The ticking of time is the invisible heartbeat of our lives and affects every moment of our consciousness. Time and self are in perpetual handshake – for example, a human trapped in a completely dark cave would still be governed by the circadian rhythms of their internal clocks. There are many careers in which “time” is a critical component. Metrologists have technology that is incredibly accurate to measure the passing of minutes, seconds. Surgeons in an operating room live on a time clock and those who take too long could kill someone. Professional surf boarders must be able to catch the perfect wave and football players have to make the play in a certain space of time or face penalties. Various factors are crucial to our construction of the perception of time such as memory, concentration, emotion and the sense we have time is somehow located in space.
When it comes to the job of a firefighter, time plays a critical component. Imagine your house catching fire, flames coming out of the windows and roof line while you hear loud pop and bang sounds from things exploding inside. As you watch the firefighters attack the house fire, you become almost paralyzed, and time comes to a standstill. As you stand there seeing the chaos around you, it begins to feel like an eternity of time. For the firefighter the stress put on their body fighting your house fire can prompt their brain to speed up its internal processing which helps them face life or death situations.
When the process began to search for a new chief, the firefighters quickly realized the city had an agenda and that former Assistant Fire Chief Lee Glover from the “Un-Happy Days” was about to be their new commanding officer and Chief. The Frisco Firefighters Association did a survey and provided it to the City Manager and Council. In Survey Says we told you about that survey and its results. Question 1: Do you want Interim Fire Chief Glover to be the next Fire Chief of the Frisco Fire Department? Survey says … 92.5% said NO. City Manager Wes Pierson and his office, along with City Council, were given the results and they chose to disregard the voice of some 200+ firefighters and make Lee Glover the new Fire Chief.
When we were reading through the “In-Service Meeting” notes it was noted that firefighters believe it is their Chiefs job to fight for them and defend them but instead they feel Glover ignoring the staffing issues and only doing what is being asked of him by City Manager Wes Pierson. They don’t believe their current leader and Chief supports them in any way and the result is they have no voice with city management and city officials. One comment noted, “we are not being heard and it will take one of them dying before Glover or the city take notice of staffing issues.”
Who is responsible for hiring and firing in the city? Mayor Jeff Cheney addressed this issue in the 2023 Mayoral Campaign at the Star Patriots Candidate Forum. The Council hires the City Manager, and it is the city managers responsibility to manage and hire and fire department heads. If something goes wrong, you can bet Cheney will excuse himself from responsibility and put it all on Wes Pierson.
Another comment from the most recent notes reads, “we work under the fear of retaliation and feel we are disciplined for the simplest mistakes.” We feel like we have heard this before – oh yeah, we have in the 2011 Climate Report when Lee Glover was the Assistant Fire Chief. The 2011 Climate report reads “firefighters talk about getting in trouble for small things and being required to write memos on things they done (and re-writing them over and over until the Senior Officer is happy with it).” It goes on to read “they are being threatened with their job, being moved to the day shift, being belittled, yelled and treated like children.” Proof is in the pudding!
The “In-Service Meeting” notes also address promotions and annual evaluations. Officers feel they meet their rankings, do their job, and then they are told they must do more than that to get to move up. Now the promotional process is based on a “taskbook” which is a checklist that shows what a firefighter or officer understands and has been cleared in, to show they are proficient in the job they will be stepping into. It was recommended by one of the committees to implement the taskbook in 2025. The 50+ pages of notes said some complete the taskbook, but others can be prevented from completing it by the Battalion Chiefs which prevent them from testing. One comment was the process was very “subjective” and “some are allowed to test, while and others are not allowed to test for promotions.” We know from talking to several inside sources that just recently a handful of firefighters applied for the LT positions, and they were not allowed to test even though they qualified which matches the statements made by the firefighters at the meeting. We also learned that Fire Chief Lee Glover choose to ignore his committees (another complaint in the notes) and implement the taskbook requirement now and that did not give all the candidates time to complete it before the test.
After reading this, we honestly feel like we are on a Merry-Go-Round that is not so …merry. We pulled up the 2011 Climate Report that reads “firefighters’ perceptions of the hiring and promotion process is that it is manipulated by the Chief and Senior Officers.” It goes on to read “firefighters would like to see a hiring and promotion process established, published and followed that does not allow for manipulation of the data of tests and who is selected.” So basically, what is in the 2011 Climate Report matches the feelings of the 2024 In-Service Meeting Notes and the one common denominator is … Fire Chief Lee Glover!
We think that City Manager – Wes Pierson, Mayor Jeff Cheney, and the City Council suffer from Echolaia, which is the repetition or echoing of words that you hear someone else say. If not Echolaia, then they suffer from insanity which is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If they don’t have either of those two medical conditions, well then, they suffer from just simple stupidity. Voltaire noted that the more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it appears to be wisdom.
In a nutshell the council hopes we are “STUPID” and if they just repeat the same thing over and over, we will begin to believe it. They are like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ clicking together her ruby red slippers but instead of saying there is no place like home they are saying Chief Glover is the best, Chief Glover is the best! Just look at Mayor Jeff Cheney at the Star Patriot forum in 2023 when he was running for re-election. After seeing the FFA Survey showing a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the new Fire Chief Lee Glover, he went to a candidate forum and directly lied to our faces talking about how great Glover was and how he was already improving things at the fire department. LET THAT SINK IN FRISCO RESIDENTS: MAYOR CHENEY KNOWINGLY LIED DIRECTLY TO VOTERS and thought he would never get caught.
Remember, the entire goal of the city and its leadership at all levels these past two years has been to blame Piland, blame the power grab on the “small portion of firefighters”, and to blame anyone and everyone but themselves. They have LIED…. and in the most recent election for the propositions the Frisco Fire Association even made a video pointing that out.
The only mistake the City of Frisco and Frisco City Council made was thinking people would not get tired of their BS and start to pay attention. That failure is what allowed the Whistleblowers to rise up!
If you live in Frisco, then you should know the name Cameron Kraemer. Kraemer, the former Assistant Fire Chief, was fired after 27+ years with the city. During his time with the Frisco Fire Department, he served as Deputy Chief, Battalion Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Firefighter and Paramedic. But last year in 2023 Kraemer’s name was the subject of many headlines. Community Impact’s headline read, “Frisco Assistant Fire Chief Kraemer fired after nearly 30 years” and The Dallas Express headline read, “Local Assistant Fire Chief Kraemer Fired.”
Why would the City of Frisco fire such a long-standing employee? Kraemer’s history with the city goes deep, his dad Tom Kraemer, who recently passed away, worked for the city’s communications department for around 19 years. A Facebook post by the Frisco Fire Fighters Association on May 2, 2023 read, “Regrettably, Assistant Chief Kraemer has been terminated by the City of Frisco after 27 years of service, without being given the opportunity to go through the appeals process and contested case hearings,” the post read in part. The post went on to say that Kraemer went on leave in August 2022 for post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the Frisco Fire Fighters Association, Kraemer filed for workers’ compensation for PTSD in December 2022, citing Section 504.019 of the Texas Labor Code. The department denied Kraemer’s claim. He is appealing the decision. The post closed with the following remark, “It is disheartening to witness the dismissal of a Firefighter with significant tenure in this way, particularly in a city that prides itself on its care and regard for its employees.”
At Frisco Chronicles, we felt something smelled like a freshly cooking, Cowboy Cow Pile Patty, smoldering in our Texas 110-degree summer heat. That is a nice way of saying something smelled like ShXt. We started to dig, and we uncovered some dirty back door dealings about the city which we disclosed in our 12 days of Christmas Articles (check the archives). We were curious what would happen next with Kraemer, and we didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Cameron Kraemer took his workers’ compensation case before the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) claiming he was undergoing treatment for long-term post-traumatic stress when the city terminated him and denied his claims for medical coverage. On September 21, 2023, the case went before the TDI in Dallas and the administrative law judge who heard the case ordered the City of Frisco, which is self-insured, to pay Kraemer benefits and any accrued but unpaid income benefits in a lump sum with interest as provided by law.
On October 12, 2023, the Frisco Firefighters Association released a Press Release that was posted to their Facebook page that reads, “The state ruled that Cameron’s injury was compensable under the workers’ compensation law. We are working with the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters to review Cameron’s options for going forward.” Attached to the post was a Press Release and it quotes Matthew Sapp, President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association, as saying “Cameron Kraemer was undergoing treatment for LINE-OF-DUTY injuries clearly recognized by the state legislature and medical experts, but the City of Frisco CHOSE TO BREAK THE LAW, deny him insurance coverage and terminate him.” The press release noted: The city WASTED TAXPAYER RESOURCES on this case!
The win was also reported across local news and newspapers. The Dallas Morning News headline reads “Frisco Firefighter fired while on medical leave WINS WORKERS’ COMP CASE.” The article noted Kraemer was still undergoing treatment for long-term post-traumatic stress disorder. Kraemer is quoted as saying, “They took away my job, it took away all my benefits, they took away everything, and they wanted me to retire.” Kraemer refused to retire and went through the appeals process. “I’m still young so I’m penalized for retiring before the age of 50 as a first responder. I’m only 46,” he said. “And the reality is I’ve got three teenagers, and they had to walk through this process with us. And the amount of strain and tension and stress and anxiety that it puts on the house, you can’t even quantify it.”
While many don’t believe that PTSD is a real issue, it is! Ask yourself this, if you saw a 45-foot Frisco Fire Truck back up and pin a fellow firefighter against the wall of a city building, then after you had to clean up the blood and bodily fluids at the scene and notify the fellow firefighter’s family, COULD YOU HANDLE IT? The incident, discussed in the DMN articles is what Cameron Kraemer and our fellow Frisco Firefighters see every day! As a holistic person I can only imagine the impact it has on your mind, body, spirit and soul. Do you think Sassy Lauren Safranek, the City HR Director, or any of our fellow city council members have witnessed anything like this or worse? How about seeing it throughout your 27-year career, are you sure you could handle it?
Truthfully, my wife and I could not imagine seeing the devastation and destruction these men and woman in both our Police and Fire departments see daily. You probably think the city did the right thing but of course they didn’t. Instead, they sent their attack boar Bobblehead Bill Woodard on social media to pass out false information on Kraemer’s case and attack our first responders during the most recent election. Why is a city councilman releasing personal details in an ongoing case on social media? We are glad he did because it made our spidey little senses rise and we started investigating and will write about that in our next article.
Where is Cameron Kraemer now? Well, he is still receiving treatment, and his case had to go before the DOJ to determine if he was able to sue the city for his wrongful termination. Yesterday, we learned from sources inside the city that the DOJ ruled Kramer can sue and we are betting he wins big time! Meanwhile Bobblehead Bill Woodard wants you to believe our firefighters are lazy (his words during the May 2024 election), however it is not in their nature to lay down without a fight. Kraemer is going to use the legal process to take a wrecking ball to the city in court, which he should! Infact, the case was filed on 8/2/2024 in Collin Countys 416th District Court under case number 416-05201-2024.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU THE TAXPAYER? That means taxpayers on top of spending money on Performing Arts Centers, downtown revitalization, and the upcoming Grand Park, will also be subject to a BIG TIME CASINO LIKE PAYOUT to Cameron Kraemer and rightfully so! To be direct, the city who lolly gagged around, could have tried to settle this issue but choose to swing their cajónes around and now taxpayers will foot the bill for it. NOW YOU CAN SEE WHY THEY ARE ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE THEY ARE RAISING OUR TAXES!
Extra, Extra, Read All About It! Let the fireworks begin. If you have read our blogs some of this might seem familiar but stay with us because this explains it all. If you have never read one of our blogs then this is the one you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!
When we started down the path to uncover corruption within the city we never thought we would come across some of the things we have. The 12 Days of Malfeasance is a real page-turner and if you asked my wife she would say it is better than one of those cheap soft-back romance novels on the shelf at Walmart. It involves forgery, lies, questionable relationships, questionable tactics, and revenge. In the end, you will learn someone had $178,000+ reasons to lie and stab people in the back to protect their job! To top it off, we have the evidence to prove it!
It started back in 2014 when Fire Chief, Mark Piland updated several of the Job Descriptions for the Fire Department. When working in a city you are extended certain benefits based on the job descriptions (also called JD’s). In Frisco, Fire Fighters and Police Officers have additional benefit pay for certifications and education. If the job description says Preferred Education, Experience, and Certifications that means they receive additional pay in the following amounts: Certification pay for Intermediate, Advanced, and Master’s Certifications at $50, $80, and $120 per month. The Education Pay for Associate, Bachelor, and Master’s Degrees is at $50, $100, and $150 per month. However, if the job description says, “Required” then that means there is no additional benefit pay.
Fast forward to 2017, HR identified that there was no job parody in the job descriptions between the Fire Department and Police Department as it relates to Education Requirements. HR suggested to then Fire Chief, Mark Piland to change all the job descriptions to bring parody to the Fire Department job descriptions. The education requirements for all FD positions, Assistant Chief and below were changed to Preferred to match that of the Police Department as requested by HR.
Piland was concerned about this change as he was in the process of hiring and it could look as if some or all the candidates received special treatment which was acknowledged by Shannon Allywn in an HR email. Regardless of the concern the change was made to all of the positions to keep uniformity between departments.
July 19, 2017: An email from Shannon Allyn to Tracy Stiles (HR) talks about how when Chief Piland originally did the updates with HR to the job descriptions he had the Public Safety Certification and Education Pay descriptions listed as “required.” In 2017, HR approached Piland and asked him to change the job descriptions to “Preferred” to match the other departments. We were told by an insider at the time Piland protested and did not want to change it because it could cause issues. Shannon Allyn confirmed his frame of mind when she displayed the same concerns that Piland had in the email to Tracy. A reply from Tracy Stiles is sent the same day back to Shannon Allyn that reads, “They will all be changed to Preferred.”
Little did we know Job Descriptions would be the KEY to this story. Jeromy Porter served as Battalion Chief from June 2014 to September 2020 and during that time he received the additional Certification and Education Pay. Then in October 2020, he received a promotion to Deputy Chief and was told Education Pay was removed as an incentive. However, the position description listed a bachelor’s degree as a “Preferred” education, not “Required.” While a promotion is nice, the cut in what he thought the position paid was not. Ask yourself, would you take a promotion if it meant you were going to make less than your current salary?
January 25, 2021:Memo from Deputy Chief, Jeromy Porter to Fire Chief, Mark Piland regarding Education Pay and a request for a formal review of the Public Safety Certification and Education Pay Plan. The review got put on hold because things got hectic with an impending storm.
February 17, 2021: Circa Frisco Apartment Fire Reported, Wednesday @ 1:12 AM broke out in Apartment 158.
The Circa Fire was the largest fire 5-alarm that the Frisco FD has had to fight in recent memory and under the worst winter storm conditions in the last century. The Circa Fire happened over 48 hours in a winter storm nicknamed “Snowmageddon.” It knocked out power and caused a massive number of water breaks and fire alarm activations which led to an extraordinarily high call volume that taxed the resources and stamina of the Frisco FD.
Approximately two hours into the fire, a Mayday event occurred on the second floor of the Circa Building when Captain Christopher Beck, who was the Division Two Supervisor at the time of the Mayday event, fell through a hallway floor outside apartment 258. Captain Beck was trapped in the subfloor and had to be rescued by other firefighters. The Frisco FD Procedure Manual defines a Mayday in Procedure 303 Mayday Operations as “a message used to signal a life threat to any firefighter.” Beck went to the hospital and after being released he was back on duty.
The Circa Fire was much larger than it would have been under any other circumstance because the required automatic sprinkler system was taken out of service by the building landlord before the fire without the Frisco FD being notifiedor the building being put on Fire Watch. Fire department witnesses interviewed almost universally indicated that had the sprinklers been in service, it is believed this would have been a simple room and contents fire. Due to the high level of fire department emergency activity in the Metroplex, the mutual aid response was limited. Essentially, the Circa Fire was a five-alarm fire that was fought, for more than 24 hours, with the resources of a two-/three-alarm fire that were inadequate for the complexity/scale of this incident. The lack of resources led to an inability to designate a formal Rapid Intervention Team (“RIT”) by the incident commander.
RIT is defined in the Frisco Fire Department Procedure 303 Mayday Operations as “a dedicated crew of at least three firefighters with four firefighters preferred, one of which is an officer, fully equipped and trained who are assigned to provide assistance or rapidly deploy to rescue lost or trapped members.”
February 18, 2021: Circa Frisco Apartment Fire “Put Out”, Thursday @ 10 AM
February 2021 (End Of Month): Following the Circa Fire,Fire Chief, MarkPiland called for a Mayday Report to be put together to help the FD learn and better understand the event. Assistant Chief Kraemer assigned the job of preparing that report to the Battalion Chief in charge of Health and Safety, BC Hutt. This was the first Mayday Report done during Chief Piland’s tenure and the first such report any of the witnesses interviewed could recall ever being done in Frisco.
Important Note: While it is arguably a best practice, there is currently no specific requirement, standard, or template in any fire service to prepare a Mayday Report given the relative infrequency, and significance, of Mayday events.
March 16, 2021: Scott Vetterick, Deputy Chief sent an email to Lori Rutland (HR), Lee Glover (Assistant Fire Chief), and Mark Piland (Fire Chief) with a revised Fire Marshal job description. Lori responded to Vetterick and asked him to review the highlighted areas in yellow. She told him once he sent the changes or comments back to her she would send them to the Chief for approval (signatures).
March 17, 2021: Vetterick sent back the revised redlined edits and asked for approval for the changes. Once approved, he sent it back to HR. Evidence Note: In one of our PIR requests, we learned that the updated Fire Marshal job description had the required updated signatures from Mark Piland and was dated 3/17/2021. Why is this important? It shows that HR knew that if they changed anything, they would need to get updated signatures.
March 17, 2021: At 10:43 am and 11 am, THE JOB DESCRIPTION FOR DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF WAS MODIFIED by Lori Rutland who directly reports to Lauren Safranek.
March 18, 2021: At 11:22 am the FRISCO FD JOB DESCRIPTION FOR DEPUTY CHIEF WAS MODIFIED again by Lori Rutland for Education, Experience, and Certifications. The modification included removing the word “Preferred” from the title, but the bullet points still cite that a combination of education and experience can be used to satisfy the position.
Why is this a big deal?The document was changedwithout approvalfrom FIRE CHIEF, MARK PILAND, and HR DID NOT GET AN UPDATED SIGNATURE which is REQUIRED. After HR modified the document in 2021, they published the document with the unapproved change and more importantly with the 2017 signatures from Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Piland and others in the FD did not even know the change had been made until July 2022 when Porter submitted a second request for Education Pay.
Now many may say, who cares that HR changed it and didn’t tell anybody, but it is a VERY BIG DEAL. It affects the educational pay for several employees in those positions which creates a drastic pay cut in one’s salary.
April 9, 2021: BC Ryan Hutt delivered the original draft of the Mayday Report related to the Circa fire via email correspondence to Chief Piland, Assistant Chief Kraemer, and Assistant Chief Lee Glover. BC Hutt noted in his email “If you see any changes that need to be made or any recommendations you may have to improve the document, please let me know.”
According to the final report on 8/5/22, the original draft of the Mayday Report was incomplete, and it failed to give a full description of the Mayday event. Had such a complete description of the Mayday event been provided either in the first draft or even in any subsequent draft, the approach to the Mayday Report and the editing process moving forward for the Mayday Report would likely have been done differently.
The report also said that based on interviews performed during the investigation, BC Hutt did not obtain critical information about the Mayday event and the events leading up to the Mayday event because he did not speak with certain witnesses and because he performed incomplete interviews of other witnesses.
April 19, 2021: Valve Report Requested by Purefoy & Hill related to the damage of the valves on fire trucks due to “Snowmageddon.”
May 17, 2021: Assistant Fire Chief Lee Glover sends an email to Mack Borchardt his former boss and says “Enjoy The Read” regarding the initial Fire Apparatus Valve Damage. The email shows Lee Glover had no respect for Mark Piland and that Glover was still reporting to his old boss Borchardt.
May 27, 2021: BC Hutt submitted a third draft of the Mayday Report via email to Chief Piland, Assistant Chief Kraemer, and Deputy Chief Carpenter.
June 25, 2021: BC Hutt submitted his 4th draft of the Mayday Report via email to BC Britton DC Owen, Assistant Chief Kraemer, and DC Carpenter.
August 2021: BC Hutt left the Health and Safety Position and was replaced by Battalion Chief Charles Marts (BC Marts)
In the final report from Adams, Lynch & Loftin P.C. on 8/5/22 it was documented BC Hutt was moved to a new shift assignment because he was not successful under DC Carpenter and it was believed he would have a better chance of being successful under DC Porter. Ironically, one of the few areas where all of the Executive Staff interviewed were in agreement was on the fact that BC Hutt was moved to a new shift for his benefit and that move was designed to help him be more successful. There is a lack of trust in BC Hutt by his contemporaries as evidenced by the interviews with the Executive Staff and Command Staff during this investigation. This lack of trust has almost certainly been evident to BC Hutt. However, the fact that his contemporaries don’t trust him is not evidence of retaliation and reprisal.
October 5, 2021: Official Mayday Report released via email along with a copy of the Winter Storm 2021 AAR
It’s a new year and a lot is happening in the City of Frisco!
January 2022: The City of Frisco approved hiring Affion Public to conduct a national search for a new city manager. Ron Patterson and Fire Chief, Mark Piland applied for the position.
February 9, 2022: Matt Sapp, President of the Frisco Firefighters Association delivered a letter to George Purefoy, Frisco City Manager detailing concerns of how the department handled the reporting of the MAYDAY EVENT at the Circa Fire (Feb 2021). Sapp has repeatedly said publicly that the Association felt the Mayday Report should have been handled by a third party. The Sapp Letter contained several allegations regarding actions by Mark Piland, Frisco Fire Chief, and his “direct subordinates.” The allegations related to improper interference with the preparation of a Mayday Report that was analyzing their tactics and decisions at the Circa fire. Sapp asserted, “Fire Department Director and Executive Staff made a concentrated and concerted effort to place their professional careers over the current and future safety of the firefighters. This was done by suppressing objections, changing information, and attempting to withhold information for review vital to improve training.”
According to the final report released by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. on 8/5/22, there is insufficient/no evidence to support the allegation that Chief Piland or Assistant Chief Kraemer hid or altered critical information of the Mayday Report by moving the factors to another section. The information remained in the report even if it was in a separate section. Some of the information removed from the report (e.g. weather) was included in the AAR and other information removed (e.g. flow path) was subject to actual factual disputes and analysis that suggest subject matter experts could legitimately disagree about it as a factor.
March 30, 2022:Email from Matt Sapp, President of FFFA to Assistant City Manager, Henry Hill regarding their upcoming scheduled meeting for the following week. He detailed some concerns he had about how he was being treated and feeling threatened after filing the grievance back on 2/9/22.
According to the final report released by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. on 8/5/22, there is insufficient/no evidence to support a finding that Sapp or BC Hutt have been retaliated against because of the complaints filed related to the Mayday Report.
April 4, 2022: Henry Hill forwards Matt Sapp’s email directly to Lauren Safranek (HR Director) with no commentary. Why is this important? There was a secret plan in place to build a case to get rid of Fire Chief, Mark Piland by Lauren Safranek and her HR department who were on borrowed time before the “changing of the documents and falsifying records would come to light.”
April 4, 2022: Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources sends an email to Asst Chief Kraemer and cc/d Chief Piland and Asst City Manager, Henry Hill letting them know of the impending investigation by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. and that they would be under a “Confidentiality Warning.” They were to refrain from discussing the complaint and subsequent communications outside of the investigation process.
April 22, 2022: City of Frisco, Lauren Safranek, and City Attorney Richard Abernathy opened what is now being called the investigation into the Mayday Report. It would be conducted by an outside firm named Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. out of Grapevine, Texas and they reported to Lauren Safranek.
We looked at the law firm’s website and we were curious, what experience do they have that would have qualified them to lead the investigation? According to the site, they list multiple areas of practice, but nothing related to firefighting. In fact, under municipal experience, it says they help with contracts, procurement, construction law, and ordinance drafting but nothing related to a fire department. So why this firm? Did I mention they do Real Estate Law.
May 23, 2022: City of Frisco announced the new City Manager, Wes Pierson who topped a candidate pool that included 55 applicants from 17 states, before being narrowed down to four finalists. His first day on the job will be Aug. 2, 2022
May 23, 2022: Matt Sapp Interview with Adams, Lynch and Loftin, P.C. for Mayday Investigation where he reasserted his allegations stated in the complaint and letter sent to Henry Hill.
Sapp went on to say During his interview, Battalion Chief Ryan Hutt (“BC Hutt”), the author of the Mayday Report, stated that he felt he was being retaliated against for his involvement with the Mayday Report and for not making certain changes to the Mayday Report. Specifically, BC Hutt asserted that (1) he was removed from a health and wellness committee that was setting up a city clinic, (2) he was moved to a different shift, and (3) he was reprimanded for insubordination. BC Hutt and Chief Piland indicate that they met in March of 2022 about BC Hutt’s retaliation concerns.
According to the final report released on 8/5/22 by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, there is insufficient/no evidence to support a finding that Sapp or BC Hutt have been retaliated against because of the complaints filed related to the Mayday Report.
May 31, 2022: Fire Chief, Mark Piland was interviewed for the first time by Adams, Lynch, and Loftin. At the beginning of the interview, Piland was asked to sign an Administrative Warning Letter.
June 3, 2022: Chief Piland contacted Mayor Jeff Cheney and asked for a meeting, and they subsequently met the same day at a local Coffee Shop. The report says Piland raised concerns he had with the investigation. Piland stated there was a lack of trust between the FFD and the City Manager, George Purefoy, and Assistant City Manager, Henry Hill. Piland stated Safranek misrepresented the investigation and she had not been honest about the investigation’s intent throughout the process. Chief Piland informed the Mayor that both he and Assistant Chief Kraemer were considering filing a complaint against the City Manager for how he handled the complaints.
June 10, 2022: Fire Chief Piland was interviewed for the second time for the investigation. He was told the previous warning letter was still in effect.
The investigation revealed that Chief Piland was unaware of the true severity of the near-miss that caused the Mayday until he was interviewed in June 2022. At that interview, Chief Piland indicated that had he known how serious the Mayday event was he “probably” would have had the Mayday Report prepared by someone independent of Frisco FD.
June 26, 2022: APPLETON TRIP: Assistant Chief Lee Glover, Battalion Chief Jeff Morrison, Captain Alan Wyatt, and Driver/Operator Philip Bur traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin for an apparatus inspection. Glover gets drunk and starts to talk about how when Piland leaves he will be the new Fire Chief. HOW DID GLOVER KNOW PILAND WAS LEAVING OR WOULD BE LEAVING?
July 8, 2022: Mark Piland sent a memo to Assistant Chief Lee Glover with a copy of the letter of complaint regarding possible actions and possible statements that may have been made by Glover during an apparatus inspection trip to Appleton, Wisconsin during the week of June 26, 2022
July 10, 2022: Fire Chief Mark Piland sent an email to Henry Hill that he had received an informal complaint from one of the Deputy Chiefs on some statements Glover may have made in front of a couple of members while in Appleton, WI. He let Hill know he was currently treating it as an informal complaint and is conducting some fact-finding from those present during the statements. He will send Hill an update.
July 12, 2022: Lauren Safranek, HR Director sends an email to the City Attorney Richard Abernathy and Mari McGowan. She says attached is notice of complaint that Lee Glover received. This is related to the item HENRY AND I DISCUSSED WITH RICHARD LAST FRIDAY. We would like to discuss it further tomorrow (Tuesday) morning if possible if one of you are available. Let me know if there is a time that works for you.
Mari McGowan from the law firm responds how about 9 A.M. Lauren Safranek responds that works for her but she is not sure about Henry. She says let’s go ahead and schedule for 9 and we will call you. Henry Hill then responds he can do 9 A.M. Mari McGowan responds to call Richard’s office.
QUESTION: What do you think Lauren Safranek, Henry Hill and the City Attorney’s office talked about a week prior? First we thought maybe it was the Glover Complaint, but that had not come up yet. Plus, it made no sense they would meet to discuss an Informal Complaint that has not even gone through the FD process. They were obviously talking about Mark Piland, and we are guessing it is about his meeting with Mayor Jeff Cheney on June 3, 2022, to discuss the initial law firm’s investigation.
July 13, 2022: Henry Hill sent an email to Mark Piland and CC’d Lauren Safranek (HR) to let Mark know that Lee had reached out and asked to talk to him and Lauren about the documents left on his desk Monday morning regarding the complaint. He asks Mark if he will be addressing this when he is back in town and if there is anything else he should know.
Later that day Piland replies he has one more person to talk to and is still considering this informal but as a point of clarification these statements if said as stated in the complaint are serious. Making possible statements about replacing the Fire Chief and asking for members to pick sides is detrimental and distributing to the good of the order of the department. While “currently” considering the process as informal I don’t want to downplay the seriousness and cause of what is being looked at. Again, just fact-gathering at this point.
July 28, 2022:2nd REQUESTMemo from Deputy Chief Porter to Fire Chief, Mark Piland regarding Education Pay. Jeromy recently opened the position description again to review the Essential Job Functions and he noticed a modification where the word “Preferred” had now been removed. When he turned his second request, Mark Piland was alerted to change that was WITHOUT HIS APPROVAL. This is the first time Piland learns HR had modified, falsified or forged the job description.
The screen shot shows thatAugust 1, 2017: Job Description was modified by Shannon Allyn at 2:44 PM, and Fire Chief Mark Piland signed this version of the job description on 7/31/2017. Then on March 17, 2021, at 10:43 am and 11 am, the job description was modified again by Lori Rutland. Then on March 18, 2021, Lori Rutland modified the job description again at 11:22 am.
THE GIG IS UP! HR (Lauren Safranek and Lori Rutland) HAVE BEEN EXPOSED! WOULD HER JOB BE ON THE LINE? COULD SHE LOOSE HER $178,291 INCOME?
August 5, 2022: Confidential Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C released a 480-page “Confidential” Investigation Report. The first 33 pages detail the investigation and offers a few key points:
A Dallas Morning News Article said Mark Piland committed malfeasance because he changed the report. However, the actual report says: There is also some evidence that the changes to the Mayday Report were suggested by individuals who had either a perceived or an actual conflict of interest when they suggested edits to the Mayday Report. It also said, there is insufficient/no evidence to support the allegation that Chief Piland or Assistant Chief Kraemer hid or altered critical information of the Mayday Report by moving the factors to another section. The information remained in the report even if it was in a separate section.
When it came to the alleged violations of the Frisco FD SOP 101.01 Standard of Conduct the report said, there is insufficient/no evidence to support that there is an issue with them conducting their official duties in a manner that serves the public interest. It goes on to state there is insufficient/no evidence that they violated the city’s five core values or the Frisco FD core values. It says there is insufficient/no evidence that Mark Piland made a false statement in any official communications or conversation with another employee, volunteer, or citizen. It says there is insufficient/no evidence that Mark Piland or Kraemer violated Frisco’s Employee Code of Conduct, or that he was dishonest. When it comes to Freedom of Reprisal there is insufficient/no evidence to support the merit of this complaint as the evidence reviewed and witnesses interviewed demonstrated that no reprisal has occurred against Sapp and any actions complained of by BC Hutt were appropriate actions not taken as reprisal for his drafting of the Mayday Report or any complaints about protected activity. There is insufficient/no evidence to support the merits of this complaint. The investigation found no actions by Chief Piland or Assistant Chief Kraemer that rose to the level of a criminal offense.
Lastly, it notes that BC Hutt shares some of the fault for why this process failed. BC Hutt viewed the Mayday Report editorial process through lenses of conflict and distrust. According to multiple witnesses, BC Hutt’s viewpoint as it relates to his interactions with command staff is not unique to the Mayday Report. Longstanding personality conflicts and lack of trust between BC Hutt and DC Carpenter, and particularly between BC Hutt and Assistant Chief Kraemer played a role in defining BC Hutt’s perception of how the review of the Mayday Report was conducted and the level of editorial input BC Hutt expected to his drafts. The trust issues between BC Hutt and members of the Executive Staff and Command Staff undermined any chance of a truly collaborative effort in connection with the Mayday Report. Even though the investigation revealed that there was no interference in the investigation by the FFFA or the PIA Requests of the FFFA and that there was no retaliation or reprisal against Sapp or BC Hutt, the lack of trust within the Frisco FD explains why Sapp and Hutt viewed certain acts as either designed to interfere with an investigation or as acts of retaliation and reprisal.
August 6, 2022: Fire Chief Piland sends an email to Lauren Safranek with Jeromy Porter’s 2nd Request for Educational Pay. Piland notes in the email he was unaware of the change in 2021. Lauren Safranek has to act fast save her ass!
August 9, 2022: Lori Rutland (HR Compensation Analyst) sends an email to Lauren Safranek asking if she received clarification from Henry regarding the Fire Departments Job Descriptions for Deputy Fire Chief and Assistant Chief? Lori notes, last time they appear to be updated was in 2017. Then she says the JD’s on the website match the JD’s we have saved.
Why is this email a red flag? Lori’s knows they accessed the system in 2021 and changed the JD’s and now she is acting like that never happened. She even notes the 2017 SIGNATURE even though she is fully away they never obtained updated signatures in 2021 when she changed it. She is trying to pass off the JD as the original when she knows they were changed which is further proof of the HR team cover up.
August 9, 2022: Memo from Fire Chief Mark Piland to Assistant Chief Lee Glover regarding the informal complaint (Appleton, WI) was not sustained and is now closed.
August 30, 2022: Mayor Cheney was interviewed by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., for a subsequent investigation into his meeting with Mark Piland that occurred June 3, 2022
September 1, 2022: Adams, Lynch and Loftin released a 2ndadditional investigation report into the “Break of confidentiality concerning the underlying investigation.”
The summary notes the law firm was asked to investigate Fire Chief, Mark Piland. The report claimed Piland violated his confidentiality agreement however Piland has insisted that he did not. Piland knew he was still under a “Confidentiality Warning” from 4/4/22 and 5/31/22 that he could not speak about the investigation to anyone. In the report from Adams, Lynch & Loftin P.C., it states Piland then raised concerns he had with investigation because there was a severe lack of trust between FFD and the City Manager, George Purefoy, Assistant City Manager, Henry Hill and Lauren Safranek. He also said he believes Safranek misrepresented the investigation and that she was not being honest about the process or purpose. He also told the Mayor he and Assistant Chief Kraemer were thinking about filing a complaint against the City Manager for how they handled the complaints. Mayor Cheney said in his interview Piland asked him to keep their conversation confidential. In the findings of the report it states, Chief Piland raised issues with the motivation for the Investigation, the subject of the investigation and whether the investigation should be occurring.
While the result of the investigation is that Piland supposedly violated his confidentiality agreement we see it a little differently. Mark Piland figured out that Safranek was using this investigation to COVER HER OWN ASS FOR FORGING DOCUMENTS BACK IN 2021. We are pretty sure he figured out she was using the investigation to cover her own MALFEASANCE.
If you are an employee with a company and subject to an investigation, what do you do or where do you go, if you have concerns about the HR Director leading the investigation being compromised? What do you do or where do you go, if you believe the HR Director is lying about the reason for the investigation and she has intentions to use it for malicious purposes? In most cases, you would go to your boss. What do you do or where do you go if you believe your boss (Assistant City Manager – Henry Hill) and his boss (City Manager – Wes Pierson) are also compromised and are aware of the intentions of the investigation being used to railroad people? That is what happened here, and the city had no guidelines on where an employee should go if the employee believed his higher-ups were involved in something nefarious. Piland decided to express his concerns regarding the motivation of the investigation with the person at the top of the organizational chart. That is the Mayor! Little did he realize that it would be used against him.
September 14, 2022: Mark Piland is told that due to the investigation he has two choices, he can be fired, or he can retire. Piland chooses to turn in his Retirement Letter
September 14, 2022: Wes Pierson replies to the Mark Piland Retirement Letter
Total Cost of Investigation (that we know of) $83,196.79. Lauren spent a lot of TAX PAYER DOLLARS to cover her MALFEASANCE!
December 9, 2022: Email from Lauren Safranek HR to Fire Chief Lee Glover where she tells him she met with Porter on Sept 20, 2022, and explained the JD and changes. She stated he was okay with it, which according to our sources he was not and that shows in his exit interview notes which proves again Sassy Safranek is lying. She also said Piland wanted it change which we know is not true because in an email to Lauren he states he was not aware and did not sign off on any changes in 2021 when he forwards Jeromy’s second request. Our insider at the city said according to a calendar search Piland had a meeting within a week of Jeromy Porters second request with Henry Hill. That is where he alerted him that he never authorized, or agreed to change the JD’s and he never signed it.
February 17, 2023: Former Fire Chief, Mark Piland files to run for Mayor against incumbent Jeff Cheney.
March 8, 2023: Lauren Safranek, Director of HR sends an email to Wes Pierson, City Manager with a link to the Nepotism Policy. Remember Lee Glover on the trip announced he was going to be the New Fire Chief several months before Piland was forced to leave the city. Now Lauren has to have the policy changed to accommodate their plan that we believe Glover was a party too.
At 4:21 PM Wes Pierson replies to Lauren Safranek and asks for clarification. Lee would be ineligible to apply for the open Fire Chief position because his relative is now employed by the City. Am I correct?
At 9:21 PM Lauren Safranek writes back to Wes Pierson while Lee can apply for the Fire Chief position, the policy indicates he cannot be promoted because it would create a violation of the policy since the policy states that No Identified Employees of a Department Director may be employed by the City of Frisco. She suggested they change the policy which they did at the April 4, 2023, council meeting. You can read all about it in Day 10: Dog & Pony Show
April 4, 2023 (the same night): Frisco City Council after coming out of an executive session, the council voted on one item from its executive agenda. “In connection with item No. 2A, ii on tonight’s agenda, I move to authorize the city manager to release the second investigative report, dated Sept. 1, 2022, concerning Mark Piland,” Councilmember Bill Woodard said. In a 5-0 vote to pass the motion, Mayor Cheney conveniently recused himself. It is important to note that Bill Woodard, Angelia Pelham, John Keating, and Tammy Meinershagen had already endorsed and been helping with Mayor Cheney’s re-election campaign. It was clear the release of this document was designed to be a political hit job.
May 1, 2023: Assistant Fire Chief, Cameron Kraemer was wrongfully terminated ending a 27-year career over his diagnosis of PTSD. However, we believe Kraemer was a target of Lauren Safranek because he was Piland #2 and he knew of all of her MALFEASANE and what she done to Piland. For her he was loose end that needed to be taken care of.
May 29, 2023: HR HOTLINE gets complaint against HR Director, Lauren Safranek, HR Lori Rutland, Assistant City Manager Henry Hill about forging documents, falsifying records. It was CASE 64
May 30 , 2023:Email from Lauren Safranek to Henry Hill regarding Ethics Case 64
End Result? Nothing of course
June 1, 2023: Frisco Fire Chief Meet The Candidates was held at the library. Candidates Rob Bergersen, Richard Davis, Lee Glover, Kenneth Johnson, and Marc Pate
June 19, 2023: The City of Frisco is naming the interim Chief, Lee Glover to the position permanently. Again, why did the city waste TAX PAYER DOLLARS on a search when they knew they were giving the job Glover.
September 21, 2023: Assistant Fire Chief Cameron Kraemer wins his workers compensation case
September 27, 2023: Jeromy Porter’s Exit Interview with Wes Pierson where he states job description changes and Glover’s abusive and drunk behaviors.
October 9, 2023: Wes Pierson sends an email to Lauren Safranek after his exit interview with Jeromy Porter. He asks her to write up a memo that outlines her understanding of facts and context related to the matter of the job descriptions. He would like that back by 10/31 for the file. Lauren Safranek writes back with her side of the story which is all lies to cover herself.
Lauren Safranek has worked in the city for 22+ years and she $178,291 reasons to protect herself. Had she lost her job, do you think someone else would have hired her if they found she committed MALFEASANCE? Households are struggling today and that is a big income to lose so you can imagine how far one would go to protect it. Instead, she continues to get other people fired to cover up what is happening in Human Resources.
The sad part is, she is not the only one, we believe George Purefoy, Henry Hill and others are fully aware of what is going on. Remember they all came up under Purefoy who believes LOYALTY IS NUMBER ONE, IT’S THE FRISCO WAY! That is why Mack Borchardt still has a golden parachute job at city hall for six figures. It is why Lee Glover is now in the position of Fire Chief (the boys are back in town)!
This corruption has destroyed peoples reputations and two highly respected Fire Fighters are out of a job and we are sure there is more. If you ask the FWB group what should happen next, well we would say Fire Safranek, Hill, Glover and anyone else associated with this corruption. Oh wait, ASK THEM TO RETIRE. I think the city could be facing many lawsuits in the future and they will pay for their defense with our TAX DOLLARS. Everything is documented by emails and evidence so what do you have to say now? Humble Pie Anyone?
Every Wednesday, my wife and I sit down to eat dinner in front of the TV so she can see her Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. In one episode they have the Battle of the Badges Boxing Match, and my wife went crazy for the young studs with no shirts on. The Battle of the Badges is a tradition across the country and is considered a friendly rivalry between these two public safety departments. Frisco PD & Fire held one back on July 21& 22 of this year The two departments duked it out to raise blood donations for Carter Blood Care and the trophy was awarded to the Fire Department at an August 2023 city council meeting.
Just like the Battle of the Badges these two public safety departments also duke it out for the Battle of the Benjamins (aka money) every year during the annual city budget meetings. Just recently at the October 17, 2023 council meeting under the Regular Agenda, item #35 to put Civil Service Law and item #36 to adopt the Fire & Police Employee Relations Act on the May 2024 election ballot. What we found interesting was Mayor Cheney’s response which can be seen in the council meeting recording at the 37:59 mark where we feel he berates the Frisco Fire Association for having the audacity to seek Civil Service and Collective Bargaining.
Cheney said, “Since 2004, the City of Frisco has had Public Health and Safety listed as a strategic focus area and we invest in this focused area heavily. For example, in Frisco’s FY2023 a total of $108,000,000 of the total $229,000,000 general fund budget was committed to public safety for personnel and equipment, surpassing spending on other essential services combined. Additionally, the city has previously approved substantial funding for public safety facilities and equipment through bond programs. As your elected officials, we take great pride in making public safety our number one priority, and we stand committed to educating the public over the coming months, regarding this ballot measure.”
For once we agree with the city on one key thing which is Public Safety should be any city’s number one priority. Mayor Cheney’s reference to the budget made us curious, what is the budget for public safety? What is the breakdown of the $$Benjamin’s$$ (aka money) between PD and FD. Anyone following Frisco Chronicles knows we don’t approve of how the city is managing the two “number one priority” departments so now we wanted to look at the budgets to see if Mayor Cheney and the city really are committed. What we found is the breakdown is far from equal.
For FY23 the Police Dept. is $56.3 million compared to the Fire Department Budget at $52.4 million. Besides equipment the PD budget includes a Grants Administrator, Police Quartermaster, Training Officer, 10 Patrol Officers, 4 School Resource Officers, 1 School Resource Sergeant, and a Detective for a total of 19 new hires, 16 of which appear to be operations and 3 in the office. However, the total number of new hires for the Fire Department is just 4! That’s right 19 for PD and only 4 for FD and none of the staff positions are for actual firefighters. Instead, the FD budget includes an Open Records Coordinator, a Public Safety Equipment Tech, an Emergency Management Analyst, and an Explorer Trainee. Surely we are MISSING SOMETHING HERE, only 4? No field positions, no actual firefighters?
We decided to look ahead to the FY2024 approved budget. The Police Department has a budget of 69.4 million, an increase of 14% and it includes 32 NEW PD POSITIONS. Compare that to the Fire Department with a budget of 55.7 million, an increase of 4%, and includes 3 NEW FIRE POSITIONS which are for a K-9 Handler/Investigator and 2 Fire Inspectors. The city budget even notes under Fire, “when compared to the FY23 revised budget, remains relatively flat.”That means our new Fire Chief, Lee Glover has asked for no increase in firefighters in a city with a growing monthly population due to the urban density our council likes to approve. I am not a genius but even I know growth equals a need for more public safety services in both departments and clearly the city is NOT SUPPORTING STAFFING IMPROVEMENTS in the Fire Department.
Completely perplexed, we decided to go back to the FY2022 budget and take a look at it for shits & giggles. The police budget in 2022 was 51.3 million compared to the fire department at 44.9 million. The PD was requesting 17 NEW personnel while then Fire Chief Mark Piland asked for 10 NEW Personnel and 9 of those positions were for FIREFIGHTERS.
In the City of Frisco’s FY22 Proposed Budget video at the 2:50 mark, King George Purefoy said “We estimate that in about two to three years that Fire Station 10 will be built and go into operation. There are usually somewhere between 24 to new firefighters that are needed for a new station. As you can imagine that takes a tremendous amount of funds to do that all at once, so one thought was to start hiring some of these firefighters now, they’re needed to help the current operations, and try to do that the next two budget years to hopefully provide the staff we need to, for the new fire station ten.”
That may have been what King George thought, but it was not the original thought or request by Chief Mark Piland. Records show he had originally asked for each of the 3 truck companies that responded to high-rise and high-risk structure fires adding to the number of firefighters that would be available for these types of incidents. That request didn’t happen either!
At a city council meeting on January 17, 2023, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Angelia Pelham asked Anita Cothran, Chief Financial Officer for the city (at the 17:43 mark), about Fire Department staffing which seemed out of the ordinary and a little random. Pelham mentioned at a previous city council meeting they talked about FD staffing and how she is aware the city was not approved for a specific grant that would have enable them to hire more staff, she was curious if something was planned in future discussions. Cothran replied yes that is something they would discuss with the city manager’s office and then with budget and audit committee. Pelham then asked if there was a specific time for that to happen and that is when City Manager, Wes Pierson spoke up.
Pierson said “The answer is yes, but there’s no specific time, that conversation can be ongoing. But currently, the budget, as approved, has enough staffing for the level of service that we’re providing currently. He then noted he believed the conversations of new staffing were in relation to opening a new fire station and were not there yet as Fire Station 10 was delayed a bit, but we’re preparing for that.” Delayed? A little bit? The city asked for Fire Station 10 in the 2015 Bond and Station 11 in the 2019 Bond, yet we don’t have either of them. Seems a little longer than “a little bit” Mr. Pierson.
The question we have, was Pelham’s question random? The answer is no! How do we know this? Well, at every council meeting if you are a citizen and want to speak you can do at citizen’s input. You must fill out a blue card stating why you want to speak and hand it to the City Secretary, Kristy Morrow. She then hands those cards to Angelia Pelham who is responsible for calling the citizens one by one down to the podium during citizens’ input. At the January 17th meeting, Angelia Pelham saw a card from Matthew Sapp, President of the Frisco Firefighters Association that stated he was there to talk about “STAFFING!” Her goal was to preempt Sapps statements and after hearing his statement below you will see her question was very target based on what Sapp was going to speak about. Talk about sneaky and underhanded!
It makes sense why FFA President Matthew Sapp took to the podium during citizen’s input at the January meeting. Sapp read a statement, “This is the third time I have asked this question since the public hearing for the FY23 budget in August 2022…I’ve asked this question to you, the City Manager, and the Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover. We’ve yet to get a clear answer from anyone. I know the Interim Fire Chief has stated he has no plans on asking for staffing. They feel we’re appropriately staffed…we applied for a safer grant for 15 firefighters this year, which we failed to get. No one can honestly say we don’t need more firefighters… The FY22 budget states we would be hiring 9 firefighters a year for the next three years…this was said to be in preparation for the future Station 10. The majority of this council approved of that budget. This has now been pushed back due to infrastructure reasons, and therefore, the staffing plan is on hold. This year’s budget for FY23, which was unanimously approved, contains 19 police officer positions and added zero firefighters… Now, there’s no plan for this fiscal year.”
After digging into the budgets and seeing the glaring lack of personnel additions to the fire department in several years you have a lightbulb moment. Now one can understand why the Fire Firefighters Association is upset and has petitioned for Civil Service and Collective Bargaining. They truly believe they “need a seat at the table” to fight for their safety and the citizen’s safety. It is clear in 2022 Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover didn’t believe we needed additional staff and therefore did not ask for it in the FY2023 budget talks. In 2023 as the New Fire Chief, Glover also didn’t ask for more staff in the FY2024 budget talks.
Fast forward to August 7, 2023, in a video posted on the City of Frisco’s Facebook page, Fire Chief Lee Glover states, “We have a five-year staffing plan and a five-year plan ahead of us. We’re looking at building Station 10 starting in the fall of this year. We have been given permission by the council to start the drawings with an architect for Station 11.” Based on what Sapp said at citizen’s input about it taking 18 months to train a firefighter, you should have started hiring a few years ago if you had a five-year plan. Why has the city not published this five-year plan since they know the issue of the FD personnel is a hot-button issue? I am not sure if anyone else has noticed besides me – FRISCO HAS BEEN AND IS CURRENTLY GROWING NOW! We need to plan for NOW! You have The Preserve @ Fields where homes will range up to 15 million by the PGA are we disclosing to all those home buyers they have no Frisco Fire Station to support their community and may not for another 5 years?
Final Thoughts, well I know some of the city champions will say then Fire Chief Mark Piland didn’t do anything for hiring, but he did. In private meetings with then and now city managers he spoke up for his department repeatedly. He also went as far as to apply for the city manager’s position and then ran for mayor and we believe Piland saw how the city was operating and recognized things had to change for the safety of the city employees and citizens. It appears to us that all this “progress in motion” was in place long before Glover engineered his way into the Fire Chief position. Station 10 & 11 were both approved in previous bonds as we stated earlier and then Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Chief Glover wants to take credit for a successful department while he deconstructs life-saving programs implemented Piland and his Leadership staff. The most important thing to ask yourself is how many more firefighters will get hurt under Lee Glover’s leadership before people take notice we are heading in the wrong direction. Lastly, ask how many have already been hurt under Glover’s leadership?
Now we are left curious about the bond programs and what we citizens have been asked to vote for. Stay tuned!
If you are a fan of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Clark Griswold then you know the scene where Clark is holding the envelope sent by his company that he thinks is holding his “Big Bonus” check. He starts to talk about how he is going to use the check to put in an inground pool as soon as the earth thaws out. After a few more words he opens the envelope to find a big shock. It’s not money, it’s an annual membership to the Jelly Club. Clark is shocked and dismayed and in the silence Cousin Eddie bursts out “Clark, it’s the gift that keeps on giving all year.” That is how we feel about the consent agenda in the Tuesday City Council meetings. In our last blog All In The Family, we said if you want to know what is happening in the city just look at the consent agenda. For us, it is the gift that keeps on giving for those who are curious.
Watching last night’s city council meeting we noticed Keating called to remove items 25 and 32 and that was seconded by Brian Livingston. We noticed item 25 which was a Human Resources item several days ago when the agenda was posted. It reads consider and act upon adoption of an Ordinance to approve the new Public Safety Workers Compensation policy and updated Information Security Policy. Many are probably wondering what is so important about it, well we are going to tell you! If you keep up with what is going on in the city the Fire Fighters have been advocating for a better WC policy for several years. They took their fight to the state this year in Austin and with the help of local State Rep Jared Patterson they brought a bill that would give public safety workers true workers compensation coverage. This bill passed both the house and senate with overwhelming support.
We were a little shocked by the cattiness and mean spirit of the memo submitted by Ms. Sassy Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources to the city council. She talks about the new public safety workers compensation policy that had to be changed to align with Chapter 177A of the Texas Local Government Code that was recently amended by HB 471. Remember our council likes to tote they support our public safety workers, yet they fought and opposed HB 471 the entire time. In this memo Sassy Safranek states the city will be FORCED to develop a different WC policy – one policy for public safety personnel and the other (the current policy) for all other employees.
Sassy Safranek goes on to call out The Fire Association President, Matt Sapp and his public comments before the city council supporting the city’s policy back in April of 2021. She notes he supported the changes to the policy at the time and that he was active in the process to develop the policy. She said the goal was to develop one policy for all employees. Well, we went back and while he did support the changes he also stated several times in the last two years that it was a step in the right direction but not the total solution. A step in the right direction does not mean he agrees and is content with the 2021 policy, it simply means it is better than what they had before. The city was not happy about the FAA lobbying in Austin for a more comprehensive plan and they have made that clear many times. Does Lauren Safranek honestly think that one policy can cover all employees? Does she honestly believe the WC policy should cover the park guys who have a much less dangerous job mowing parks, and the same policy should cover a police office or fire fighter whose job inherently has more risk and danger?
Sassy Safranek is upset with the new policy. She writes in addition to at least one (1) year of paid leave for an on-the-job injury, HB 471 requires at least one (1) year of light duty while recovering from a temporary disability. One (1) year of paid leave (paid by the City 100%) and one (1) year of light duty, during which the employee will receive their regular wages, provides little incentive for the employee to return to full duty promptly. She notes the 2 significant differences between the new policy and the city’s current policy are 1) one year of paid leave and 2) one year of light duty. She notes that up to another year of paid light duty provides little incentive for the employee to get better and return to full duty promptly.
Ms. Safranek your note about “LITTLE INCENTIVE” is offensive and ridiculous and it is obvious you have no clue what kind of attributes a person has if they choose to go into the profession of being a police officer or a fire fighter. Most of these men and woman have a keen sense of duty and service. Other traits include courage, physical fitness, they like structure and routine, they work well under pressure, they are adaptable to unpredictable environments, they have a compassionate nature, and they thrive off teamwork and collaboration. Those are just a few of the natural instincts these men and woman have. Your comment implies they have no incentive to go back to work, and they are going to milk the system. These are not people who want to sit at home and eat bon bons like you, they don’t achieve a thrill by laying on the couch and binging all the seasons of Suits on Netflix.
Safranek mentions the city has benefited from modified duty work by injured police officers valued at over $300,000 and injured firefighters at over $1.3 million. She says if the city assumes that 10% of the time police officers will decline modified duty and if they assume 25% of the time firefighters will decline modified duty it would cost the city over a $120,000 a year in salary paid while someone is off work. Again, the statement is offensive and ridiculous at its core. It’s not like the City of Frisco doesn’t have the money. We sent numerous people within the city over the last 2 years to Cary, North Carolina, PGA golf events in Tulsa and just last week they galivanted off to Fort Collins, Colorado. Thousands of dollars of taxpayer money used for some to travel all over but we can’t find enough to pay officers or fire fighters hurt on the job. Really? As a taxpayer, I will happily pay for someone’s salary who is injured on the job. If you ask me, based on a conversation Keating had last night at the council meeting I think we can cut back on the unnecessary trips where a planning and zoning board member gets drunk and belligerent and Council Woman Tammy Meinershagen doesn’t need to fly to different cities to play piano and see art, then and post it on her Instagram like she is having a great vacation on the city’s dime.
Ms. Safranek, your bias is showing and how you feel about city employees is starting to show simply by how you wrote this memo. Screw the peasants who risk theirs! Your venom and disdain for public safety workers are more than clear in this memo. So are the cities. As we said at the top of the blog the item was pulled from consent and Councilman Livingston asked for it to be held for further discussion. Maybe in that time, you might want to reconsider the “oh bless your heart” southern slam slightly written into the memo.
Growing up if we saw a fire engine go by my dad would say there goes the fire brigade to save another soul. I remember watching a movie and they said to the new recruits “train as if your life depends on it, because it does.” I thought to myself could I be selfless, courageous, and risk everything? When the bell rings, could I walk through the valley of the shadow of death as Psalms 23:4 says without thinking twice? Truthfully, no I would be one of those to run away as they pass by me to run into what could be the last call of their life.
We ended our last blog with Cheney’s statement, “we have what we need.” If we have what we need then can the Mayor explain why Mr. Sapp who is the President of the Frisco Fighters Association had to speak at citizens input during a council meeting in January 2023 to bring attention of the staffing issue in the fire department.
Sapp’s statement in full from the council meeting is as follows “Mayor and Council, I’m just going to read a statement on behalf of our members. I stand here before you tonight to ask one simple question, this is the third time I’ve asked this question since the public hearing for the FY23 budget in August. Will we as a city add firefighters to this budget year? I’ve asked this question to you, the city manager, and the interim Fire Chief and we have yet to get a clear answer from anyone. I know that the interim Fire Chief has stated he has no plans on asking for staffing they feel we are appropriately staffed. The city manager follows the recommendations of the Fire Chief and we understand that you as a council can’t approve positions that were never asked for. This is not a question of whether we need additional firefighters, simply look around as our skyline is ever changing. There are billions of dollars in property we are tasked to protect. Couple that with the fact that we applied for a safer grant for 15 firefighters this year, which we failed to get. No one can honestly say we don’t need more firefighters. For years now we have raised concerns for what is considered safe staffing standards by the NFPA 1710. I have a recent independent report stating as much. Some will try to devalue the standards set by the NFPA by claiming others around us do not meet that code or because of it being a nonprofit it doesn’t hold weight. Make no mistake this city follows countless NFPA’s for the fire service because they are the national standard by which the United States fire administration sets the bar. Not to mention, we are Frisco, and we provide the best in everything we do. As our City Council, you have created a unique and exceptional environment, we should not only meet the standards but exceed them. Therefore, it’s unfair to compare ourselves to the staffing models of surrounding cities. The FY22 budget states that we would be hiring 9 firefighters a year for the next three years. Although we have a need for increased staffing levels for the current station count, this was said to be in preparation for the future station 10. The majority of this council approved that budget, and this has now been pushed back to the infrastructure regions and therefore, the staffing plan is on hold. This year’s budget for FY23 which was unanimously approved contained 19 police officer positions and added zero firefighters. We understand this was done in anticipation of the safer grant that was applied for, but again, that was denied. Now there’s no plan for this fiscal year. We need action now because it takes over a year to hire firefighters longer for them to get in seats if they had to go to paramedic school. With the progressive growth of this growth of this city this is a huge safety concern. So, I ask again: are we going to add staffing for firefighters this year or are we going to forgo staffing which will negatively impact on our growth as a department and safety of our city for the next half decade. Thank you for your time and your consideration. (Mr. Sapp left the podium)
After the Star Patriot debate the Frisco Fire Fighters Association released a video responding to comments made at the debate by the candidates. The video starts with a message that states they encourage the release of the full Circa Fire report and noted the city has chosen to release selective information regarding the CIRCA Fire and Mayday event, as well as information on former fire chief Mark Piland. Sapp pointed out that it is their job to protect their membership (being the fire fighters) and the residents of Frisco. Sapp then went on to correct several statements made by the mayor:
Mayor Jeff Cheney said we operate with 75 on every shift. Sapp, President of FFA: While at times they may see 75 people employed on an individual shift rarely are they over the minimum staffing number of 62. Regarding staffing, Sapp said the National Fire Protection Association 1710 on staffing is and has been an issue that the FFA raised many times to city management and to the council directly.
Mayor Jeff Cheney said the National Fire Protection Associations Standards (1710) were union supported standards. Sapp said the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) along with the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) did a study on staffing for firefighting almost 12 years ago and the NFPA is a national benchmark for all things fire related. The City of Frisco follows many NFPA standards for things like the self-contained breathing apparatus or for the sprinklers that are inside the building.
Mayor Jeff Cheney alluded to the idea that sprinklers inside a building can take the place of personnel. Sapp said that is simply not true. Sprinklers are designed to allow people time to escape, not to put a fire out.
About workers compensation, Sapp said the city gave employees a worker’s comp plan several years ago and the FFA raised issue with it not being in writing. Together staff, city management and then Fire Chief and Police Chief put it together and made an ordinance. Sapp was very firm when he said, “make no mistake the mayor should not be sitting her touting that the Frisco’s effort to make sure WC protection is a valuable asset for all employees.” He also pointed out the mayor opposed House Bill 2242 in the 87 th legislative session they are also currently opposing House Bill 471 in this session.
Sapp then addressed the April 4, 2023, Council Meeting and the decision to release documents related to a complaint from the CIRCA fire. He noted this is the first time that they know of where the council voted on a PIR request. Sapp said he has asked for countless documents in the past which are either released to him or they go to the attorney general for a ruling. While he applauded their release of the documents, but he noted this was clearly done as a political tactic against Mark Piland. The reason he says this and believes this is because they did not release all the documents and he pointed out the report consists of over 500 pages. One of the issues in the report given by the Consultants is the staffing level. It states our staffing does not meet the national standard and we fall below cities of our same like and density.
The video ended with Sapp saying they will make sure that the misinformation and disinformation does not continue to lead to more normalization of deviance.
The phrase, “where there is smoke, there is fire,” refers to if people are saying or there are signs that something maybe wrong then there is usually a good reason for what they are saying. Many concerns have been raised about our current council and how things within the city are operating and there is probably a reason to be concerned. The city manager, city council and mayor should ask themselves these questions when they go to bed at night. Are we letting down those who serve us every day by not staffing according to the national standards? Are we letting down those who are willing to die for us every day by not supporting a worker’s compensation bill?
As residents, should we be embarrassed that our firefighters must ask for staff support at a city council meeting? Should we be mortified that our mayor at the same meeting responding to any citizen who questioned Universal but after Mr. Sapp spoke “crickets.” Not one member of our council said a word. The answer is YES to both! We are about to build a large hotel near the PGA, open a theme park, add another few thousand houses at the Fields development so should we be concerned that we don’t meet the national standards of NFPA 1710? According to the current council we should not be concerned. I interpret that as until someone dies we will just look the other way. How does the #1 city in America accidentally send a letter to the legislature? Someone should have been fired for that and we should release the report of why and how that happened. Wait, there probably was not an investigation done and that means there is no report. Cheney said word for word at the debate “we have 75 on for every shift.” As Maury would say, the lie detector’s test determined that was a lie! According to what the FFA published that is clearly false. Cheney said it is the city manager’s job to hire and make sure we are meeting expectations in our departments so who should we hold responsible, George Purefoy or Wes Peirson? Lastly, based on the FFA response why did the city not release the entire report and investigation? Why did 4 council members who openly endorsed the mayor for re-election vote on this item? That is clearly a conflict of interest due to the endorsement and relationship between some of these council members. Residents deserve answers to these questions, and they have the right to question those who choose to serve them.
“Let no man’s ghost return to say his training let him down.” – A Firefighter
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