Two MOFD Employees Fired for Bogus Citations
of Candidate and Supporting Neighbors
For those unaware, the usually-sleepy MOFD Director elections are getting a bit hot, with three union-funded candidates competing for seats against independent residents. A good overview of the candidates and their backgrounds is here: CoCoTimes/SJ Mercury News
Two weeks ago, two MOFD employees used department systems without authorization in order to look up at least one and possibly as many as six candidates running for the MOFD board, then conducted unauthorized inspections at the home of one non-union-funded candidate, Lucy Talbot in Division 4, and the homes of her immediate neighbors displaying her campaign signs.
The two uniformed MOFD employees who conducted the unauthorized inspections subsequently issued issued citations and abatement notices that would have cost the homeowners a substantial amount for compliance.
At last week’s MOFD Board meeting, Fire Chief Dave Winnacker informed the Board that the citations were issued in the absence of any actual violations, the entire episode violated internal procedure and protocol, the activities were unauthorized, and the two MOFD employees had been terminated.