Peekskill Fire Chief Vincent Malaspina resigns after city cites nepotism concerns

[WHarley3 23]

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At Thursday night’s monthly meeting of the Peekskill Volunteer Fire Department trustees, Peekskill Fire Chief Vincent Malaspina announced that he will be resigning his position as chief, effective 11:59 p.m. on March 5, after receiving pressure from City Hall.

 

According to Deputy Chief John Pappas, Peekskill City Manager Richard Leins and Corporate Counsel Melissa Ferraro informed Malaspina that because his son is in line to take a paid position as a career firefighter for the City of Peekskill, the city’s nepotism policy dictates he step down.

 

“The city is using its nepotism provision to make him resign,” Pappas told The Peekskill Post Friday morning. “The clause states that if you are a city employee or an elected city official, a relative cannot be hired. The problem is, Vinny is neither a city employee or an elected official. He is a volunteer.”

 

http://www.peekskillpost.net/peekskill-fire-chief-vincent-malaspina-resigns-after-city-cites-nepotism-concerns/

[fdalumnus 165]

Once again politics rears it ugly head.

 

The hiring of the chief's son,IMO, should be celebrated, The fire service has a always been a family. Sounds like the chief ruffled a few feathers, so this is the payback.

[dwcfireman 656]

I'm a bit confused as to why the City of Peekskill would consider a volunteer fire chief as city official/employee under their nepotism clause, mainly because I am not familiar with any law regarding volunteer firefighters in cities.  So, I tried to look up the NYS laws regarding volunteer fire officers as local officials/employees in cities....but, alas, I can't find it.  Hopefully someone can clear up some information here.

 

I remember from my days back home with a village department, all of the fire officers were legally considered village officials, and everyone in the volunteer fire department was considered an employee of the village.  This meant that we were bound to village law as well as state law pertaining to village employees and officials.  Everything I saw tonight in my searches was vague, so I'm leaning to think that this boils down to individual villages and their respectful codes.

 

I understand that town law generally pertains to fire districts, to the manner that towns cannot have fire departments and the fire districts are separate tax entities.  This is covered under Town Law § 176-b of the New York State Code (DHSES - OFPC).

 

But what about city fire departments with volunteers?  This is the area of the law where that I can find absolutely nothing on.  Would it be similar to villages?  Or would it be a whole other set of regulations?

[kinkchaser 352]

Legacy is the strength of the Fire Service

[AFS1970 504]

Nepotism rules like this were put in to prevent conflicts of interest. However too many people run frightened from the potential for lawsuits and often end up making choices based on misconceptions. 

 

I don't know the legal structure in Peekskil, but it would seem to me that the issue would be what input the chief has in hiring decisions and then what role he has in supervision and possible discipline with the career staff. 

 

Stamford put a fairly restrictive policy in, largely due to one family, but it was mostly political. The odd thing was nobody seemed to care until a supervisor who was about to hire someone realized that his bosses son was next up on a list he had already hired people from. He asked for an opinion from our ethics board on how to make sure he did his interview and hiring correctly. Sadly he never should have asked, as that brought lots of politicians into the mix and we now have a policy.

[calhobs 110]

Though sad the Chief had to step down. But as said on this site many times. Rules are rules. Nepotism rules have been in place across the country now for many years. They dont only pertain to Fire departments, they effect many civil service jobs. Best of luck to you Chief  

[FF402 133]

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Peekskill Democratic Majority’s Latest Target – The Volunteer Firefighters

 

https://insidepeekblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/peekskill-democratic-majoritys-latest-target-the-volunteer-firefighters/

[BFD2553 75]

In front of a packed meeting the City Council tonight voted in favor of a special resolution allowing Chief Malaspina to serve out his full term.  Welcome back Chief!

[antiquefirelt 994]

On 2/24/2017 at 6:06 PM, fdalumnus said:

Once again politics rears it ugly head.

 

The hiring of the chief's son,IMO, should be celebrated, The fire service has a always been a family. Sounds like the chief ruffled a few feathers, so this is the payback.

The reality is there are two fire services when it comes to most (of these types) rules and regulations, municipal departments and then all others. Most municipalities have strict rules to protect themselves from liability and grievances. While the fire chief's son could be treated like anyone else in reality, just a mere perception can create problems. Most of the time it's something petty and stupid, not the big promotion or preferential assignments. But, in reality, does the Lt. worry he cannot discipline this FF in the same manner as he would otherwise? Can the crew complain about admin without offending the bosses son? Why did he didn't he get forced for OT?  The list of ways for other firefighters to be aggrieved is endless, add in that you're closely related to a boss and that just multiplies. 

Edited February 28, 2017 by antiquefirelt

[fdalumnus 165]

 

On 2/28/2017 at 9:03 AM, antiquefirelt said:

The reality is there are two fire services when it comes to most (of these types) rules and regulations, municipal departments and then all others. Most municipalities have strict rules to protect themselves from liability and grievances. While the fire chief's son could be treated like anyone else in reality, just a mere perception can create problems. Most of the time it's something petty and stupid, not the big promotion or preferential assignments. But, in reality, does the Lt. worry he cannot discipline this FF in the same manner as he would otherwise? Can the crew complain about admin without offending the bosses son? Why did he didn't he get forced for OT?  The list of ways for other firefighters to be aggrieved is endless, add in that you're closely related to a boss and that just multiplies. 

 You make some good points.

 

This same scenario exists in the City of Rye FD.  To his credit, the volunteer chief lets the career Lt. do his job regarding the career staff. And, how many father-son teams are there in the FDNY which involve the father an officer and the son a firefighter. Yes, they're usually assigned in different houses, but sometimes in the same battalion.  The powers that be in Peekskill saw the injustice and went with good common sense. I hope everything works out.