Command chain for fire chiefs could shift

Fire chiefs in two of Nevada’s biggest cities no longer would answer to city managers and instead report directly to elected officials under a bill that is backed by firefighter unions.

Assembly Bill 420 would change city charters in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas to bypass “filtering” by city managers that firefighters say prevents elected council members from getting all of the information they need to make decisions.

The bill is unlikely to pass, but it appears to have achieved the goal of sending a message to managers of the two cities that firefighters, who have clashed with management over labor contract issues in recent years, are willing to make an end run to the Legislature if they feel they need to do so.

The bill had been scheduled to go to the Assembly Government Affairs Committee on Friday morning but was postponed until Monday.

“The purpose of a bill sometimes is to shake a tree and see what falls out, not necessarily to pass the bill,” said Las Vegas Councilman Bob Coffin, a former legislator who attended the committee meeting Friday morning with Councilman Bob Beers, another former lawmaker , and city Chief Financial Officer Mark Vincent.

Coffin said the firefighters raised good points about the issue of filtering that he expects council members will discuss with city management.

But he added it was premature to appeal to the Legislature.

“You don’t try to make a change if you are really serious about something without first coming to council,” Coffin said.

“It looks like politics because that is what it is.”

But Scott Johnson, president of International Association of Firefighters Local 1285, said the public would benefit if the fire chief position, which is vacant in Las Vegas, was shuffled to report directly to the council.

“We see this as a way the fire chief would also have the ability to be completely open to the council and advocate for public safety issues,” Johnson said.

Johnson said many firefighters felt former Fire Chief Mike Myers withheld information from the council when it came to discussing the benefits of the department’s top rating with the Insurance Services Office .

The rating reflects the city’s ability to respond to and suppress fires and is considered to be a factor insurance companies can use to gauge risk.

Johnson said Myers’ reticence on the issue contributed to a decision by the firefighters union to issue a vote of no confidence in the former chief, who couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

“He probably would not have received a vote of no confidence if it would have been clear he was standing up there advocating for that particular issue,” Johnson said.

North Las Vegas City Manager Tim Hacker dismissed the bill by saying no one has shown him how the city and its residents would be better off if the fire chief reported directly to the council.

“If it is not driven by the elected officials that are supposedly hampered, then I question the motives behind it,” Hacker said.

Las Vegas City Manager Betsy Fretwell said the current organization chart reflects the city’s long-established council-manager form of government.

Fretwell also said she wasn’t worried the appeal to the Legislature would undermine the relationship between management and firefighters.

“It is just not an issue with me, I have to work with them. That is my job,” Fretwell said.

“Not everybody is going to agree with the decisions I make; that is part of leadership.”

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285 .