Replacing St. Paul fire chief opens whole new debate

After months of turmoil between St. Paul firefighters and Chief Doug Holton, controversy in the department was supposed to subside when Holton left to take the chief's job in Milwaukee. But setting the requirements for the city's next fire chief has kicked up its own brouhaha.

As the City Council prepares to vote today on standards for the next chief, city leaders remain somewhat divided between two versions.

The original job description called for five years as a deputy chief with a college degree. A revised proposal requires the degree along with three years of district chief experience for external candidates, but it sets no experience requirement for district chiefs already with the department.

The council was set to vote last week on that proposal, but it postponed the vote when questions were raised about the legality of separate standards for internal and external candidates. The city attorney has since said it's not an issue.

Mayor Chris Coleman and Council Member Debbie Montgomery have said that they prefer the original requirements. Montgomery said that comparable cities set higher standards for their fire chiefs and added that chiefs need experience in financial and personnel matters.

Union leaders in the Fire Department, however, want the new requirements because some firefighters have been appointed recently to command level posts.

Chris Parsons, secretary for the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21, said that the union wants more opportunities for local candidates. He said the union is open to outsiders, although some firefighters have a "bad taste" because of their experience with Holton, who was hired from outside the department.

But St. Paul NAACP President Nathaniel Khaliq believes the City Council adjusted the standards in favor of local candidates because of union pressure. The local NAACP will consider legal action if the city passes qualifications that favor one group over another, he said.

"This is not going to be received very well," said Khaliq, a former firefighter.

Angie Nalezny, human resources director for the city, cited concerns last week about separate standards for internal and external candidates. But City Attorney John Choi issued a memo to City Council President Kathy Lantry and Coleman that said the ordinance does not violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"It is reasonable to value internal district chief experience as equivalent to three years of district chief level experience elsewhere," Choi's memo said.

Lantry said the revised requirements are a compromise between the city and the union. And although she hopes that the council votes on the qualifications at today's meeting, other ideas have been "floating" around, she said.

"I don't know what's going to happen," she said.

Myron P. Medcalf • 651-298-1546 • mmedcalf@startribune.com