Chief Human Resources Officer Ed Sisson complained that “(Deputy Fire Chief) Glover and (Fire Chief) Schmitt handled raise requests for the battalion chiefs poorly, and then improperly tried to place the blame on Sisson.”
As with other complaints by the Chief Human Resources Officer, much of this issue involves the lack of clarity of the Sisson’s role in the Pensacola Fire Department chain-of-command. The issue of raise requests for the battalion chiefs began in May 2015. According to the organization chart for FY 2015, the fire department reports directly to City Administrator Eric Olson. Human Resources is listed below PFD on the chart – 2015 chart.
In his conclusion for this section, Beggs & Lane attorney Russell Van Sickle stated, “I find that there is blame to go around to all on this issue. Glover and Schmitt should have followed the process described by Sisson, as opposed to merely sending signed Personnel Action forms with no meeting request or even a phone call. On seeing these Personnel Action forms, Sisson should have informed Glover and Schmitt that nothing would be done with them if he was going to do nothing with them…I find that Olson should have informed Schmitt of the amount of funds that could be allocated earlier.”
He added, “This investigation makes no conclusions regarding whether the battalion chiefs should have received the 5% increases, or some other increase.”
Better communication, clearer lines of authority, and written procedures would have avoided this problem. Read Battalion Chiefs.