Irving Fire Chief Mario Molina was placed on administrative leave this past week. The reason has not been publicized. The City of Irving released the following statement via email:
"The City of Irving has placed Mario Molina, Chief of the Irving Fire Department, on temporary administrative leave for a pending personnel matter. In accordance with our city policies, we cannot provide details until this matter is resolved.
Assistant Fire Chief Victor Conley has been appointed Acting Fire Chief.
We are confident our fire fighters will continue to perform their duties with the highest level of professionalism. Maintaining the safety of Irving's residents will continue to be our highest priority."
Although the City has not issued the real reason behind this move, there is some speculation that it was due to an internal investigation into the Chief's manipulation of numbers that made him look good.
Back in February, news media reported that on the Chief's manipulation of response times to fires. The FBI has also been involved in an investigation into Chief Molina's contract negotiations with former Mayor Herbert Gears. The FBI has not confirmed or denied their involvement.
Channel 8 News reported that "crews fighting an apartment fire in Irving had to be warned. The building was a loss, and it was time to get out.... Irving firefighters at the scene openly wondered if the building could have been saved if an additional person had been assigned to each truck - and if the Irving Fire Department hadn't taken the biggest budget hit of any city department in the past two years."
At that time, the City Council was promised some changes and answers to their questions by Chief Molina. It is not clear whether they received these answers as the Chief promised and if that resulted in being put on administrative leave.
Complaints against Chief Molina are not new. In fact, the City had been informed about problems within the fire department since early last year.
In a three-page letter sent last summer to City Manager, Tommy Gonzalez, the International Association of Fire Fighters addressed their concerns about Chief Molina's actions.
"Since arriving at the Irving Fire Department, he [Molina] oversaw the unlawful termination of a fire lieutenant, in which the employee was reinstated after a lengthy court battle, and handled a heavily criticized promotional process. The Irving Fire Fighters Association, IAFF Local 2073, has noted the failure of Chief Molina to adequately staff fire prevention positions, the failure to fill vacant positions, the regular use of on-duty response companies to perform public relations events, the elimination of public safety programs, and the exclusion of senior, experienced fire officers in planning for the department."
The letter adds, "In August, the membership met to consider a vote of no confidence against Chief Molina." After Molina asked for a "second chance", the membership gave him that opportunity.
Unfortunately the letter states that Chief Molina has singled out several local members for mistreatment and discipline. It goes on to accuse the Chief of having made threatening comments to those that had supported the motion to conduct a vote of no confidence against him.
"Battalion Chief Heidle Baskin and Assistant Chief Ricky Boyd were eventually targeted for discharge and demotion, respectively - but these retaliatory disciplines were eventually reversed by the Chief himself. Remarkably, it appears from news accounts that Chief Molina attempted to negotiate a long-term employment contract with Mayor Gears in exchange for reducing the disciplinary penalty against Battalion Chief Baskin."
Harold A. Schaitberger, General President, ends the letter by stating, "Chief Molina's performance has strained the morale of the department and raised questions about his leadership. In April, Local 2073 members conducted a vote on Chief Molina's performance. Overwhelmingly, Irving fire fighters concluded that Chief Molina should not continue as the department's fire chief."
