The Apopka City Council, at its April 5th meeting, voted 3-2 on a motion to express no-confidence in Apopka Fire Chief Sean Wylam, concluding there is a lack of transparency and clear direction. The council advised removing Wylam from his position.
The decision came after the president of the firefighter’s union, Alex Klepper, presented a four-phase plan to improve the AFD. The plan's second phase suggested a change in the fire department's management team.
"We have a fire chief who has shown extreme difficulty with communication, planning, execution, and listening to the needs of his department," said Klepper. "Those are the top things you should have in that role."
Earlier during the council meeting, Wylam shared a presentation about fire safety training updates. He announced Engineer Cody Bennet as the Apopka Fire Department health and fitness coordinator, who will now manage the department's health-related program.
"Engineer Cody Bennet has completed the required training for the IAFF wellness ambassador and ISSA personal trainer and nutritionist courses to become our fire department's health and fitness coordinator," said Wylam. "This is a new position for Cody, and it's something we are really excited about."
Wylam said they would send two more department members to the International Sports Sciences Association to complete the required courses to become peer fitness trainers and work alongside Bennet.
"Once certified, they are going to assist engineer Bennet with managing our health and related fitness programs," said Wylam.
The firefighter fitness program, NFPA 1583, consists of annual fitness assessments for all members, an exercise training program, education and counseling regarding health promotion, and a process for collecting and maintaining health-related fitness program data.
Wylam said the department's goal is to reach NFPA 1500, a fire department occupational safety, health, and wellness standard. He explained that the plan would take at least three years to accomplish.
"This standard is on a five-year revision cycle, as are most NFPA standards, and this standard particularly incorporates 75 other documents, 56 of which are other NFPA standards," said Wylam.
Throughout March, the AFD staff participated in safety training courses. These included 40 hours of hands-on aerial operations, pediatric trauma training taught by the head of the emergency room and trauma surgeon from Arnold Palmer Hospital, and air care training taught by flight medics and nursing staff from the Air Care team.
Wylam also informed that all department members completed their annual physical with My Heath Onsite clinic and their annual physical agility test between March 20 and 22.
"We do have a few makeups with PTOS and people being off and things like that, so to date, we are moving forward with that," said Wylam.
The fire department facility also conducted mold and quality air tests at stations one, two, three, and four last week.
"We are still awaiting results. I'm going to review those to see if there's any remediation that needs to be accomplished with those stations," said Wylam.
Commissioner Nick Nesta said the fire department must promptly report the results to the Apopka City Council to prevent unforeseen spending.
"I just want to make sure when we get the results that we are actively and quickly taking care of this, said Nesta. "It can be costly, and I want to make sure that we are not waiting for a new budget or anything like that. Let's make sure we're jumping on that immediately."
Klepper said that Wylam has lied in multiple public statements about expense coverages, training programs, and completion of recommendations.
"There is too much, half truthing, sugar coating and just flat out lying going on, and it doesn't help or add any value to any discussions or movements going forward," said Klepper.
At the end of the eight-hour meeting, Klepper explained to the City Council that things would stay the same unless there is a change in the management team.
The motion to remove Wylam was made by Commissioner Kyle Becker and supported by Nesta and Commissioner Diane Velazquez, while Mayor Bryan Nelson and Commissioner Alexander Smith voted against it.
Becker said to Nelson that it's important to listen to the opinion of the staff members of the fire department.
"There is no more compelling evidence, I mean, the membership, this council has taken a strong voice and said no confidence, we have to respect that," said Becker. "It's not politics here. It's people's lives."
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JimNisbet
Boy the union chief is really casting stones here. I'm still waiting on answers to questions I asked some time ago.
"For example, based on what I've read the sand truck was universally deemed unsafe to use or maintain. Where are the vehicle maintenance records on this? Who was the supervisor charged with the condition of this vehicle? Was the Chief provided this information by the people charged with using and maintaining this vehicle? Why was this vehicle not removed from service? What are the unions standards with regards to operating unsafe equipment? Or equipment you lack training to operate? At what point can a union member say "That's not safe to do and I'm not doing it," and why didn't that happen? Who is responsible for that CRITICAL training? When to say no? Again, I'm not trying to blame you or anyone else. But we need to understand a problem to fix a problem right? These are hard questions, but they need answers."
Where can I read the Gannon report? The snippets I have seen show a number of issues that are simply not the Chief or mayors fault. Aside from trying to get everybody fired, what is the union doing to improve things?
Too much finger pointing and no accountability at any lower levels. I'm not buying it.
Friday, April 7, 2023 Report this
Richard
Jim, I would assume the critical training that did not occur on this piece of equipment when it was put back in service is the responsibility of the Fire Chief or his designated trainer. There lies the problem. There was no Training Director for almost 4 years under this current administration. Wylam was the Training Director before he was promoted to Chief. That position was never filled during this administration. Why is the question ? Like Wylam said in the last meeting. The buck stops with him. His communication coach probably told him to say that.
Friday, April 7, 2023 Report this
JimNisbet
Richard, respectfully (and I do genuinely mean that), your answer is just not good enough. The union simply does not get a free pass on this. The middle management and people responsible for this vehicles, and for this young man's training do not get a pass. Why are these firemen paying dues to a union that is not interested in finding the answers to the straight forward questions I've put forward? Because it's just easier to blame the guy at the top than to admit that you may have also failed in protecting this young man. Others have accountability here, most likely more so than the chief. No, this whole situation wreaks to high heaven, and I will not accept that it's all the Chief's fault, because it is not. To accept that it's all the Chief's fault is to also accept that the union has -0- safety protocols in place, provides -0- training on when a fireman should step back from a situation, provides -0- training for their firemen, and provides -0- HR type training for their members. if this is the case, why do they even exist? To collect dues and get Chief's fired? I sure hope the members of the union are getting more benefit than that, but no one will answer my questions. Curious. .
Friday, April 7, 2023 Report this