Paris, TX -- The Paris Fire Department's two most senior firefighters -- who were on injury leave and within months of retirement -- were ordered this week by Fire Chief Ronnie Grooms to report to the dog pound for "light duty" that included using a scoop to clean up the kennel areas, The Paris News has learned.
When firefighters Rodger Edelhauser, 55, and Gary Cook, 52, protested the nature of the duty, Grooms told them he was just following orders, they said. The fire chief waved off their protests, along with those of two deputy chiefs who were present when the order was given, the men said.
"The city manager is the one that said you are going down there. I have no choice. This is what the city manager wants, and I've got to do it," Edelhauser and Cook said Grooms told them.
When they asked him to call the city manager and tell him there were firefighter-related duties the two men could do at the fire station or about town, they said Grooms replied, "Well, I'll call him, but he wants you down there (at the dog pound) this morning, and you are going to go."
Grooms didn't return a call from The Paris News asking for comment on the report.
This morning, City Manager Tony Williams denied he suggested or ordered the animal shelter duty.
"I don't ever get involved in saying I want you to use this guy to do this activity or that activity. That's micro-managing that I won't get into. The assignments are the responsibility of department heads," he said.
Williams conceded that he has instituted a "light duty" policy for employees coming off injuries.
"I get these complaints around the community. They see employees they know are city employees, doing mechanical work or work on a roof, and it offends them that here is a public employee, drawing a salary but not working," Williams said.
"A light duty arrangement, I think, is a good concept. It gets workers back on duty, doing activities they are capable of doing while continuing to heal."
Williams said he thinks someone misunderstood Grooms. He said Grooms would not have said the city manager specified animal control duty for the firefighters.
"What he was told was that light duty is out of his hands. I am insisting that employees who are ready to go back to work will be assigned to light duty. They are not going to do their work on the side."
Williams said while he didn
