Here’s more on the decision by Chicago’s OEMC to implement permanent shift assignments for Chicago Fire Alarm Operators—essentially, the dispatchers and call takers who handle emergency calls.
This comes from Don Washington’s Mayoral Tutorial.
by Don Washington on 2014/01/13
Back when Mayor Emanuel was still a candidate, the Tutorial did a special on fire safety and the 911 system. Among all the shows we produced, this one left the audience in a state of panic. So when I read that the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) is making changes to save $9.2 million, my first thought was: “Did they ever actually find the $40 million in waste, fraud, and mismanagement that IG Silent Joe Ferguson uncovered three years ago?â€
The Bad News
OEMC is mostly doing okay—until something really bad happens. And that’s the bad news. It seems like none of the issues identified in that $40 million report have been addressed. These are the people you call when you need help. What you might not know is that OEMC has a long history of corruption that would make even the most corrupt politicians blush.
During the Daley administration, it was a circus of graft and mismanagement. For example, in 2007, James Argiropoulos, then First Deputy Executive Director of OEMC, lied to the FCC to get a $168 million no-bid contract with Motorola. And who could forget the $23 million in digital communication gear purchased in 2006—never used, and supposedly meant to keep us connected in case of a terrorist attack? After spending $6 million to upgrade the system, it started dropping 911 calls like they were falling off a truck.
The Worse Than Bad News
Now, Gary Schenkel, the OEMC director, says ending the rotating schedule for 86 fire communications officers isn’t a big deal. But the union, IBEW Local 9, disagrees. They say no major city in the U.S. uses straight shifts for fire dispatchers. They predict more overtime, stressed workers, and increased sick time. They also fear that during peak times, the least experienced staff will be on duty. In short, it’ll cost more and provide less service. Sounds exactly like how government runs when it's trying to act like a business.
A quick note: Remember the overtime issue I mentioned earlier? You might wonder why it happened, and then think about someone working their 12th hour trying to remember if it was 1244 W. Ainsle or 1422 W. Ainsle. Well, they’ll see the fire from wherever they are, and SWAT teams don’t always go in guns blazing. I brought it up because last time, Mayor Emanuel cut 45 police dispatchers and limited overall dispatcher positions. Overtime was inevitable.
What I can tell you is that there’s no reason to believe Gary Schenkel knows what he’s doing. You probably don’t know who he is, but I’ll quote myself: “If you look up 'failed upward' in the dictionary, you'll find Gary Schenkel on a trajectory so steep he's almost escaping Earth's gravity.†That was true when he was appointed to clean up an agency known for its incompetence and theft. It’s still true now. The fact that he’s in charge of OEMC and claims to have studies proving his plan is probably the worst endorsement of safety or data we could get. It’s like when someone from BP says fracking is safe or denies climate change—exactly that.
A History of "WTF" – Gary Schenkel at Work
Once upon a time, Gary was the head of the Federal Protective Service under the Bush administration. That’s right—high-level official in the Bush White House. You probably already guessed where this is going. To say he did a bad job is giving him too much credit. The word we're looking for is "unspeakable."
Do you know how bad you have to be to make the Bush administration realize you don't know what you're doing? Here's the highlight: FPS failed to protect employees and visitors, screen staff, or ensure guards had proper training. This is beyond incompetence—it's absurd.
He's been in this role for almost three years and still can't account for $40 million. He's now reorganizing a system that appears to be working, against the advice of those who operate it, all in the name of saving money. If he'd ever done anything right before, I’d feel better. If Emanuel had ever made a policy that worked for the public good, I’d feel better. But we’re talking about a mayor whose policies in policing and education have both cost more and delivered less. I’m officially scared.
So here’s something to think about. Gary told the media that his plan to save less than a tenth of the money he hasn’t found yet is worth it.
“The benefits outweigh the negatives,†he said. “We don’t do anything blindfolded. Give it 90 days and see how it works. If we get results, we’ll continue or make adjustments.†I bet when we check back in 90 days, the ship will be on fire—and not a single reporter will have bothered to ask whether Gary made another colossal mess.
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