Watson, Broadnax strike back at fire union prez

Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nicks' extraordinary excoriation of Fire Chief Joel Baker over the department's response to the flooding disaster has prompted equally extraordinary public rebukes from City Manager T.C. Broadnax and Mayor Kirk Watson – both of whom rejected calls to fire Baker and accused Nicks of politicizing an ongoing tragedy.

Here is Broadnax's statement:

“It is disappointing that the Firefighters Association would make these allegations and consider such a vote [of no-confidence in Baker], especially while these communities continue to grieve and recover. It’s even more disheartening how quickly the Association’s claims spread because so many people are ready to place blame. The City of Austin, and the Austin Fire Department in particular, have a very long track record of supporting and sending aid to neighboring communities in need. To be clear, I continue to have confidence in Chief Baker and remain committed to listening and working with both the Chief and the Fire Association to ensure that the Austin Fire Department is able to continue supporting our neighbors while protecting our local community.”

Here is Watson's:

I'm very disappointed in Bob. In this awful time, he shouldn't be politicizing this horrible loss by making it part of budget negotiations and the collective bargaining with the union. Unlike Bob, I actually talked to Chief Nim Kidd, the Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, over the weekend. In one of our talks, I asked Chief Kidd if he was getting all he needed from Austin and if there was anything else he needed. He characterized Austin's response as "above and beyond".I'm proud of our public safety pros. They are heroic. They are ready to help elsewhere. And they are ready to help us here at home. And I support our Fire Chief.

Broadnax's statement appears to conflict with the narrative that Nicks presented at the press conference he organized yesterday, where he claimed the city manager's office hadn't known that Baker resisted deploying firefighters to Kerrville.

"The city manager’s office said, 'Bob if we would have known that deployments (requests) came, we would have absolutely approved them,'" said Nicks.

Nicks also said the person "running the boat crews in Kerrville" was a retired Austin firefighter.

"He’s calling and other rescuers are calling, saying ‘Why aren’t you guys here?'” Nicks recalled.

Today I asked Nicks for the name of that person. He said the person works for Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), the organization that oversees Texas A&M Taskforce 1, the statewide urban search and rescue group. He declined to give me the name of the person out of fear that they would face professional retaliation.

So far, Nicks and the firefighters union are not getting much backup at City Hall. Few are willing to speak on the record but off-the-record many dismiss the union's attempt to oust Baker as having more to do with ongoing grievances over budget and staffing than the chief's response to the floods.

Nicks insists that is not the case. At yesterday's press conference, however, he quickly veered into disagreements with the chief that weren't related to the flood response.

Right after highlighting the order the chief gave a month ago suspending out-of-town deployments, Nicks displayed another June memo from the chief that proposed two staffing changes opposed by the union. First, Baker suggested taking six fire engines (typically staffed by four firefighters) out of service, replacing them with pickup trucks staffed by two firefighters each. Second, the chief proposed moving 42 firefighters who are currently in administrative or training positions back into the field. The first idea was nixed by the city manager after lobbying from the union, but the second has been implemented.

Nicks characterized both moves as threats to public safety aimed at reducing the overtime budget. Many of those working in administrative jobs had to move there because of injuries or mental health problems caused by the stress of operations, he said.

To his critics, this is evidence that Nicks' real goal here is to get more overtime pay opportunities for his members.

To Nicks, however, the story he's telling is consistent: the fire chief has been hellbent on cutting costs and the Kerrville response was just the most egregious instance of it.

I reached out to former Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday to get his read on the situation. "Something is not right if Bob got that upset," said Casaday by text.

Nicks made another statement last night in response to Watson (but not Broadnax): "If Mayor Watson chooses to discredit the Firefighters for speaking truth to power, then so be it. Our faith and allegiance is first to the citizens that we are sworn to protect."

When I asked Nicks about the response closer to home in the Austin area, where at least 14 have died, he had no criticisms. AFD participated in the response in the surrounding area, per an agreement with neighboring jurisdictions.

"Sometimes people die even when you have the best response," he said. "There was no delay in getting to those areas."

The firefighters association has begun an online no-confidence vote in the chief. It will end Friday at 4 p.m.

In the coming days, I'll delve further into what this conflict says about state and local fiscal policy. The bottom line is that we are now living in an era of state-imposed austerity where conflicts over resources will become more frequent, likely pitting employee groups against each other.

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