Here it is the end of 2023. There are lots of traditions that happen leading up to the New Year. Where I am from, it is tradition to eat 12 grapes underneath a table, one with each chime of the clock. It is supposed to bring good luck, but these days, I’m lucky to get out of the recliner. Instead, I sip on a glass of wine. Close enough.
Another ritual I tend to practice is reviewing the past year, taking a look at what has been accomplished, and imagining what could be achieved in the future.
When I started this blog back on February 1, 2023, I figured it would be good therapy. A place where I could vent and discuss my concerns. Me and the old lady were getting quite frustrated with what we saw Frisco was becoming. A lot of people thought we would disappear as soon as the election was over but nope. There was and still so much more tea to spill.
Let’s do a little review before the big reveal tomorrow. We were very busy in February as we introduced you to our once sleepy little town. You read about Mayor Jeff Cheney and long time City Manager George Purefoy. There is one thing to know about Mr. Purefoy, well, actually two. First, he made Frisco what it is today and second, it is best not to speak your mind with George. If you were were smart you pretty much did what you were told. Mayor Cheney on the other hand, that’s a different story. He was and still is busy looking out for himself and how he could build his personal dynasty. If anyone doubts this, give Fields West Dynasty, Field of Dreams. and Anatomy of a Friendship a read.
One of our favorite reveals was with the two posts The Preserve Lots — VIP Program and Land Lies! This is when, we learned that Mayor Cheney and his good buddy and Councilman Keating had a hold on two lots on the 8th hole of The Preserve. What makes this really rich is, Cheney, throughout his campaign, said time and time again that he doesn’t receive any special privileges as the Mayor of Frisco.
Speaking of his campaign, this is his third term and usually an incumbent is predicted to run away with the race. As usual, Cheney had a fancy campaign video. That was not the case against Retired Fire Chief Mark Piland. Even with the hit piece by the Cheney camp, Cheney had to work for this final term. Why was it so important he win, well he likes his Mayoral Privilege of course.
Over the last 12 days, we have been counting down to Day 1. We felt it was important for you to have all the background information and documentation so that you could easily follow along with with our timeline that we will unveil. Grab a snack or some popcorn for tomorrow, because it will be a hefty one.
Sit tight, and enjoy the rest of 2023, and get ready for some fireworks for 2024.
Back in September we wrote our blog All in The Family which was about Nepotism which is the practice among those with power or influence to favor, show bias, or give preferential treatment to relatives, friends, and close associates. Most companies have rules or policies about Nepotism in the workplace, including the City of Frisco.
The Employee Code of Conduct policy regarding Nepotism in the city has been the same since 2006. That is why we were intrigued in 2023 when we noticed the city made changes to the policy two times in a matter of months. Why did they change it? The reason for the change can be found in a memo from Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources. After reading the reason for the change it led us start investigating recent new hires and the possible relationships they had to someone in the city which you can read about in our September blog.
Several commented that we were making something out of nothing when in fact it was exactly what we suspected. The city was changing the Nepotism Policy in order to hire Interim Fire Chief, Lee Glover. On September 14, 2023, we filed PIR that stated we wanted all communications via email between city officials (for example HR, city manager’s office, and city council) regarding the change to the Nepotism Policy from 1/1/2022 to Present. Also, any emails regarding Lee Glover and Nepotism. We received a note back from the city saying they have released a few documents but that some of them were confidential and therefore they sent it to the Attorney General for an opinion.
What could be that confidential about a Nepotism Policy that a city would need to send to the AG? If you are willing to go on record and change the policy then why not be open and share why you want to change the policy? According to the letter the city sent to the AG they claimed a portion of the info contains confidential attorney-client information which was not intended to be disclosed to 3rd parties. Furthermore, a portion of the info involves interagency or intraagency communications which were intended to remain confidential.
This is where we have a huge problem with the city’s explanation and AG request. How can the city get a request or for an item, then go to a council meeting, have a discussion in executive session, come out and vote to release confidential HR documents on a retired employee who is under a gag order and is actively running as a political opponent against Mayor Cheney? Please note while Cheney recused himself from the vote 4 of the city council members who participated in the vote had already publicly endorsed Mayor Jeff Cheney. How is this is okay, but we can’t release documents about a Nepotism Policy? Why can’t the council vote to release the documents we requested? Are you telling me there is something SO CONFIDENTIAL in a discussion about policy change that it must be hidden from the public?
We went through the items the city “released” to us and the most exciting thing we found was the alert Dana Baird, Director of Communications received from our Twitter Post on September 13, 2023. However, the rest of it is just copies of the memos and policy changes. All we could do at that point was wait patiently for the AG to give their opinion to see if they would release the rest of the documents. We learned on 12/29/23 via an email from the city that the AG had ruled that the city may withhold the information they claimed to be confidential.
I am sure the city was very excited to learn they could withhold the rest of the Nepotism documents. That’s okay, because as you know we file many PIRs and early this year we filed one on Lee Glover which included an interesting email. We were sitting on a chain of emails waiting to see the AG’s response to the Nepotism PIR. The email subject line read “NEPOTISM” dated March 8,, 2023, that was from Lauren Safranek, HR Director sent to Wes Pierson, City Manager.
The initial email to Wes simply has a link to the Nepotism Policy. Wes Pierson replied to her a short time later asking her to clarify the following: 1) Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover has learned that he now has (as of when) a second cousin working in Frisco’s planning department. 2) Your understanding of our nepotism policy is that Lee would be ineligible to apply for the open Fire Chief position because of his relative who is now employed by the City (regardless of the fact that the relative works in another department and there is no reporting relationship). He ends with, am I correct?
Lauren replies that evening to Wes and said: Wes, As of October 2022, Lee Glover’s second cousin has worked for the City of Frisco as a Planner I in Development Services. Currently, as interim Chief, I would not consider this a violation of the nepotism policy. However, regarding your second question, the policy states: The hiring, transfer, and/or promotion, of Identified Employees shall not be allowed, even in different departments, if that action results in a violation of this Policy and/or creates a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest for the City as determined by the City Manager and/or his/her designee. When any relationship prohibited under this Policy and/or that constitutes a conflict of interest exists, the City reserves the right to take appropriate action to eliminate the violation, which may result in action being taken up to, and including termination.
Therefore, 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 after the effective date of this policy. We could enact Section V. Procedures which would allow 30 days for a resolution or the City terminates the employees with the least seniority. Identified employees are employees related within the prohibited level of consanguinity and/or affinity, a cohabitant or a roommate, as specified in the policy. I hope this answers your question. Please let me know if you have any questions.
After the communication on March 8, 2023, Lauren Safranek requested a change to the Nepotism Policy at the April 4, 2023 city council meeting which you can read about in this memo here. In a nutshell Lauren requested the Nepotism policy be revised to remove the Third Degree of consanguinity (blood). Her reason, “In today’s job market, by going as far as the Third Degree of consanguinity, we may lose the opportunity to consider some possible dedicated employees.” What she means is “if we don’t change it we cannot hire LEE GLOVER.” Obviously, this is probably what the city intended to hide from us went they sent it to the Attorney General!
It was clear in March and April 2023; the city had every intention to change the policy to hire Lee Glover! So, why did they spend money to hire an agency to do a search for a new fire chief? Also why did they do the dog and pony show of “MEET THE CANDIDATES” for the Frisco Fire Chief position, on June 1st? Does the city really think it is fair to these candidates to let them believe they even had an opportunity. These dedicated first responders took time out of their schedule and away from their job to interview, travel, and meet the public. The reality they were never going to get the job, the decision had already been made.
For all of those saying we are grasping at straws we have proven again that the city is
1) Breaking The Law because they did not include this email in our original PIR which clearly asked for emails regarding Nepotism & Lee Glover.
2) We said the city changed the policy to hire Lee Glover and the response from many is “oh the city would never do that” … BUT THEY DID EXACTLY THAT AND THE EMAIL BETWEEN LAUREN AND WES PROVES IT!
3) The fact the request to change the Nepotism came just 2 ½ weeks after their email communication and basically solved their problem, it only doubles down the confirmation we were correct.
4) The city changed the policy to hire someone and they have used the same policy to disqualify others in the past. It is not fair to change the policy at whim or when it suits you. That is not why polices are in place.
In closing we find it very interesting what the city deems confidential and not confidential. They will vote to release confidential information on a political opponent but they won’t vote to release the documents regarding the decision to change the NEPOTSIM POLICY? This is our plea to Mayor Cheney and the council to vote to release the documents for all the PIRS we have. Stop hiding behind the AG because it is clear every time you have something to hide and that is why something smells like SHIT in Frisco!
To see the full documents of the snap shots included, click here!
Most people wonder what is the point or purpose of the Human Resource department and who are supposed to be advocating for? In simple terms, think of HR as an Agent, think of the City as the Principal, then remember the Agent acts on behalf of the Principal. That means HR is just like the City Attorney in some ways, first and foremost they exist to protect the city from exposure and liability in its management of its workforce.
Little did we know when we published our Day 3: Case 64 & HR Malfeasance that we would get several emails from readers. Some of the emails thanked us for exposing how the Human Resources Department in the City of Frisco operates. Others from new “whistleblowers” who told us about their experience with Human Resources and specifically Lauren Safranek. It left us with one question, is this a superficial issue or how deep does the dirt in HR go?
In Wes Piersons exit interview notes with Jeromy Porter it talks about “job description issues” between Preferred or Required. Wes writes that Porter tells him there was a change to the job description without approval. We have reached out to Jeromy Porter to ask further questions and we hope he responds. When you read the notes you wonder, could this be true? Then when you see the Case 64 Hotline Complaint with very similar complaints and accusations, it starts to validate what Porter said in his exit interview. One is random but two we start to smell something fishy.
We wanted to know, what is the big deal between the two words, Preferred and Required? With a little digging we learned that when working in a city you are extended certain benefits based on the job description. In Frisco, Fire Fighters and Police Officers have additional benefit pay for Certifications & 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. Education Pay for Associate, Bachelor, and Master’s Degrees at $50, $100, and $150 per month. However, if the job description says, “Required” then that means there is no additional benefit pay. That simple change of one word can basically affect one’s income from what we discovered. Now it makes sense why Porter and others might be upset, and we are currently looking further into this.
Then we received another email from a new whistleblower within 24 hours of publishing Case 64. It said, I cannot tell you who I am as I do not want to get fired but I suggest you pull the HR files for a few folks who recently let the department in the last few years. It gave us some names, so of course we filed our PIR requests and we are waiting for the city to process those. We are filled with anticipation of what we might find!
Then we got another email of similar complaints in another city department. The insider said reading Case 64 made them realize they are not alone. They said we should file a PIR for a copy of all the complaints called into the Ethics Hotline for the last 3 to 5 years and to be prepared as it may be a shocker! Well, of course we went right away to file a PIR for that, and we are waiting for the city to process it.
The email went on to say Human Resources is corrupt and they don’t follow through investigating the complaints received via the hotline. They are known to look away because of the personal relationships they have with the employees mentioned in the complaints. Also, they said the hotline is compromised because Lauren Safranek is crooked, and she is the one who gets all the complaints so you can easily make things go away and no one will know. Lastly, is stated that HR has falsified records and job descriptions in order to demote or fire employees. Wow, this is now the 3rd complaint of that happening and in different departments.
We also received an email about how the HR Department uses the Nepotism Policy to their advantage when they don’t want to hire someone and then they change it or ignore it for others who are “their friends.” We found this allegation interesting because we have a PIR into the city already about the reason they changed the Nepotism Policy two times already this year. Rumor has it was to hire Fire Chief Lee Glover and the new IT Director.
Then we received a tip through our website about multiple city employees having affairs with each other (and yes it named those involved). Apparently some of those having affairs with their bosses end up getting promotions. While that is a JUICY TIP, it is a bad place for the city to be down the road if a sexual harassment lawsuit were to come up. Well, before we out anyone we will do our work to confirm if these “affairs” are true.
Lastly we learned that many Directors in the city may be abusing their city credit cards with personal purchases. Well, to be honest we are not shocked by this one as you see it on the news every day. However, we will be filing PIRs for records for many of these department heads.
In closing, when you start to hear the same complaint from multiple people we have to believe that something smells like SHIT in Frisco. What we do know is that several of the emails were from current employees and they are tired of the city looking the other way. So, it makes you wonder, why won’t the news cover this? Why has our new City Manager not investigated this? How far does the bad and/or possibly illegal behavior go? How long has this been going on?
Russian Roulette is the practice of loading a bullet into one chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder, and then pulling the trigger while pointing the gun at one’s own head. It is basically a game of chance! When it comes to filing a PIR with the City of Frisco, it too is like a game of Russian Roulette. Will they provide the documents or won’t they? Will they do it in a timely manner or delay it by sending it to the Texas Attorney General for an “opinion.”
Since Whistleblowers’ inception back in February of last year we have continually addressed the issues of PIR GATE. In our April 2023 blog we talked about a PIR that FWB filed for Universal Theme Park / Project P117. An email came back from the city that the cost of the documents would be $72.36 and payment was made. Imagine FWB surprise when the city came back asking them to clarify what information they are seeking?
Problem 1: How did the city determine a price of $72.36 for the documents requested if they needed clarification of what was being requested?
THE CONCLUSION: Then on April 18th FWB receives an email saying they have released a few documents, and the rest has been sent to the Attorney General for an opinion. Well, 8 months after initially filing for the PIR the documents were finally released. Why did it take so long? What was it the city didn’t want us to find out about the Universal Kids project?
Now, let’s talk about the PIR we filed for any communications between John Keating or Angelia Pelham and Venton Krasniqi. When the city responded with no responsive records, we were curious, who is Venton Krasniqi? He is a mystery man who donated $10,000 to John Keating and $5000 to Angelia Pelham yet neither of them has shared a text or email with him? That sure seems strange since those are not small donations. Furthermore, we are now curious is this the same man listed in several lawsuits in Collin County regarding debts?
Then we talked about the PIR we filed in May 2023 in regards to the “Public Safety Study regarding the Police Department Staffing” that was funded by federal grants. The response was we could view the document only by coming to city hall because it was copyrighted. However, the organization who did this study has done many other similar studies and they are all published on the web. Why is Frisco’s copyrighted? What made Frisco’s study so special? We never went to view the report because we were contacted by an internal PD source who supplied us with a full copy of the study after seeing our blog. What did we learn after reading it? The city probably didn’t want the residents/public to know the city they claim to be one of the safest cities in Americas has a staffing deficiency in the PD department.
A few months later in October 2023, on a tip from a resident, we filed a PIR that reads, “We would like any emails regarding the flooding that took place on 7/3/23 near 2447 Sleepy Hollow Trail. Emails from PD, streets department, city management and city council. We would like any pictures taken by the streets department at the scene since they were called out by PD. We would like to know what caused the flood?” On October 23, we were surprised to see the status change to: Sent to AG for a Ruling.
WAIT A DAMN MINUTE, you are going to tell me a simple PIR about a street flood must be sent to the Texas Attorney General? The Conclusion: As of today, this still has a status of Sent to the AG for Ruling which means it has been open for over 2 months (about to be 3 months). Something smells like SHIT in Frisco.
If you remember in our Day 6 Breaking The Law blog, we explained how we filed a PIR on Fire Chief Lee Glover and were told no responsive records. In the case of this PIR, who is responsible for releasing those records? Well, that would be the Human Resources Director, Sassy Lauren Safranek, that’s who! Interesting how Sassy came up with the responsive records the second time around, AFTER WE TOLD HER WE ALREADY HAD A COPY OF THE LETTER AND A VIDEO CLIP.
We decided to file another PIR to broaden our search on November 22, 2023, that reads “Copy of all emails and documents related to Lee Glover over his career span with the City of Frisco relating to any job complaints both formal or informal (confidential) by equals, superiors, and subordinates. Any complaints received informal or formal even if confidential via the Frisco Fire Department Complaint Form, relating to his breaking the Frisco Fire Department Policies or City of Frisco Code of Conduct or policies. Any Administrative Warning Letter issued to Lee Glover over his career with the Frisco Fire Department. Any Notice of Investigation issued to Lee Glover over his career span with the Frisco Fire Department. Any emails between Lauren Safranek, Henry Hill, George Purefoy, Mack Borchard, Wes Peirson or Lee Glover regarding the hiring of Lee Glover going back to 1/1/2022 to Present. Feel free to redact personal numbers, birthdays, contact info, etc., allowed by Texas State Law.”
The Response: On December 14, we received a letter in which they located the responsive records and that they re-released at no charge the records because they had already been provided to us. However, that is not exactly true. What we asked for above is very clear so imagine our surprise when we find in the documents they sent back one titled Case 64. The Problem: Case 64 is related to a previous PIR request regarding HR Director Safranek falsifying documents which this document should have been included in, but it wasn’t which is more proof they are withholding documents. Why did we accidentally get the document in the current request, we have no idea. Secondly, it has the Fire Chiefs Candidate Binder that we didn’t ask for. Third it has the pay scale for the Fire Chiefs, which we didn’t ask for. It has the Appleton Complaint which we already know about and was in the previous PIR request. That’s it!
The city wants you and I to believe that Lee Glover has never had any other complaints, write-ups, warning letters, or has broken policies or procedures which he has been cited for over his entire career. Do you believe that? Well, you shouldn’t because we have evidence to the contrary. It leaves us asking, why has the city not released the information related to this PIR that we requested? Again, something smells like SHIT in Frisco.
The Conclusion: You may have guessed it; we filed ANOTHER PIR that said we want to follow up to clarify that Appleton and Mayday are the only two items in his HR file over the span of his career? We asked for anything starting from the beginning of his career in 1991 to the present: 1. Any job complaints, write-ups, or reprimands, both formal or informal (confidential) by equals, superiors, and subordinates. 2. Any complaints, write-ups, or reprimands received via the Frisco Fire Department Complaint Form that includes informal or formal even confidential 3. Any complaints, write-ups or reprimands relating to his breaking the Frisco Fire Department Policies or City of Frisco Code of Conduct or policies. 4. Any Administrative Warning Letters issued to Lee Glover during his time at Frisco FD. 5. Any Notice of Investigation issued to Lee Glover during his time at Frisco FD Are we to believe that since 1991 there have been only 2? We paid $30 plus dollars and want the full PIR as we already know of some that have not been included in the original PIR response.” It is currently in processing!
Lastly, we can’t forget Bobblehead Bill Woodard who went off halfcocked on Facebook defending the city’s decision to cut a lifesaving blood program that just a few years before the council praised from the top of the city council meeting pulpit. While Bobblehead Bill said folks could just email him and he would share the documents we decided to handle it the proper way by filing a PIR on 11/1/23. We uploaded images of his statements in the PIR and asked for the items he referenced. The PIR said,
1. On November 1st Bill Woodard posted on North Texas Politics page a response that talked about a 12-page report and posted a picture of a Section 2.2 Supply of Blood Products. He offers to email the 12-page report to anyone who emails him so we are requesting it formally and since he is willing to send it out freely to anyone who emails him we assume there will be no cost for it.
2. He also posted the following comment below: The blood transfusion program isn’t going away, in fact it’s expanding. We use data to analyze the best use of resources and right now the squad sits idle almost all the time. So that staffing is being divided up and assigned to the BC vehicles, along with the blood transfusion program. This will double (from one to two) the availability of this program on every shift, and better utilize personnel and equipment. In 2024 we expect to add this program to every ambulance we have further expanding the program, which necessitates the training of everyone on those pieces of equipment. We will also be doubling (from one to two) the number of safety officers on shift. This will allow for additional training and promotional opportunities. We would like a copy of the study and data used to analyze the best use of resources that reflect how this decision was made. We would like a copy of the new contract/agreement that the hospital and blood banks will supply the blood for all ambos now and going into 2024. We would also like to know the cost and how it will be funded to train everyone (as he states) on those pieces of equipment.
3. Bill Woodard also stated “We are putting the blood transfusion program on multiple vehicles. So yes it is expanding. And we have been working with our medical director (as well as any other required parties) to ensure the program is run appropriately and has all the proper staffing.” We would like to know how many vehicles the blood program will be on with trained personnel. We would like any emails between the city management, fire department and council with the medical director and required parties he mentions.
4. Steve Cone of P&Z also chimed in so we would like to see the numbers of how the proposed changes to Squad / Blood Program is better than the status quo arrangement. We would like to know the # of blood transfusions teams available per shift, before and after the changes to the program.
The Conclusion: Because Bobblehead Bill offered to send this to folk we assumed there would be no charge but guess what, the city charged us $90.00 which we paid, and we are STILL WAITING FOR THE INFORMATION. Now, they have updated the status to read “Sent to Attorney.” We are not holding our breath we will get the information back before the end of 2023.
In closing, we have a very important question for you to consider. How can the city get a request or for an item, then go to a council meeting, have a discussion in executive session, come out and vote to release confidential HR documents on a retired employee who is under a gag order and is actively running as a political opponent against Mayor Cheney? Please note while Cheney recused himself from the vote 4 of the city council members who participated in the vote had already publicly endorsed Mayor Jeff Cheney which means they probably should have recused themselves. The CHERRY ON TOP is a DMN Reporter had an article in the paper 12 hours later which in our opinion was a political hit piece! If all that can be done in a simple council vote how come they cannot do that for other PIR’s?
Why did the city not send the request from the media to the Attorney General like they do all other requests? Well because they have 30 to 60 days to respond with an opinion which means the election would have been over. At the time Mark Piland was gaining momentum on Mayor Cheney. Cheney and his big developer friends who have BIG INTERESTS in Frisco needed Cheney to win so they just did not have that kind of time. They needed a push in the polls so hence the vote to release the records. It is even more questionable that they didn’t release the full report only a subsequent report that was done related to the political candidate. Being that the vote had HUGE RED FLAGS pertaining to CONFLICT OF INTERESTS which is a great reason to SEND IT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
This is our public plea to the City of Frisco and the City Council Members, IF YOU HAVE THAT KIND OF POWER THEN WE ASK YOU TO BRING OUR PIRs UP FOR A VOTE. Then VOTE YES unanimously, JUST LIKE in April 2023 to release the following: 1. Universal Kids Documents 2. Documents related to Bobble Head Bills rant on Facebook regarding the Blood Program. 3. The entire HR file for Fire Chief Lee Glove and Mack Borchardt 4. Documents related to a simple street flood 5. All of Lauren Safranek emails for the last two years and 6. Any other open PIRs currently just for the purposes of being FAIR and TRANSPARENT
They would never vote to do that because it does not help them, but it possibly hurts them. The City of Frisco withholds documents, delays the process and flat out lies as to what they have and don’t have. Kristy Morrow is the City Secretary but we don’t think it is her decision on what is released. She sends the requests to the departments or individuals named in the PIR and they respond with the appropriate documents. So, if Sassy Lauran Safranek is colluding with Lee Glover do you think she is going to release the documents requested, probably not. It is a game of RUSSIAN ROULETTE, A GAME OF CHANCE OR TRUST. We DO NOT TRUST the City of Frisco – not one bit! We have proof they have lied and withheld information and that should make residents very wary and angry. This is our city, not their city. It is our tax-dollars!
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.
I don't know, Patrick, and I'm not familiar with SREC, so I'm unable to answer your questions.
Hi Patrick—when is your SREC30 meeting. Missed the one and want to together before Sept.
We hope to write about it all soon. Most of the content in question - was from 3rd Party comments…
Shining a light in the dark here to just get this out of the way and moved past—who started the…
Bunch of Nepotism, buddy system promotion. If you ain’t white you ain’t right