Davis Hires New Fire Chief to Clean House

Late on Tuesday, the City of Davis confirmed that they had hired a new interim fire chief, replacing Bill Weisgerber.  Scott Kenley was hired as the new interim fire chief, the second interim chief since the retirement of Rose Conroy in March 2010.

“Interim Chief Kenley has been active in fire services for over forty years and brings with him a diversity of experience ranging from firefighter operations to fire chief,” a city release stated.

Mr. Kenley began his career in 1971 with the City of Montclair, where he rose in the ranks to become fire chief, a position that he held until 1992.

He also served as fire chief for the cities of Brisbane and Lodi before his retirement in 2000.

Chief Kenley has consulted with Citygate Associates LLC and served as part-time fire chief for the City of Angels Camp. He is currently a Senior Consultant with Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai LLP Public Law Group.

Chief Kenley has also served as president of the California Fire Chiefs Association, as a member of the State Board of Fire Services, and as chair of curriculum development for state fire marshal certification.

“The city of Davis looks to Kenley not only to provide day-to-day management of the city’s fire department until a permanent fire chief can be hired, but also to utilize his proven abilities in organizational analysis and team building to provide leadership for the department, the city organization and the community,” according to the city’s release.

“I look forward to working collaboratively with the men and women of the Davis Fire Department, the city and the community to set the stage for the new fire chief,” said Mr. Kenley. “The goal is a smooth transition from three years of an interim management team to a more permanent management team with a long term vision for the department.”

Former Chief Bill Weisgerber leaves due to his time running out for being able to work post-retirement for the city under new CalPERS rules.

City Manager Steve Pinkerton praised the work of former interim Chief Weisgerber, stating, “We appreciate the fine service provided to the city of Davis by Bill Weisgerber and look forward to working with Scott Kenley and utilizing his many years of experience in fire services.”

Mr. Kenley takes over at a critical time.  The Vanguard yesterday released newly-disclosed portions of the fire report, showing that former chief Rose Conroy engaged in preferential treatment in promoting union president Bobby Weist to captain.  She, along with Mr. Weist, not only created a hostile work environment but colluded with the city to suppress damaging portions of the report, much of which is still not released to the public.

He also takes over at a time when the fire department merger, over which Mr. Weisgerber was supposed to oversee, is largely dead.

The Vanguard previously reported that, based on a number of reasons, Vice Chancellor John Meyer announced that as of January 31, 2012, the management services agreement was terminated and named Assistant Chief Nathan Trauernicht as UC Davis Fire Chief.

The labor negotiations represent the critical backdrop of the concern.  The Vanguard has been aware for some time that a gap exists between the compensation for the City of Davis firefighters and UC Davis firefighters.

Most critically, Vice Chancellor Meyer cites what he calls a “significant compensation disparity” as a culprit.

“I am deeply concerned about the significant compensation disparity highlighted in the CityGate report,” he writes.  “The report suggests that UC Davis will increase its compensation in support of consolidation efforts. I believe such action would not be sustainable by UC Davis and should not be assumed in future planning.”

The Vanguard in April acquired the CityGate report which provided significant opposition to any possible cost-savings that could be realized from moving from a four person engine to a three person engine.

Former Finance Director Paul Navazio said, “Our understanding of Citygate’s position is that, while Davis could clearly operate – as do many other jurisdictions – with 3-person engine companies, the concern lies in going from 3 four-person engine companies to a model where we staff 3 three-person companies.”

The problem with going from 12 per shift to 9 per shift seems problematic.  He argues that it would result “in an inadequate staffing level necessary to attack a structure fire – and further exacerbates our reliance on the availability of mutual aid partners for such incidents.”

He adds, “It should be noted that moving to a staffing model of 4 three-person engine companies does not necessarily require a fourth fire station, as there are many examples of two engine companies co-located within one station, even though they act and are dispatched as separate units.”

He further adds, “While it is absolutely true that a large number of jurisdictions operate three-person engine companies, very few – if any – staff fire services with less than the number of shift personnel needed to respond to a structure fire.”

The new interim fire chief worked for CityGate from 2001 to 2005.

Mr. Kenley’s biography shows that since September 2004 he has worked as a Senior Consultant with the Renne Sloan et al. Public Law Group.

His educational background is particularly curious, as he holds two degrees from non-traditional schools.  One of them, Columbia Pacific University, is described in Wikipedia as “an unaccredited nontraditional distance learning school in California,” founded in 1978.  It was closed by California court order in 2000, though it “also ruled that CPU had granted degrees legally between 1978 and mid-1997, a period when it was approved for operation by the State of California.”

Moreover, CityGate has been a problem for the city, where the city has consulted with the company twice and the findings have been of questionable usefulness.

However, Mr. Kenley has more than 40 years of experience in his field.

He joined his current firm as a non-attorney labor negotiator, and apparently has worked closely with the city’s labor negotiator.

In his role, he has been representing cities, not unions.  His listing of clients includes: City of Ceres in negotiations with all City bargaining units including: City of East Palo Alto in negotiations with Police Officers Association; Town of Los Gatos in negotiations with the Police Officers Association City of Modesto in negotiations with Police Managers, Police Non-Safety and City Employees Associations; City of Napa in negotiations with Firefighters Association, among others.

Importantly, there are no instances where he represented the labor side of the equation.

It appears he has been brought in precisely for those kinds of purposes and expertise.

—David M. Greenwald reporting