By Anita Todd & Carl Fish
An official report of the management of the Polk County Fire Rescue Division was recently released. At least one former employee disagrees with the comments made in the report by Deputy County Manager Joe Halman, Jr. and say that he is incompetent and disrespectful to others including employees and civilians.
In the recent report by Allen Norton & Blue, P.A., which was engaged by the Polk County Board of County Commissioners (“Board”) to provide a review of the management of the Polk County Fire Rescue Division (“Fire Rescue” or “Division”) comments were attributed by DCM Halman, which Riner disputes. Here are those comments from the report “In another example, a battalion chief had accepted the position of interim Fire Chief for the City of Frostproof. However, Article 16, Section 7, of the collective bargaining agreement between the County and the bargaining unit of battalion chiefs prohibited such secondary employment with another fire rescue agency. The County well-reasoned that the risks associated with liability questions under the Florida Heart and Lung Act as well as potential conflicts of interest outweighed the battalion chief’s interest in the interim position.”
Riner contends those statements are not entirely accurate. Riner advises he was also the Frostproof Fire Chief and Fire Inspector before he was hired by the County and he says his supervisors – including Halman knew of that part-time employment. However, Riner points out to receive state funding, in early 2021, the administration told him he needed to resign from the Frostproof positions.
The state funding requires that firefighters are only employed by one fire department. The County “well-reasoned that the risks associated with liability questions under the Florida Heart and Lung Act as well as potential conflicts of interest outweighed the ‘battalion chief’s’ interest in the ‘interim’ position,” the report read.
Riner disagrees with that statement saying that the information Halman provided for the new report is incorrect.
“I wasn’t the ‘interim’ fire chief of Frostproof. I was the Fire Chief and I wasn’t a ‘battalion chief’ for the County. I was a captain,” Riner said. “If Halman can’t get important details of someone’s career and circumstances that effectively ended it, how can he be trusted with others careers?”
Riner felt he followed protocol and met with administration to ask to continue as the Frostproof Fire Inspector since that position wouldn’t require him to be around dangerous chemicals and materials. He was told in April of 2021 that he would be notified of the decision. Months passed with no word.
In September, he was told by the then-Fire Chief Robert Weech that he would receive a waiver to work for the City of Frostproof, which never happened.
In October, he was called to meet with Halman, Weech and Kandis Baker-Buford, Director of Equity and Human Resources. In the meeting, Riner said that Halman belittled the captain with 27 years of experience saying, “Let me ask you? What good are you on a scene? You are just an EMT.” Riner explains that he meant he wasn’t a paramedic, a more specialized position.
“Holman made me feel insignificant as a captain. Being accused of insubordination and untruthfulness questioned my character,” he said. “I felt beaten. I didn’t want to go through it anymore.”
In the same meeting, Riner said Halman told him, “You are gonna do it (resign from Frostproof) or you are going to be terminated.”
“I asked if I could speak to his supervisor – someone above him – and he said, ‘No. It stops with me,’” Riner said.
Following was a series of meetings, write ups for insubordination and untruthfulness, and administrative leaves with and without pay for Riner.
Riner hired an attorney and his wife, Stacey, became very vocal on social media, especially Facebook. Finally, Riner received a verbal offer: He would be allowed to retire if his wife would stop all social media posts and “stop being vocal.” Riner was also required to halt all legal action.
Riner said that he had accepted what happened – although he was forever changed by the actions of Halman and other administrators – until the new report.
“I knew they were coming after me. If you get in their sights, something is going to happen to you,” Riner said. “I had accepted it until this new report came out with Halman giving the wrong details about what happened with me.”
Riner retired from the County. He is still employed by the City of Frostproof and has been for 32 years.
“He didn’t ruin my career. He ended it with the County,” Riner said. “He is supposed to be the highest level of administrator in fire service and he’s so incompetent that he can’t get the story straight. How can he be trusted with others’ careers?”
