 5-0 to separate Mike Lovelady from his duties within the fire department. Let me say this...Mr. Lovelady was NOT fired from issues concerning the Command Van Incident. According to city officials, he was cleared of that and put on administrative leave with pay. I have reviewed the report completed by Mr. Mike Clawson concerning "Issues relating to Personnel and Operations of the City of Nederland Fire Department". After reviewing the report, I thought how could anyone make an educated decision as to how to vote especially a newly elected official.
I thought this part of the report was interesting. It can be found on page four the last paragraph.
Finally, it was offered by most if not all of the firemen interviewed that the problems within the department concerning limited resources and the behavior of the command staff is known by upper management and elected officials. On a daily basis they see the Chief ridiculed or made fun of by various city and community officials.
OK, wait! So, upper management and elected officials ridiculed and made fun of the Chief? Are we in elementary school? Come on! Let's grow up! Being a manager of a retail establishment, if I heard that one of my employees were being ridiculed and made fun of the person or persons tormenting would be FIRED! No questions asked!
That just goes to tell me that upper management and our elected officials wanted him gone.
Below are options that Mr. Clawson gave in his report that the City could use. The report stated these options...
· The City could consider a number of options. Among them is to have the Chief deliver the review and evaluation that he stated was being conducted by a professor from a local college. It would support the notion that he did conduct a valid review and intends to implement changes.
· If the city believes that statements made by the firemen, the Chief could be sent for a fitness for duty evaluation under the Civil Service regulations. Since many of the accusations made seem to relate to personal shortcomings on the be-half of the Chief this evaluation could address them.
· The city could engage an executive coach for the Chief. The coach would work with the Chief to improve his leadership skills. Or a facilitator could be brought in to address the communication methods within the department. It would allow the men to meet with the Chief and his command staff and within guidelines express their concerns. The goal would be to have a plan developed to address the issues.
· Even though an ordinance is in the Code requiring the Chief to report on a daily basis to the City Manager, anytime there is a problem the Charter supersedes an ordinance. Today it is not uncommon for public safety to report to the City Manager and the City may want to review this approach.
· Finally, a progressive discipline approach is an alternative available for the City. It affords the Chief an opportunity to understand the issues facing him and to respond to the responsibility of his actions. It sets out clear goals and consequences for certain behavior.
Again, I am not standing up for Mr. Lovelady but the fact is this…no where did it say to dismiss him of his duties. Now, I don’t know what all went on behind closed doors but the facts SHOULD be in this report.
Nederland is in need of community leaders who really want to see progress in their city. Community leaders who will ask questions and go against the flow. (If you didn't know, all votes during a council meeting are unanimous 5-0)
As long as we keep electing and appointing people from the good ole boy system, Nederland will never reach its full potential.
How long will this leadership crisis continue? Is there anyone out there willing to step up? I stepped up and I'm not going away!
0 comments:
Post a Comment