By Tom Weber & Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – As the St. Louis Fire Department's acting fire chief spent his first day on the job making promotions Tuesday, African-American civic leaders were threatening Mayor Francis Slay with a wave of political fallout for demoting the city's first black fire chief.
Chief Sherman George was demoted from chief to deputy chief on Monday.
John Moten of the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable would not specify what reaction the black community could leverage, but expected some response by the end of the week: "We are mobilizing the community to do some things in the future."
"All of the options we have available are on the table at this time and at this point that is as much as we would like to say until we finally formulate our strategy."
Mayor Slay says he's not concerned about political backlash. "I want to make sure when there's a fire, the very best firefighters are out there fighting the fire, and the very best captains and battalion chiefs are on the scene directing them and leading them," Slay said Tuesday.
"What I want to do from my standpoint, is get the promotions made, and then and only then can we move on with addressing the crux of the problem here - what do we need to do to address the racial divide within the department?"
Acting Fire Chief Steve Kotraba on Tuesday started issuing the promotions George refused to make.
Five vacancies at the position of battalion chief have been filled. There was also some history; Gail Simpson was sworn in as the first female battalion chief in department history.
But the day wasn't without reflection. "It's been rather bittersweet today," noted new battalion chief Lonnie Smith, an African-American who scored the highest on the promotions test. "I'm really happy for my family and myself but I'm also sad for the position the black firefighters are in at this time."
Hughes also was celebrating his 29th anniversary with the department on Tuesday.
A lawsuit three years ago charged the promotions test was racially biased, but a judge recently ruled it was not. George had also contended that he, as chief, should have final say on who gets promoted, not City Hall.
"It's been very frustrating, overwhelming," said Simmons, who first joined the department in 1987. "It's been a constant up and downhill, but we're here and I'm ready to move on."
Simmons estimated she lost about $13,000 a year in salary by not being promoted during the impasse.
"No one person or individual runs everything; it's a great, big family," said Steve Simpson, another promotee. "Like anything else, you have your problems, you have your situations, but at the end of the day you have a job to do and that's what you got to do, you got to make sure you get the job done."
Simpson, an African-American, said he felt the test was fair and also expressed sadness that George couldn't have promoted him.
Kotraba says he plans to fill all of the department's vacancies by this weekend. He also confirmed Tuesday he plans to apply for the permanent chief position.
NEW BATTALION CHIEFS
- Lonnie Hughes, 54, with the dept. 29 yrs.
- Daniel Fog, 48, with the dept. nearly 23 yrs.
- Russ Richter, 42, with the dept. nearly 20 yrs.
- Gail Simmons, 42, with the dept. 20 years
- Steve Simpson, 44, with the dept. nearly 19 yrs.