Did you know each new day brings us 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,000 seconds. When we were kids, my mom used to say don’t waste a damn minute of your life because each second, each minute, each hour, is loaned to us by God. One day when you meet him, he is going to ask you how effectively you used that time. I developed the same fascination with time and when my kids were growing up, they would always say, “dad, do you have a minute?” I would reply with a poem I heard or learned (can’t remember where or who wrote it).
I have only just a minute, only 60 seconds in it;
forced upon me; can’t refuse it;
didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.
But it’s up to me just how I use it.
I must suffer if I lose it, give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.
When you waste time on a useless task, activity or endeavor you are essentially choosing to squander 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,000 seconds. Now you are probably wondering why we are writing about time, well lately we have been pondering how much wasted time it will take our City Manager – Wes Pierson, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Bill Woodard, Angelia Pelham, John Keating and the rest of the council to “man up.”
During the most recent election for council John Keating knowingly spread false accusations about his opponent from any microphone handed to him. We were curious after knowingly spreading false lies and false accusations saying Retired Fire Chief Mark Piland was fired and the cause of the problem in the Fire Department, will he “MAN UP” now and publicly apologize after reading the 50+ page In-Service notes? I mean he has the 2011 Climate Report and now 50+ pages of In-Service notes all pointing to the same person – Chief Lee Glover! According to his own soap box moment he should step up and do the right thing for our firefighters and former city employees because in a few years he is going to ask us to vote for him for MAYOR!
In the world of a firefighter seconds and minutes in a fire fight are very important and as they are risking their life. That is why reviewing these 50+ pages of notes from the mandatory June In-Service Meeting are so important. For them to do the job well they need to understand the training and vision for the department. According to the most recent in-service notes, the most alarming statement made was that the firefighters still have no idea of Glovers “vision” for the department outside of the Strategic Plan.
Communication or should we say the lack of communication was the next big topic. Firefighters have concerns over the lack of visibility and communications from Chief Glover. It was noted that Chief Glover does not even take the time to send an e-mail to motivate the department after catastrophic events. They also don’t believe Glover listens or consults with his committees which could help him build relationships with those under his command.
After reading the part about communication I thought back to a recent story on the news about the storms hitting Fire Fighter Row in Celina. Imagine you are a firefighter enjoying a nice sleep and you awake to alarms and the sound of wind pushing in the walls of your home. You quickly realize your entire street is in the eye of a tornado and when it is all over, several neighbors who are also firefighters in the same department have their homes destroyed and your normal life just became chaotic in minutes. Would you expect a phone call from your Chief asking how you and your family were doing? Would you expect an email to go out from the Chief asking the command staff and front-line members to pray and donate their time to help with the clean up or whatever needs to be done? As the Chief, would you grab your clothes and tools and head out the door to support your brotherhood in person? The Frisco Firefighter’s Association showed up, raised money for the families, spent countless days cleaning up and lending hands. How long do you think it took Chief Lee Glover to do any of these things? Tick Tock, Tick Tock the seconds and minutes pass and the hands just go around the clock!
The firefighters feel they are on a path with the Fire Chief and City Manager of do more with less which the In-Service notes say is destroying morale. The frontline feels they are falling behind and going backwards. One comment was the firefighters have been left to drowned and the emotional and mental beat down is affecting the whole department.
What will it take for City Manager -Wes Pierson to drop his arrogant attitude, “MAN UP” and simply do his job?What will it take for the Mayor and City Council to admit the problem was never Fire Chief Mark Piland but a problem of their own doing that was 1000% avoidable? Rewind the clock and go back to the 2011 Climate Report that we talked about in our article Humpty Dumpty, which stated that then Fire Chief, Mack Borchardt and upper management command staff had run the department into the ground. That report led to the city council demanding he be “let go” but his good ole buddy City Manager, George Purefoy got him a nice and rather large retirement package. Then Purefoy gives him a golden parachute job in the City Manager’s office so the two best buddies could be together forever. Well, Purefoy retired but Borchardt is still with the city, in the same job today, making 6 figures and has a city vehicle?
The 2011 Climate Report also named Assistant Chief Lee Glover at the time as part of the problem which is why he was not named Chief in 2012, and the city brought it in Mark Piland. Now they want to you to believe Piland is the problem – yet the Association did not go for Civil Service under Piland. There are no 50+ page reports of Piland’s bad leadership and his yearly EVAL’s have him top notch. We are not saying things were perfect nothing ever is but it does seem the department was making changes and progress in the right direction. Now the City Manager and Council want you to believe Piland is a disgruntled employee and the “cancer” that plagued the department, because they had to hide that HR falsified documents. Even though they knew Glover’s past and previous issues (of which there are many) they choose to make him the new Fire Chief. Now that the bubble has burst and the public knows the systemic problems of 2011 followed Glover (old dogs don’t develop new habits) into his role as the current Fire Chief, they want you to believe a new story. Now everything is the fault of the Frisco Firefighter’s Association because they want more personnel to do their job safely and better workman’s comp benefits.
Here is where we are hung up, why, in what world or universe, did the City Manager Wes Pierson or the Frisco City Council think making Lee Glover the new Fire Chief was a good idea? A wise man once said if you repeat the mistakes of the past don’t expect a different outcome! After slowly making progress and change the last 10 years, in a department filled with trust issues, today our fire department is back in 2011. They are unhappy, the days of fear and lack of trust have resurfaced, have a City Manager who could not give two shXts and a City Council who blames the issues on the men and woman of the association, which is almost our whole department for the problem.
IT IS TIME FOR A COME TO JESUS as my mother used to say with the belt in her hand. Every single member on our city council, minus Brian Livingston have spoken against the men and woman in our Fire Department. Our City Manager has an ego bigger than the State of Texas and according to insiders in several departments, his arrogance is destroying the city from the inside out and he turns his nose up to the concerns of the Fire Department. At this point they will all have to pull a rabbit out of hat to blame next because we are pretty sure they are running out of employees to blame it on as they clean house to cover things up. Want the STEVE AUSTIN “COLD HARD TRUTH” …. The CITY COUNCIL IS THE PROBLEM; THE CITY MANAGER IS THE PROBLEM AND THE CURRENT FIRE CHIEF LEE GLOVER IS THE PROBLEM! Until citizens “wake up ” we will just let the clock go “Tick Tock, Tick Tock!”
The other day I was reading an article about the most common 6 phrases people say to gaslight and manipulate you. What is gaslighting? It is a manipulation tactic often wielded by emotional disruptive abusers and is insidious in nature making it hard for a person to recognize the tactic is happening. What happens when someone tries to gaslight you?
Gradually you begin to question your own judgement, memories, feelings and questioning reality. The article quoted therapist Shannon Thomas who stated that “people who cannot authentically argue their point of view or stand behind their words turn to gaslighting as a tool.” She went on to say ’they resort to confusion creating tactics, and that it really is a true sign of character weakness.”
It made me think back to our recent elections and the mixed messaging the city tried to sell to citizens while attacking our Frisco Firefighters relentlessly while also saying they support our first responders and dedicate at least ½ our annual budget to public safety. They also attacked and tried to destroy the reputation of Former Fire Chief, Mark Piland by saying he was the problem and the reason for the low morale. The solution, to make Lee Glover, the new “SAVING GRACE” Fire Chief. Based on the In-Service notes we have reviewed, the city may have failed “BIG TIME” and the leader driving the bus is our very own City Manager, Wes Pierson!
After the election was over there was a large disdain between our Fire Department and the city so they planned a weeklong set of In-Service Meetings, aka “Healing Sessions” to listen to the firefighters’ concerns. We filed a PIR for anything related to those meetings and after reading the 50+ page report of notes one thing became very clear, the city council knowingly and repeatedly lied to citizens during the election.
Example 1: The Vote No PAC, funded by Frisco Developers, and run by Mayor Pro Tem Bill Woodard
Councilman Woodard was interviewed by Jack Fink with CBS Texas and when asked why the Fire Fighters were bringing the propositions to the ballot, he specifically said due to the “FORMER LEADERSHIP” of the department, referring to Former Fire Chief Mark Piland. We assumed we would see some of those issues noted in this 50+ page report, however only 2 comments were made, which is one the environment is a little more relaxed now (uniforms) and that Piland may have tended to over communicate to the department.
However, they had a lot to say about the current Fire Chief, Lee Glover. When it comes to budgeting and purchasing new equipment, they feel the Chief Glover is out of touch with today’s firefighting tactics. Firefighters said Glovers’ only tactic since arriving has been cost cutting measures to look good to the City Manager’s Office and council and that means he his neglecting his duty to his command.
Remember the Blood Program, otherwise known as which was carried by the Squad Unit? Refresh your memory by reading our older articles “Another One Bites The Dust” and “Make It Look Pretty.” At the time Councilman Woodard was the “city mouthpiece” across social media supporting Glover’s decision to end the Squad program and transfer the blood program to two battalion chief vehicles. The report talks about Glover’s cost cutting measures and how the firefighters believe removing the Squad Unit and transferring the Blood Program was a huge failure as it took away two extra working people on calls and losing the expertise of the Squad members could be and will be deadly to citizens.
What is the end result of the firefighter’s statement above about their concerns with Glover being out of touch with today’s firefighting tactics? Chief Glover has cut valid programs, training and they believe he is purchasing the wrong equipment. Glover has also de-incentivized training under his command, and today they have less training which is dangerous. Courses and training are required for promotions to the next rank and other departments pay for employees to attend training, but Glover is telling his command to “put stock in your own training.” As for equipment, Glover is buying more Quints -the big bulky fire trucks of the old days, which are hard to get around the neighborhood’s tight and crowded streets. The firefighters prefer more engines and tillers. We are told engines are quicker and shorter in size making them a better choice. We are also told the tillers are an advantageous truck because they can go anywhere, carries more tools and is quicker to vent with 107’ ladder.
Are we done yet? Oh no, we are just getting started! There is so much to go over that we are going to break it up into multiple articles this week. Tonight, we leave you with three questions:
1. Why is the City Council and City Manager gaslighting residents into believing all of these issues are due to Former Fire Chief Piland who was endorsed by the Frisco Firefighters Assocation this year during the election?
2. Why is the City Council and City Manager gaslighting residents into thinking the problem is our Fire Association, who they called Greedy Bastards, power hungry and lazy during the election?
3. Why is the City Council and City Manager dying on a sharp sword for Fire Chief Lee Glover who in all respects to his command his nowhere to be found and neglecting his duty to his command?
We leave you with a strong remark in the In-Service notes which we stated above, “Firefighters believe Glover’s only goal is to look good to the City Manager’s Office and City Council which results in him neglecting his duty to his command.” ….. come back tomorrow for part two
UPDATE: PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE MADE CORRECTIONS TO OUR ARTICLE BASED ON MORE DETAILS RECEIVED. CORRECTIONS CAN BE NOTED IN RED OR WITH A STRIKETHROUGH MARK.
Recently we received an email that read “I follow your page and have always wanted to speak out as a Veteran in this town. I hope you will share my thoughts on your page. I have titled it Stolen Valor at Frisco City Hall. Sincerely, a Frisco Veteran”
Hello Frisco Veteran, and of course we would be more than happy to share your thoughts with our readers. Below is the letter that was attached to this email. Nothing in the attachment has been changed or altered. Thank you for your service and for following our page. Enjoy!
The Frisco Veterans Memorial located in Frico Commons Park is a testament to the men and women who served in uniform. You can take an audio tour to learn about the Memorial and it’s meaning for veterans and the residents of Frisco. The Battlefield Cross, Wall of Honor and Gold Star Families Memorial Monument remind us of the sacrifices our men and women in uniform made in service to our country.
This struggle and sacrifice aren’t exclusive to members of the armed forces, it’s just as meaningful for our Police Officers, Firefighters and First Responders. We’ve had devastating accidents happen to our Frisco Police Officers and Firefighters in the line of duty and the effects are still being felt by the victims and their families.
Supporting those injured in the line of duty is our responsibility yet when the opportunity came for City Hall to do the right by a Firefighter, our City Manager Wes Pierson failed. Cameron Kraemer was a former Assistant Fire Chief for the City of Frisco for 27 years, yet he was fired after the City of Frisco denied his Workers Compensation claim for PTSD. In late 2023, the Texas Department of Insurance ordered the City of Frisco to pay Mr. Kraemer his back benefits via lump sum. On August 2nd, 2024, Mr. Kraemer filed a Wrongful Termination suit against the City of Frisco after the DOJ ruled that he could sue.
Frisco City Manager Wes Pierson’s actions toward Mr. Kraemer sent a terrible message to our Police Officers, Firefighters and First Responders. Mr. Pierson destroyed any credibility he had with the Police and Fire Department, to make matters worse every time the courts rules in Mr. Kraemer’s favor the distrust and resentment grows.
The City of Frisco claims to be a “Veteran Friendly City” and has multiple events that celebrate and honor our veterans. Often when people think about veterans, they think about our service members abroad. Our Police Officers and Firefighters put their life on the line, every day in service to our community and should be treated with the same level of honor and respect. Next time you see Mr. Pierson at a Veterans function or event with Police Officers or Firefighters, Never Forget his act of Stolen Valor against Mr. Kraemer.
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!
Tick-tock, tick-tock sounds the clock! Days go by, and the tick-tock never seems to stop. Meanwhile City of Frisco leadership sits behind closed doors while we watch the clock, just tick-tock! Precious moments fading away and citizens still are not standing up to ask, is everything okay? What happens when time runs out…? Tick-tock they will try to approve a $300-$500 million dollar Performing Arts Center and announce they plan to raise taxes!
Back on June 18th at the Budget and Audit Committee Meeting we learned from the agenda that both the Committee Chair – Councilman Bill Woodard and Committee Members –Councilwomen Angelia Pelham and Laura Rummel were present. They had a discussion regarding the “PRELIMINARY FY 2025 Budget” and our Chief Financial Officer, Derrick Cotton talked about potential revenue generating items. It is the last paragraph where it says Mr. Cotton talks about the “Homestead Exemption” and presented changes in the adjusted taxable values and discussed a possible tax rate change for FY25 that had our attention.
They plan to pick up the discussion this Tuesday August 6th at 3pm at the next Budget and Audit Committee Meeting. Then we noticed Tuesday nights city council meeting Agenda Item 32 calls for a public hearing on the FY 25 budget. In fact, the city memo reads “Consider and act upon adoption of a Resolution calling for a public hearing on the City of Frisco FY 2025 Budget, Frisco Economic Development Corporation FY 2025 Budget, and Frisco Community Development Corporation FY 2025 Budget. (Budget/TA)”
Why does a city call for a public hearing on the potential adoptions of the budget? Well according to Texas Local Government Code, Title 4: Finances, Subtitle A – Municipal Finances, Chapter 102 – Municipal Budget (wow that’s a mouth full) there are several reasons. Section 102.005 specifically states that if they are proposing a budget change it must be available for public inspection.
(b) A proposed budget that will require raising more revenue from property taxes than in the previous yearmust contain a cover page with the following statement in 18-point or larger type: “This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by (insert total dollar amount of increase and percentage increase), and of that amount (insert amount computed by multiplying the proposed tax rate by the value of new property added to the roll) is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.”
Once they conclude that so called “PUBLIC HEARING” they can adopt a budget according to the law. So based on what they have been discussing, based on the public hearings they have quietly posted, we can guarantee you the city is about to announce a Tax Increase! Right now, those city leaders are just hoping you are not paying attention and all the other political distractions around the country will keep you from recognizing the destructive path they are.
Now you should say, wait a damn minute Mayor Cheney – you just ran a year ago on the fact you have lowered taxes. Let’s not forget John Keating and Angelia making the 2024 rounds campaigning for your vote claiming they lowered taxes and plan to continue lowering taxes, but all the while they knew they were going to propose an out of this world Performing Arts Center and raise taxes.
Didn’t this city council pull out all the stops to get votes to VOTE NO against the Fire Fighters because they claimed it “WOULD INCREASE TAXES” when they already knew they were going to do it anyways? What they were not telling you then is they planned to raise taxes but just for things they want for their own selfish reasons. Who cares what citizens actually need….
In a time when inflation is high and we are facing a presidential election these mice are running around in the clock hoping we don’t pay attention to the TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK of the clock. If any one of our council members vote to raise taxes – VOTE THEM OUT! Why are we, one of the flushest cities, according to Cheney talking about revenue generating ways for the city to make money. It is simple, CHENEY-VILLE COSTS A LOT TO BUILD. The old red head wants you to just do as he say’s and not ask questions ASK QUESTIONS!
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