Racism Allegations: East Lake Fire Chief Wants Independent Investigation

East Lake Fire Rescue Chief Tom Jamison is calling for an independent organization to investigate allegations of racist and inappropriate behavior within his organization.

The allegations involve East Lake Fire Rescue Lieutenants Bill Figueredo and James Finley and East Lake Fire Commission Chairman Mark Weinkrantz. The men are involved in an assortment of accusations against each other that includes racist text messages, discriminatory behavior and Nazi salutes. 

"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 on Wednesday.

East Lake Fire Rescue Commissioners will also hold a special meeting Monday, May 6 to discuss the situation. 

Chief Jamison explained how the controversy unfolded.

"The initial allegation was that Lt. Figueredo performed a Nazi salute to the chairman of the commission Mark Weinkrantz," said Jamison.

The chief says the alleged incident happened Dec. 19, 2012, in the fire station hallway (not Dec. 20, as Weinkrantz stated in his complaint).

Patch obtained the complaint Weinkrantz made against Figueredo. An excerpt is below-

In this particular case, the form of harassment involved Lt. Figuerdo and myself. On December, 20, 2012, I was in the hallway of station 57 when a staff meeting broke up. I was standing in the doorway of Chief Genarro's office, when Lt. Figuerdo passed. Upon recognizing me he paused, turned, and initiated a "Nazi salute" in my direction. I immediately responded by saying: Do you have any idea how offensive that is to a Jewish person? Lt. Figuerdo laughed it off and after a brief exchange, wherein I pointed out how the type of behavior was unacceptable, he went to the back of the station and I conducted my business in the offices. This exchange has gnawed at me since. To do nothing might demonstrate that nay type of "hate" behavior will be tolerated in the workplace. The trigger to initiate this complaint came with knowledge that Lt. Figueredo routinely uses derogatory terms when referring to Jews and/or me. -East Lake Fire Commission Chairman Mark Weinkrantz

The fire chief says a second alleged incident was documented by Lt. James Finley, who reported that Figueredo had made disparaging remarks about minorities and Chairman Mark Weinkrantz. Jamison added that neither of the allegations has any supporting witnesses.

Figueredo was later demoted from lieutenant. Chief Jamison explained why.

"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 then filed a grievance with the hopes of overturning the demotion. Jamison says the department followed the standard four-step operating procedure for grievances and that Figueredo had completed all steps except number four, which was to bring his concerns before fire commissioners, which he did during the April 23 meeting.

When speaking before fire commissioners, the demoted lieutenant brought up allegations against his accusers, Finley and Weinkrantz.  

Patch obtained a copy of Figueredo's complaint. In the document, Figueredo denied the allegations against him and added that he was offended by the accusations because his father, brothers and a sister are Jewish and observed both Jewish and Christian religions while growing up. An excerpt from Figueredo's complaint is below-

The running joke throughout my career here in East Lake has been that although I'm not the token black guy, I am the token Mexican. Racial statements have been made from Mr. Finley and also Mr. Weinkrantz.

The commissioner has harassed me from the day I told him I would not support him personally as I did not believe in his platform. His statement to me was, "aren't you Hispanic or something?" and when I replied "yes", he stated, "Oh and you're a  Republican? How can you be a minority and support a war-monger like George Bush?" -East Lake Fire Lieutenant Bill Figueredo

Figueredo also claimed that Weinkrantz told him he was going to fire him.

In passing, whether it be at Publix or Starbucks or the YMCA or the fire house, he would ask how my job search was going, that he was going to fire me, but I shouldn't worry because "he will put in a letter of recommendation with the lawn maintenance company and the local restaurants because people of my kind should work lawn maintenance, be washing dishes or clean people's houses".

At times, when I brought this up in conversation with Chief Jamison, his response to me was, "Fig, pick your battles." -East Lake Fire Lieutenant Bill Figueredo

In the document, Figueredo also claimed Finley made racist statements against him.

Mr. Finley has called me the dirty Puerto Rican, the gay Puerto Rican, the dirty Mexican, gay Mexican and also dirty Cuban. -East Lake Fire Lieutenant Bill Figueredo

Figueredo also said Finley had sent offensive text messages to him on Dec. 20 and Weinkrantz once made gave him a set of pink dumbbells.

Furthermore, while I was on duty at Station 56, Mr. Weinkrantz showed up and delivered a pair of hot pink dumbbells stating, "the reason he bought me hot pink ones was because I'm a faggot and real men don't play tennis". -East Lake Fire Lieutenant Bill Figueredo

Chief Jamison said Wednesday that when Figuerdo spoke before commissioners it was the first time anyone had heard these accusations.

"Mr. Figuerdo then presented new information which he had not brought forth before, allegations dealing with harassment and a discriminatory environment. 

We had no prior documentation to that from him, none was brought forth in the informal inquiry and informal investigation, none was brought forth before discipline was handed out, none was brought forth during step two of the grievance process, none was brought forth during step three of the grievance process. Now at step four, suddenly this new information surfaces," said Jamison.

The fire chief is hoping next Monday's fire commission meeting will provide some answers about dealing with this difficult situation.

"What I intend to ask the board Monday night is how they wish for us to proceed with that investigation," Jamison said.

The East Lake Fire Department is also taking steps to improve working relationships among staff. Jamison says the station is partnering with Pinellas County's Office of Human Rights to bring in an educator on the issue of diversity in the workplace.

"We are proactively moving forward with a sensitivity training program," he said.

What do you think should be done about the situation? Let us know in the comments section below.

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