City's Actions Against 7 Firefighters Stretch Department Thin

June 27, 2003
Details of the disciplinary action taken against 7 firefighters were handed down Wedneday after an investigation that lasted several weeks.
Details of the disciplinary action taken against 7 firefighters were handed down Wedneday after an investigation that lasted several weeks.

The investigation centered around an incident on May 7 involving at least 7 firefighters and a number of local running club members.

Among other policies broken, officials concluded that several firefighters used inappropriate conduct around several female runners.

They also used city equipment while on duty to participate in the activities.

And no one was ever told of the incident until the time of the investigation.

As a result, the city has opted to fire one captain, to suspend four other firefighters for 30 days without pay.

2 others, including a separate captain, have also resigned from active duty.

The department has handed down punishments before, but no one seems to remember an instance like this in the past, and no one seems to know how exactly it will effect the department.

To give you an idea of the scale of the actions, in April the city got 25 new firefighters for the first time in about two years, and Wednesday, they lost 7.

Indeed, some will return in about a month, but their absence will surely be noticed.

The entire incident on May 7 that began at Fire Station #1 and ended at a downtown bar lasted less than two hours, but the impact will likely be felt for weeks or even longer.

The city was not required to terminate one and suspend four based on policies.

They did it out of discretion.

City Manager Skip Noe says, "There are a full range of options. That was the decision made based on the evidence of the case."

Adding in the two additional firefighters that resigned brings the total loss to seven, not an easy number to deal with for a department that is already stretched fairly thin.

But Fire Chief J.J. Adame is confident they'll be able to keep the station and department adequately staffed.

"We maintain a certain level of service everyday, and we don't go below that service, so we will make sure we maintain that level of service," he says.

To do that though, sources tell KRIS 6 News that the city will likely be forced to pay a lot more in overtime for the extra help.

As to what effect the incident will have on the morale of the city or the department, officials hope it will be little if any at all.

Noe says, "We don't want to let the actions of a few tarnish what is truly a fine department and the dedicated work of a whole lot of folks taking care of the city of Corpus Christi."

Captain Joseph Mihoin does have 10 days to submit an appeal, and we're told he likely will.

The other four on suspension are not allowed to appeal because they agreed to their suspension.

30 days is, by the way, the maximum amount of time a firefighter can be suspended by the chief.

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