East Lake Fire Rescue Racism Allegations on Special Meeting Agenda

East Lake Fire Commissioners will hold a special meeting Monday evening, May 6, to discuss claims of racism and inappropriate behavior at East Lake Fire Rescue.

Racist text messages, Nazi salutes and discriminatory behavior are among the allegations that will be discussed.  Lieutenants Bill Figueredo and James Finley and East Lake Fire Commission Chairman Mark Weinkrantz are involved in the accusations (read a detailed story about the alleged misbehavior). 

East Lake Fire Rescue Chief Tom Jamison said that claims involving Lieutenant Figueredo were investigated in accordance with union and fire station rules and Figueredo was not found to have discriminated against a fellow employee or harassed another employee.

However, Figuerdo was punished for violating the following East Lake Fire Rescue standard operating procedures, according to documents obtained by Patch-

• #105 professional image
• #303 truthfulness/cooperation
• #308 insubordination
• #402 cooperation with internal investigation/personnel investigation

"Mr. Figueredo was not punished for any harassing or discriminatory behavior. Mr. Figueredo was punished for insubordinate behavior toward a superior in the organization and also for what we thought was not being forthcoming during the course of the investigation," Jamison told Patch on Wednesday.

Figueredo was demoted from lieutenant to driver-engineer, a position which has an annual salary of $66,335.31. He was also placed on administrative leave for March 22, 2013. He is also not eligible to act in a higher position nor can he be promoted to lieutenant for one year.

Figuerdo is fighting the punishment and during a recent fire commission meeting he denied the allegations against him and said his accusers, Finley and Weinkrantz had made racist and discriminatory statements toward him.

Jamison says this was the first time anyone had heard about the Figuerdo's claims. Jamison wants an independent agency to investigate all of the allegations.

"We believe that an investigation should be conducted by an independent group, so that we can have an unbiased opinion as to what truly exists in this department as far as any discriminatory or racially charged behavior," Jamison told Patch.

"It's an issue that is very frictious. The investigation will prove out what is there or not, as far as these allegations go. 

Certainly, anything that happens within an organization that I sit at the helm of is disturbing to me and I'm sure it's disturbing to the people that work here as well, to know that such things might possibly exist in our ranks," he said.

Monday's East Lake Fire Rescue Commission Meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Fire Station 57, which is located at 3375 Tarpon Lake Boulevard, in Palm Harbor.

What do you think should be done? Share your opinion in the comments section below.

Related-

• Racism Allegations: East Lake Fire Chief Wants Independent Investigation 

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