Four firefighters will be dismissed and placed on Chicago’s do-not-hire list for padding their mileage reports, Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Robert Hoff said today. The decision was a response to an investigation by city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson that found 54 firefighters in the Fire Prevention Bureau falsified their mileage reimbursements to the tune of $100,000 in 2009. Continue reading after the jump.
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Ferguson recommended that all of the firefighters be let go. Mayor Rahm Emanuel previously had agreed the accused firefighters misused taxpayer money, but said he was frustrated it could cost more to fire them than they racked up in reimbursements.
Hoff decided to give 43 of the other firefighters, who had “otherwise clean disciplinary records,†unpaid suspensions ranging from 30 to 60 days. A 30-day suspension equates to an average out-of-pocket loss of approximately $6,000.
Six other firefighters who were investigated chose to retire. One person is on vacation through the end of the month, which is when their disciplinary action will be decided.
The city’s legal department will look at the cases to figure out whether the city can recoup the money.
The four firefighters who were let go previously were fired in 2008 for accepting or facilitating cash payments in exchange for making weekend pump inspections at high-rises. The inspectors got their jobs back after their cases went through arbitration, but were told if they had another infraction they would be terminated, according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
“Nobody walked on this. There’s no slap on the wrist here by any means,†Langford said. “All of the accused were guilty. The person closest to total falsification got the most serious end of it versus the person who got caught up and padded mileage reports.â€
Firefighters assigned to the bureau use their personal vehicles to get to and from inspections. The inspector general’s office detected fraud by comparing the reported mileage to the actual distance between addresses.
Gregory Boggs, president of Chicago’s African-American Firefighters and Paramedics League, said the firefighters union will fight the terminations.
“Hopefully, it will end up with nobody getting terminated,†Boggs said. He noting the discipline “definitely could have been worse.â€
Shortly after he became commissioner last year, Hoff issued an order to tighten mileage reimbursement, including spot checks of actual mileage readouts. While those changes addressed the process, they did not deal “with the root of the problem — the culture†in the bureau, Hoff said in a statement on Thursday.
Hoff already made changes at the leadership level in response to the investigation. Mileage will be closely monitored with regular reviews of odometer readings. Mapping techniques also will be used when supervisors conduct cursory checks, Langford said.
The Fire Prevention Bureau has 115 positions and an $8.1 million budget. The average salary for inspectors is $80,000.
Ferguson also recommended that the city consider disbanding the bureau and replacing it with civilian employees. Hoff said he declined that recommendation because union rules prohibit it and it did not address the allegations of fake mileage reports.
