Tomorrow promises to begin the start of a new era of management, accountability and professionalism for the Hartford Fire Department. The new beginning will include the new Chief of Department Reginald Freeman, appointed by Mayor Luke Bronin and the first permanent Assistant Chief
appointed in several years, former Deputy Chief of Training Frank Costello.
Chief Freeman's first day in office will be tomorrow, February 1, 2016, It will not be an easy road for Freeman to turn around a troubled department, but I think he has the management experience and more importantly the temperament to deal with the issues facing the Department.
One of Freeman's most important tasks will be to get the naysayers to put their individual agendas aside and commit to work together and rebuild the proud team that once was the Hartford Fire Department. It is a matter of leadership and think this team can provide that leadership
Chief Costello will also play a key role in that rebuilding, after being handpicked by Freeman. From everything I have heard and been told, Costello has an excellent reputation from his previous time with HFD, and is very knowledgeable and well equipped to handle his new role.
Again, welcome back Gentleman. And for those inclined to undermine the leadership of the new management team, please think twice. If you really care about your Department, and more importantly the nobility of your profession, put the agendas and personalities aside and make this work.
Too much depends on the future of HFD and the City of Hartford to play games with this.
UPDATE: 9:30PM- Frank Costello is apparently coming back for a 6 month period as an acting Interim Assistant Chief. This is apparently is the result of the "Double Dipping" Ordinance that took effect January 1, 2016 limiting the time any retiree can return to City employment to 6 months and limits their salaries. The next Assistant Chiefs will have to come from current active members of the Department or be hired from outside to be considered permanent
16 comments:
Good luck sir
FD Team Freeman and Costello. A breath of fresh air. What a difference from the disastrous team Huertas and Waller.
Vinny the union rat will be waiting at the door with his cheese .......
9:30pm Maybe they'll place a rat trap by the door......
They need to ammend that ordinance or completely rewrite it. 6 months is hardly enough time for Costello to help out. Freeman is not going to be able to do this om his own. Again politics will hamper progress mark my words. The only internal candidate stupid enough to take that job would be Jones and we saw how the other relative did....
Please investigate sick time abuse. If you cant work then don't, not here at least. Excluding all of the minor BS injuries of course. Pee test everyone and for goodness sake start hiring better recruits. good luck gentlemen, glad to have you back.
The HFD is entrenched in the land of misfit toys and its been that way for decades. It will take years to tear it down and rebuild it.
kevin, i applaud your optimism and hope your right. however the cynic in me says that at age 37 he is here to make a name for himself and use hartford as a stepping stone to move on to a bigger department. Cheifs with no ties to the area are always exploring their alternatives and are never 100% fully invested. dont be shocked when we find out that he is finalist for another chief's position. i give him 2 years, unless of course the city had him sign a 3 year contract that included a non-compete clause.
I don't think non compete clauses normally hold up in court. And at 37. If the job is a stepping stone, so be it, as long as he leaves the place In Better shape than when he arrived
kevin, do we know where henry burgos went? i believe he came from state service and capitol cc, which is part of the CSCU where the board of regents recently created the position for la luz. i assume he resigned from the city to go to another job. henry appeared, at least to me, to be a stand up guy!
9:21PM
dig a little deeper, "stand up" is not a term I would use to define his behavior, "lay down" might be more appropriate
i knew him when he was a labor relations hearing officer for the state, he was respected, had commonsense and treated everyone fairly. we didnt win everyone, but we were always glad when he would be assigned to our cases. so, maybe i'm old school, but he was "stand up".
As for the recent past I've only seen was has been posted on the blog and youre probably privy to more insight. unfortunately i can't make an informed decision, based on what I know, at this time.
do you know where he went?
Abbott for Asst Chief!!
Hey, how about Cetola, Squires or Sullivan for Asst. Chief ?
They are only reaching out for the best candidates. Darren? What an absolute travesty. They don't get much worse.
There has to be someone up there that believes Milledge should still have a job.
You can thank the union for Milledge still being employed!
Post a Comment