The following comment was left on another thread. It is worth re-posting as a stand alone thread.
Trish Rudden said...
"I am biased, for sure, working for the Chief of Police and Fire. However, I have worked with him for over 10 years, and am still impressed with his ability to manage a diverse group of people without quelling their need to be individuals and express their opinion at the same time. Just because Ernie Horn does not have Fire experience does not mean he cannot manage that Department, its budget or its members. I realize that the "title" of Fire Chief put many people in town on edge -- he hadn't been trained in it or earned it. However, he has rebuilt the Department from scratch and it functions well, and in the process he has not only learned a lot, but has also gone to bat for the Department in front of Town Meeting and the FinComm. I'm tired of listening to this group still complaining about a decision that is almost one year old now. No matter what the Chief does, it's not the way they would have done it, or not the way it should have been done, or not my way, or not your way. So what? It's the way it is: different? probably; wrong? he'd be the first to admit if it were; progressive? You bet."
Well Trish thank you for that post. The battle over the Fire Chief’s job was a huge political football for many years. It began with the resignation of Chief Deluca and continued for more than a decade. During those years the fire department suffered from neglect, waste, incompetence, theft, more waste, more incompetence and finally an outright insurrection. All of these things were the result of just one thing… LACK OF MANAGEMENT.
Whatever criticism anyone can conceive for Chief Horn no one can fault him for his management skills. To his credit he never publicly reveled how bad things were in the Fire Department nor did he ever compromise the security or public image of the Police Department before he got the Chief’s position. He just fixed the problems, and they were all people problems. (The worst kind)
All that said understand this; the man has an ego the size of Lake Superior and if he ever falters it will be as a result of hubris. He appears to control that ego very well these days. Let’s hope he continues.
In the meantime Mendon could do no better than Ernie Horn as a Public Safety Czar.
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6 comments:
Are you people soft???? That man has know skill, Well let me rephrase that hes a con man... The man can manipulate anything to his benifit. People problems with the fire department? Where was I when all these problems became apperent? The problems in the paper and on the radio...come on people havent you ever heard the saying, "beleive only half of what u see and none of what you hear" There is more to all this than meets the eye. I think those members on the dept did and outstanding job, they got kicked in the teeth and kept showing up. I commend them for taking a stand on something they all beleived in. I think that one can only have their professionalism and integrity questioned so many times before they fight back. Those guys could not have been more professional in the way they handled things. The call guys gave a 2 week notice before they quit and the full time guys did as well. So the if you call a complete turn over in the staff of a department , I dont care what business you are in, that to me spells poor management. Also a good manager encourages his staff to work as a team. Every thing I ever heard on the radio was that of a one man team. A good manager would never go out in public (WMRC) and bash his employees but I guess I went to a different school on that one. Well if you call that good management so beit I call it just doing what he was told to do...
You can't fault his management skills? All hail the czar of Public Safety!Please. Can you pass the Koolaid? What problems were fixed? Was it too many people allready trained with tax payer money? Like any group of people their were good and bad employees in the other dept. A good manager would utilize the strengths of their group and have them work on their weaknesses.
Just because it has been one year doesn't mean it should not still be questioned.Are we suppose to be impressed because he is doing his job? Fire Chief should be more than a "title". Their are some really great managers at "Quicky Mart". It does not mean they are qualified or should be a Fire Chief. Who else was interviewed?(besides the guy who investigated and pointed out all the "issues")
A reduction in press releases would also be nice. Every time the Fire Dept does anything it is in the paper.I personally am disgusted with the amount of "press releases".
I am sick of everyone pretending we have the best possible Fire Chief. He is well qualified and deserved a shot at the Police Chief job. However, this should not make him immune to the standards we want for every other non-elected town position. It is very hypocritical on the part of some to talk out of one side of their mouth about how the "cronies" will hire someone who is not the most qualified for a non -elected position and the other side about how we have the best running Police/Fire. After all, the "cronies" hired Chief Horn to both positions.
Can we change the sign at the Providence St Hartford Ave intersection now? It is only a matter of time before someone kills themselves there.I figured when the right-of-way changed the sign would.
One last thing, I encourage everyone to look at the original post and read all of the previous
threads. "Hanging Gardens", in the interest of making it easier for a democratic discussion to take place,could you reference the location of the original thread so people's (Trish's in this case) comments are not taking out of context.
I would like to end the post thanking Trish,the old fire dept, new fire dept, and Chiefs Horn as I am sure they are all sincere in their efforts.
Terry G. Your point on context is well taken. Trish Rudder’s original comment was under the The DOR Report vs. Cronies R US thread.
You are welcome to your opinion of the current management construct of the police and fire department. It is certainly something that needs close watching and public discussion.
The model that was created in Mendon by appointing Horn Chief of both departments is unique. It had and is still having ramifications all over Massachusetts. It is a bastardization of creating a public safety commissioner. The selectmen didn’t go that root because they would have had to go to the voters and then the state legislature. That group, (Shaheen, O’Brien and Cutler) did not want the town to vote on the issue. They think they are smarter than the rest of us. So rather than do it the right way they did what they did and left people all over Massachusetts scratching their heads. They also created a huge problem down the road should horn resign or when the contract ends several years from now.
Is it working? At this point it appears to be. Is it saving money? Probably not. Is Chief Horn a great manager? Absolutely.
What should we do about it? There should be a move to create the position of Public Safety Commissioner the normal way.
The hiring of Chief Horn for both positions was neither a stroke of brilliance or cronyism by the selectmen. He was the obvious choice for police chief. When the fire chief’s job opened up the selectmen were horrified by what they saw. They panicked and jumped on the first opportunity to solve the problems. So much for thinking things thru.
That’s our opinion.
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WHAT DID THEY SEE??? A fully trained fire department, which I might add the tax payers spent alot of money training. No one has talked about the problems. They are just adding fuel to ernies HUGE ego. Tell me what degrees Ernie has in management. I will agree that the managers of any local "Quicky Mart" dont have to have a degree but the leader in a fire or police department should have one. When the town agreed to have a full time fire chief they opened it up to outside and the town had applicants from NJ. Then the police chief retired the town just gave it to horn. So when the town decides to go with a DPW instead of how its run now, sorry Alan U lose ernie got that in the bag too.
Strong leadership is what drives a town. Earnie may not have the lambskin, but the lack of the degree doesn't seem to stop him from being effective.
I may not agree with Ernie all the time, but at least the BS from the fire department has been shut down.
Mendon needs strong leadership. NOW we need to boot the selectman and put in someone who KNOWs what the feck to do. I am not advocating Ernie for this post ;)
So piss off all you Ernie-nay sayers! The jobs is getting done and done well IMHO!
Muddy Hollow
Let's get the facts -- how many of the old Fire regime were certified firefighters, or completed FF101 (or whatever it's called)? How many were EMTs? How many were Paramedics? How many were certified on a ladder? How many attended the fire academy?
Let's compare apples to apples here without innuendo. Were they all "well-trained" with on-the-job training or professional training?
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