By Carl Fish

Polk County Commissioners in January of 2024 set into motion an investigation into the management and administration of the Polk County Fire Rescue. The investigation report was released to the public around 9pm last night leads to many questions regarding Chief Smith’s management style.

Dr. Hezedean A. Smith is the current Fire Chief of Polk County Fire Rescue in Florida. Appointed in 2022, Dr. Smith was thought to bring a wealth of experience to the role, having served in various fire rescue positions prior to this. He was also celebrated as the first Black fire chief in the county’s history. Unfortunately a recent investigation into the management of the Polk County Fire Rescue has painted him in a negative light and it may cost him his job along with the jobs of the County Deputy Manager & County Manager who hired and supervised him. A thorough investigation in Chief Smith appears likely.

Editors Note: We want to make it clear that these are accusations against Dr. Hezedean A. Smith. The county has not released any details on how they view these allegations.

The entire 45 page report from Allen Norton & Blue, P.A. is linked below.

Editors Note: We will have several stories coming out over the course of the next few weeks, but we felt the public has a right to see the report as soon as possible.

Here are a few of the allegation remarks in the report:

“Criticisms of Fire Chief H. Smith’s Management Practices or Decisions

During this Review, numerous employees reported that their work environment is “toxic,” and that the toxic environment has been created by Fire Chief H. Smith. Numerous employees interviewed stated that they fear retaliation at work, and they feared retaliation for participating in this Review. Multiple employees asked that the Report not include their names.”

“Allegations of Poor Treatment by Fire Chief H. Smith

Multiple employees report that Fire Chief H. Smith projects a different management style to individuals outside of Fire Rescue than he does internally. They have observed that when Fire Chief H. Smith is facing County administrators and individuals outside of Fire Rescue, he is cordial, charismatic, organized, an effective communicator, and espouses collaboration and transparency.
However, subordinates, including assistant and deputy chiefs as well as civilians in Fire Administration, state that internally, Fire Chief H. Smith belittles and bullies. One example, according to multiple employees, is Fire Chief H. Smith often in meetings puts employees on the spot with no advance notice, and if the employee falters, he demeans the employee and will not allow others present to offer information that may be helpful or exculpatory. The employees report they believe that Fire Chief H. Smith intentionally places them in a position to fail. It was reported to this Review that Fire Chief H. Smith’s actions towards them has a detrimental effect on their professional and personal confidence, and that the toxic work environment impacts their personal lives outside of work. Multiple employees stated that Fire Chief H. Smith does not practice collaboration because he commonly dismisses their ideas and directs them to follow his instructions.”

“Alleged Conflict between Fire Chief H. Smith and Dr. Paul Banerjee

Dr. Banerjee reports that he and Fire Chief H. Smith have had numerous conflicts, which is something Dr. Banerjee did not experience with prior chiefs. Dr. Banerjee reports that Fire Chief H. Smith has made little to no effort to collaborate with him. Multiple employees reported observing a poor working relationship between Fire Chief H. Smith and Dr. Banerjee.”

Editors Note: Dr. Paul Banerjee is the Medical Director for Polk County Fire Rescue, Polk Count SWAT team, Dr. Banerjee Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at the UCF School of Medicine,. Dr. Banerjee was an EMS 10, 2017 Innovator of the year, and the State of Florida Medical Director of the year 2012. It appears He has been employed by the county since 2014.

“Reluctance to Report Issues to Human Resources

Many Fire Rescue employees state they have not or would not take a complaint to HR or the County’s Office of Equal Opportunity (EO) because, based on past events, they do not have faith in HR or EO to conduct the investigation or make an adverse finding against a director level or higher-ranking County employee. Similarly, multiple employees also reported they do not report issues to HR because they fear doing so will make them a target for retaliation.”

“Digital and Media Services Manager Complaint

For example, in the EO Office’s investigation into a complaint by a former Digital and Media Services Manager against Fire Chief H. Smith, the ultimate report does not address numerous allegations against Smith. (See Attachment 8). The Digital and Media Services Manager provided documentation alleging that Smith, on multiple occasions, commented on the races of current or future employees or appeared to suggest that race could or should be factored into an employment decision or practice.9 It also appears that numerous potential witnesses were not interviewed by the Equal Opportunity Administrator. The Digital and Media Services Manager provided alleged witness accounts from Josh Whitehead, Jen Boden-Evans, Jennifer Huff, Deborah Jones Strafford, Betzi LaCounte complaining about Fire Chief H. Smith’s conduct. The report does not mention if it interviewed those witnesses nor does it appear to address their allegations. (See Attachment 9).”

“Administrative Secretary’s Access

The Administrative Secretary alleges that Fire Chief H. Smith often called the personal phone of his Administrative Secretary after hours at the beginning of his tenure. The Administrative Secretary alleges she advised Fire Chief H. Smith that her position is non-exempt and she does not have a County phone, and asked him to stop the after hours calls. The Administrative Secretary alleges that Fire Chief H. Smith responded by eliminating her access to systems and information at work. The Administrative Secretary alleges spoke with Halman’s assistant about the issue and then directly to Fire Chief H. Smith about her needing to have that access to perform her duties. Only then was her access restored.”

“New Hire Ceremonies

Fire Rescue generally has ceremonies for new hire classes and also for graduates of the PDRTP (Polk Diversity Recruitment Training Program). Fire Chief H. Smith as well as training officers attend, which this Report notes is a very positive practice for numerous reasons. Communications takes pictures of these ceremonies for posting notices of congratulations and other various publication means.
Multiple employees reported having observed Fire Chief H. Smith, when posing a new hire class for a picture, gather all the African American or Black new hires around him and tell white or other races to move to the outside of the grouping. On one particular occasion, a Communications employee was trying to move people around so all would be visible to the camera, and asked an African American new hire to move so a shorter white new hire could be better seen, and Fire Chief H. Smith stated, in sum, “No. I need my people around me.” The picture taken at this event is Attachment 20.
Similarly, Fire Rescue personnel report that while at a PDRTP graduation ceremony, the graduates had already posed themselves, but then Fire Chief H. Smith moved the two Caucasian employees to the back row. The picture taken at this event is Attachment 21.”

Here is a link to the full investigation report

The report also finds that 80% of staff have below average or low morale which the overwhelmingly attribute to administration.

This is a developing story. We will update as details are confirmed.