Mack Borchardt began his career in the Fire Service in 1973 as a volunteer firefighter.  In 1981, after serving with the McKinney FD, Borchardt became the city administrator in Frisco and the Fire Chief of the Volunteer Frisco FD.  In 1987, Mack Borchardt had input on the hiring of the new City Manager, George Purefoy.  Shortly after Purefoy became city  manager he named Borchardt as Frisco’s first Fire Chief since the fire department had grown from a volunteer force to a department with 150 full time employees.  You can imagine the loyalty these two have to each other, as they came up together in this city and worked side by side for years.

In 2011, Borchardt received the 2011 Fire Chief of the Year award from the Texas Fire Chief’s Association.  That is why it is a little shocking that in the Fall of 2011 the city did a Climate Survey in the department that came out Jan 6, 2012.  The report was not good, and it said in order for the “people issues” to be resolved the department needed to change from a negative, hostile, retaliatory environment to a positive, more supportive  one that encourages communication.  It said the city must make changes and it started at the top by bringing in new management. 

The decision was made that Borchardt had to go, and a new Chief was coming.   Borchardt turned in his resignation letter Feb 23, 2012, to his good friend George Purefoy.  However, Borchardt was not going anywhere!  His buddy and good friend George Purefoy created a position for him at city hall right next to him in the City Managers officer.  In his severance agreement it states Borchardt on or before January 1, 2013, will be REASSIGNED by George from Fire Chief to Fire Programs Consultant reporting solely to the City Manager King George or his successor.  The job was guaranteed until Feb 15, 2015.  It is important to note he is still there today in a six-figure job doing who knows what with a city vehicle.  King George his friend and confidant took care of him. 

Why is the relationship between King George and Mack Borchardt important?  When the city hired Mark Piland as Borchardt’s replacement it rubbed those loyal to Mack Borchardt in the department the wrong way.  Folks like Assistant Chief Lee Glover and Barry Dixon in Fire Fleet Management.  See their loyalty was always going to be with Mack which Piland did not know at the time, but it really left him a sitting duck. 

Why are these relationships important to the Valve Report?  Well, we are about to tell you. Snowmageddon 2021 was unforgettable for many Texas residents.  Record breaking below freezing temperatures for nine plus days killed more than 200 people and resulted in millions being without power or water for days.   In Frisco, starting February 15, the Fire Department responded to 162 calls in 7 hours which is 3 to 4 times more than the average call volume in a 24-hour period.  Then came the news that Frisco FD was fighting the Circa Apartment fire that lasted over 36 hours.  Over 260 units were affected by the fire, four Frisco Firefighters were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries.  The FD had never experienced a fire of this magnitude, then add in record breaking temperatures.

As life started to return to normal the Frisco Fire Department had two parallel reports working in the department.  The first was the Mayday Report which was supposed to be a learning tool for the department related to the Circa Fire.  The other was a report called the Valve Report and if you are anything like us, you are asking the same question we did.  What is a Valve Report?   Well, during Snowmageddon several of the fire trucks suffered freeze damage to the valves, piping and pumps on the apparatus vehicles.   

In an April 19, 2021, email to Henry Hill, George Purefoy the City Manager writes “I’ve heard that numerous fire trucks suffered freeze damage during the severe winter storm in February. It is my understanding that in the past, lines were emptied of water to protect the valves from freezing and the resulting damage; however, during this most recent event apparently that wasn’t done on the vast majority of the fire engines. I’d like to see a report which details the damage/cost to repair and, if accurate, what procedure(s) will be put in place to help keep this type of damage from occurring again.”  Henry Hill replies we will investigate what  occurred and get back to you.  Then King George replies “It is my understanding that it was extensive and supposedly only one truck was drained as had been the practice in the past.”

To many, this might look like a normal email, but it is not!  King George starts by saying I’ve heard…heard from who?  Then he says it is his understanding that in the past, lines were emptied, how did he know that?  How does he know what was or was not done in the most recent event?  How would he know it is extensive and that only one truck was supposedly drained?  How did he know the past practice of the department?  The answer is Mack Borchardt, who was getting full reports and secret emails from Assistant Chief Lee Glover.  No wonder why Assistant Chief Lee Glover was put in charge of the Valve Report for the department.

On April 27, 2021, the first draft of the Valve Report was done, and several insiders told us Piland was not happy because Glover had not talked to anyone in operations before writing it up or sending it out.  Piland felt the report needed to be fair and accurate which required feedback from those on the front line at the stations and those within operations, not just Fire Fleet Management, Barry Dixon (a Borchardt loyalist).

We were told from two inside sources Piland asked Assistant Chief, Cameron Kraemer to reach out to the stations and operations and get feedback on the original draft so that both sides would be represented.  This report was emailed to Mark Piland on May 5, 2021.  In fact, the report mentions the procedure for draining the pumps has been taught  and successful for many years and is documented in an internal training bulletin in 2016.  It also noted due to the high volume and the constant exposure these apparatuses had to history making extreme freezing temperatures contributed to the damage.

Then through our PIR we found two emails from Lee Glover to Mack Borchardt titled Pump Info.  The first was on April 29 and simply says, “Enjoy the read!”  Hmm, I wonder what Glover meant by that.  Then the second email was on May 17^, 2021, and has no message just an attachment titled Department Memo Fire Apparatus Valve Damage 04272021.  So, two emails from Assistant Chief Lee Glover to his buddy, the man he considers the CHIEF which only undermines Piland.

Piland then asked Vetterick to take both drafts and merge them into one report so that all sides were represented in the report which created the final version that was emailed to Mark Piland from Deputy Fire Chief, Scott Vetterick on May 18, 2021.  Was this report acceptable to King George and his minion Henry Hill, well of course not!  That would be too easy.

Fast forward to June 25 King George sends out an email to a few different people asking them for feedback or advice on any changes.  The first email was sent to Mack Borchardt and Henry Hill at 10:35 am and the second email was sent to Ron Patterson at 11:10 am.  What could he possibly be asking for feedback on, well it is a letter to Chief Piland.  Interesting King George goes to his buddies, confidants, and everyone else but the active current Fire Chief himself, Mark Piland. 

The email King George sent makes it clear he is not happy with the final memo submitted.  Our guess is because it was not written by Borchardt.  What does the final draft look like, well we can only guess like the one we attached.  The damage was going to cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars between parts and hours to replace.   A few insiders told us Glover did a hastily report that put the blame on the fireman.  We asked them why Glover would do that, and we were told to protect Barry Dixon (Borchard/Glover loyalist).   According to a fleet expert it was Dixon who wanted steel and brass ball valves which were known to freeze.  We were also told Glover sent his report to Borchardt and Purefoy instead of proper channels through the Fire Chief, Mark Piland .  Why? Because he did not like that Piland asked him to get more perspective for the report. 

Add to that we were told a complaint was filed against Barry Dixon in Fleet Management some time ago for falsifying records and for filing a false complaint on a fire captain.  According to several inside sources Dixon was caught red-handed, but Glover came to the rescue to SWEEP, SWEEP, it under the Aladian flying carpet.

In closing, what did we learn from the Valve Report?  It was another tool to try and undermine, discredit, and lay blame on Fire Chief, Mark Piland.  Other than that, we learned nothing.  One thing is clear, Mark Piland had a hard time because he was never going to be given the respect from the Frisco Insiders at city hall.  He simply was not Mack Borchardt and from everything coming out it appears there was a concentrated effort to undermine him and disrespect him from HR all the way to the City Manager’s office.   A city insider told us Purefoy never wanted Piland or any other Fire Chief there, he wanted Borchardt, but his hands were forced.   

The question we have is WHAT DOES MACK BORCHARDT ACTUALLY DO?  We know he played Fire Chief behind the scenes of the actual Fire Chief while Piland was there.  My guess is he is doing the same with Glover.  He was supposed to be over Exide and well that has not gone well.  So, what is he making $200K+ dollars a year doing for the city?   Now that Glover is Fire Chief do you think he enjoys happy hours with Borchardt?  We are betting they do!  The good old boy network is very alive and well at city hall.  Just look at George Purefoy now, he has opened a consulting firm with Ron Patterson. 

To see all the documents we obtained in our PIR: Valve Report Documents