BRENHAM CITY MANAGER RESPONDS TO STATEMENT FROM FAMILY OF BRENHAM FIRE CHIEF

  

Brenham City Manager James Fisher has issued a response to the statement provided by the daughter of Brenham Fire Chief Ricky Boeker concerning his early retirement.

After Amanda Landry provided a statement on Saturday discussing what led to the city’s decision to pursue early retirement options with Boeker and her opinion on the matter, Fisher released his own statement this (Monday) afternoon explaining his reasoning for the city going this direction.

In his statement, Fisher explains that he has “consistently” been provided information revealing concerns about the fire department’s ability to respond to incidents, the availability of paid and volunteer personnel, and other “critical issues.”  He says these issues were addressed in several discussions with Boeker over the past few years, and ultimately led to a meeting and a memo being provided to Boeker on March 15^th regarding the status of these issues.  Fisher says he feels a new leader was needed to “move the department forward to meet the expectations of a growing community.”

In the memo given to Boeker, Fisher expresses concerns that 12 years after the department began adding full-time staff, the fire department is “still struggling with the transition to a full-time paid department that incorporates the skills, service and heart of volunteers.”  According to Fisher, the department has 18 paid positions and 20 active volunteers, comprised of 15 command personnel, nine apparatus operators and 14 firefighters.  Fisher says this model is “not sustainable” and that more of an emphasis should be put on firefighters, not commanding officers.  He also says the department should be utilizing its volunteers and encouraging them through training exercises with paid staff to be ready for incidents and to fill paid openings if they are interested.

Fisher also says in the memo that there have been communication issues between the city and the fire department in knowing what equipment needs to be replaced in any given year.  He points to when the city suggested in 2015 that the department replace half of its Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) tanks at a time to reduce the financial impact to the budget.  He says the department applied—but failed to receive—a federal grant in the 2020-21 Fiscal Year, leaving the city to attempt to find $500,000 in unbudgeted funding to purchase the SCBAs.

Fisher, according to the memo, says there are two phrases that have been said to him that he feels are part of the culture at the fire department: “If downtown catches fire, we will set up defensive position and watch it burn, trying to prevent it from spreading” and “we are a one incident department.”  He called the comments “alarming,” though he did not attribute them to any particular source.  He says, “It appears we are coasting and that is not acceptable.  Something needs to change.”

In Landry’s statement, she says Fisher called Boeker during last month’s winter storm to help his family after their home suffered a busted pipe.  Fisher says Boeker was not the only person he called, adding that he reached out to neighbors and other people to turn off the water and help out however they could.  He noted that he was out of the state before the beginning of the winter storm, as he had flown to North Carolina on Friday, February 12^th to visit with his son who is in the US Marine Corps.  After he was unable to secure a flight out of the state for several days, he began driving home Wednesday, February 17^th.

KWHI has asked Fisher when Boeker was informed of the city’s intent to move on, if Fisher is seeking to add more paid firefighters to staff, what forms of training exercises are done for city firefighters, if funding for the SCBA replacements was requested but not included in the city’s final budget, and who is attributed to the quotes he references in the memo.

Fisher's full statement can be seen below.

First, I would like to address the severe winter storm that impacted our community and State February 13 – 19, 2021. I flew to North Carolina on Friday, February 12^th to visit with my son who is in the US Marine Corps. The main purpose of my visit was to help him with options as he transitions out of the Marines in the summer of 2022. We were looking at educational and career ideas for him to consider. One of the reasons is if the military has a career training program available that he would like to pursue after his military service, he can apply for that during his final year of service. He may or may not get in, but at least it is a possibility. I was scheduled to fly back early Monday morning. I was monitoring the weather here and was in regular, ongoing contact with my staff members. My flight home was canceled Monday morning, Tuesday and Wednesday. Once it became clear that I would not be able to get a flight out of North Carolina, I began driving home on Wednesday. I was in consistent contact with my staff regarding the situation in Brenham. In regards to my own home, when the pipes burst at my house, I contacted multiple people to come, turn off the water and help in any way that they could. Yes, I also contacted Ricky Boeker. My neighbors responded immediately and were beyond gracious and helpful (They went above and beyond in helping my wife and mitigating the damage). Everyone needs neighbors like mine! My house had multiple pipes break and damage was extensive. A claim was filed with my insurance company and we waited for repairs to begin. A friend sent over their maintenance man to patch what he could so we could at least have running water. Eventually, we were able to get a plumber over to fix the broken pipes and completely restore water to my residence. I have the invoices and insurance claim if you still want proof. Hopefully this week, all of the repairs will be completed and some normalcy can begin to return.

Second, in regards to the Brenham Fire Department. Ricky Boeker is great man and has done a lot for our community. I have never said otherwise and hence, the reasons for the separation agreement discussions. However, as City Manager I am responsible to this community and when I consistently learn information revealing issues concerning the Fire Department’s ability to respond to incidents, availability of personnel (paid and volunteer), and other critical issues, I must act accordingly. These issues were addressed in numerous discussions with Chief Boeker over the last couple of years, ultimately resulting in a meeting and a memo to Chief Boeker on March 15^th concerning the status of these issues. I felt a new leader was needed to move the Department forward to meet the expectations of a growing community.

Finally, I know that many do not care for me because I am not from Brenham. I am considered a “big city” manager because I came from the metroplex, where in reality I have managed communities 20,000 or less almost all of my career. I followed a good man (he is also a friend of mine) who served Brenham for 18 years and I knew that following him would not be easy. I have made some hard decisions during my first three years, but I assure you that the decisions were made in the best interests of the community after numerous discussions with the Mayor/City Council, staff and members of the community. Brenham is a fantastic community, it is located in a prime spot for opportunity of growth, economically and population. It is important that as we grow, we do not lose the foundation that has made our community a special place to live, work and play. I also want you to know that we still have some hard decisions in front of us that will involve serious discussions about the necessity, timing and funding of certain projects. Let me be clear, the City is on a solid financial foundation, our recent (and past) Annual Financial Report affirms the City’s stability. However, we have some projects that to address them prudently and correctly, may require some type of debt financing to completely address. The City has been working on a rolling 5 year Capital Projects program that addresses large projects/needs, how they could be funded and a timeline for funding. The staff first addressed these at a City Council Retreat in Fall 2018, began working on them in 2019, put the brakes on in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic  and are resuming work on them in 2021. The City is preparing for our tomorrow’s by planning today and asking the hard questions along the way.