South Lake Tahoe fire chief submits resignation
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe Fire Chief Lorenzo Gigliotti tendered his resignation Thursday. His last day on the job will be Sept. 1.
In a sweeping interview in his office May 6, Gigliotti looked like a man ready to take on new challenges – possibly in the Lake Tahoe Basin – but also as one who is wistful about his six years at the helm of SLTFD and what the future might bring.
The 46-year-old said he likes to be an innovator. He calls himself an “architect of significant change.” With economic constraints placed on the city, the department has fiscal limitations that don’t lend themselves toward the changes he likes to make.
Lorenzo Gigliotti
While he survived the round of layoffs and incentivized early retirements in the city’s reorganization plan earlier this year, Gigliotti knows his departure will be a financial savings to the city. He also survived a vote of no confidence from the firefighters union.
In his letter of resignation, Gigliotti wrote, “My hope is that any realized savings or economies from my leaving can be used to preserve the integrity of the response system the community presently enjoys.”
To Lake Tahoe News he said his decision to leave had nothing to do with all the changes City Manager Tony O’Rourke has made since coming on board in August.
“We have a real strategic plan after all these years. It’s all good stuff,” Gigliotti said. “But they need a fresh set of eyes.”
O’Rourke does not know how the hierarchy in the department will shake out.
“The good news is we have sufficient time to proceed in an orderly fashion to arrange for an effective transition,” O’Rourke said.
Besides the traditional routes of considering internal or external fire chief candidates, O’Rourke said he would look at the entire public safety structure to see if one person in charge of police and fire would be viable. The city has done this before.
“We also need to know how it’s going to go with collective bargaining because if we don’t get some of the concessions that are built into the five-year plan, that will have some weight on what direction we go,” O’Rourke said.
Time in Tahoe
Since his arrival in January 2005, Gigliotti has been part of the 2007 Angora Fire, the recent signing of another five-year ambulance agreement with Lake Valley Fire and El Dorado County, managing 43 employees two years ago to 39 today, changes in council members, and a change in who his boss is.
The dated alder wood and green paint that were in his office when he arrived are still there. Same with the well worn brown chairs.
The 2,000-magazines and other debris were hauled out. Now manuals and binders fill the space in his office on the second floor of the station near the Y.
After the 2005-06 flooding on the South Shore that required about $1.5 million in cleanup costs, Gigliotti’s responsibilities increased to be the city’s emergency response manager.
This is his third year he will manage the mutual aid between the nine California and nine Nevada fire agencies that include the basin and reach up to Reno.
It’s those interagency agreements that account for mutual aid support on a routine basis as well as during catastrophes like the 2007 Angora Fire.
In the last four years the city has bought three wildland firefighting engines. Pre-Angora it had a couple pickups that could go off-pavement.
When he talks about how the assault on the fire was executed it is with a certain calm, but also with a bit of authority.
All that Gigliotti would have changed is the weather. That Sunday nearly four years ago was so incredibly windy. When the winds shifted, it sent flames racing toward the 254 houses that were eventually reduced to ash.
When it comes to medical care, South Lake Tahoe and Lake Valley fire departments were awarded the ambulance contract by El Dorado County earlier this year after having first secured the contract 10 years ago.
One thing Gigliotti will be working on before he leaves is what to do with station No. 2. He said an internal study shows the station on Highway 50 across from South Tahoe Middle School is functioning fine.
O’Rourke wants an independent evaluation, which will be done May 18-20 when a consultant from Texas comes to town to assess the level of service and response from that station and at the two other main ones in town. A fourth station is unmanned at the airport.
In the last 10 years, the department has averaged about 2,900 calls a year.
What’s next?
Gigliotti, who with his wife has six children ranging in age from twin 9-year-olds to a 29-year-old, wants to stay in the basin. As he wraps up things in the department, he will contemplate where he goes next.
He’s been in the fire service business for 29 years, having started as a paramedic in San Diego.
Gigliotti is entrenched in Rotary and has been instrumental in getting the Cub Scouts being viable at Bijou.
When he’s not in uniform, Gigliotti can be found touring on his motorcycle.
Why do I have to read about yet ANOTHER consultant being hired? Why can’t those hired by the City and well-compensated by the City, figure things out for themselves!?
Parker, it’s a blame thing.If it doesn’t work, it was the consultant’s fault.
Is the chief getting a huge severence package?
Parker- if used correctly, consultants can lower the cost of operating an enterprise. Not having to pay for staff or someone with a different expertise for 12 months every year can be cheaper. Subcontracting out services can save money, in fact in the early years of America there was no government supplied fire department. They were private companies and each homeowner contracted with a company to protect their house.
My question was rhetorical! Consultants can save money if used correctly. However, we already have a bloated City staff that when you inquire about their pretty generous compensation, we are informed that’s what it costs to get good, knowledgeable people. So then why is the City always hiring consultants?
I’m not bugged because I found out a consultant was used once. I’m bugged because the City hires them all the time!!
Geeper has it right! It’s so blame can be pawned off to someone else, and the taxpayer then has to foot that bill!!
This is a major loss for our community! In his six years at South Lake Tahoe, Chief Gigliotti has worked tirelessly to better the equipment and efficiency of the fire department, as well as increasing the trust the community feels in those professionals who protect us.
We will truly miss this man who continually proved his dedication to those with disadvantages, especially seniors and citizens with disabilities.
On a personal note, the privilege of being named an honorary firefighter by Chief Gigliotti was the realization of a childhood dream that I never believed could come true, a memory that will be cherished forever.
He is a great Fire Chief, and a great friend who is always caring and graciously available to a friend in need.
Finally, what kind of thought process would make anyone decide that paying another outside consultant is a good idea, especially when our own Fire Chief who lives and works here has a vast knowledge base about our community needs and what is needed to address those needs? Come on, people, let’s keep the money we have left in our city actually IN our city instead of sending more out of state for such a bad idea.
I guess if you don’t like the conclusions the internal experts come up with, you hire an outside “consultant” to come up with one you do like. Any consultant should be throughly “checked out” not just taken with their corporate hype.
Time to merg SLTFD & LVFD, Chief Michaels retires in June/2011. Good for both departments good for the community….
So why would Lake Valley Fire Protection district want to merge with the City of South Lake Tahoe? Why would we want to see one of the few local agencies that performs and is managed to the highest standards be pulled down by the city. I truly feel that the city would do nothing but bring down the service that LVFPD to a lower level. Remember that the LVFPD constituants are in a special district and pay for thier fire services. I am sure lots of money would be spent by the city for consultants to deal with this issue. I believe with the new leadership in the city and a new fire chief that is on board with a long term plan the city fire department could once agian rise to the level it used to be.
Fireman;
You must work for LVFPD where you guys are still the “good ol’ boys.” Did you know we refer to your kind as firefighters now? How do female FF feel about being referred to as firemen? How can you say your district is “managed to the highest standards” when you have someone like you calling yourself a “fireman.” It appears you are NOT what you say?
Economies of scale dictate you merge with the city.
I do appologize for not being P.C. reagarding my terminology. Have to really watch how you put things i guess. No i do not work for Lake Valley Fire. I am actually from the nevada side. Amazing how you instantly take away from a district from one persons comments. For someone so P.C. orientated you should be aware of instantly putting someone down for comments that someone else made. Am i wrong in saying that LVFPD is managed well. If not please give me an example.
LVFPD is not managed well at all, ( I’m referring to the BOD) Salaries are on par with STPUD and the fire marshals favorite quote ” do it because I said so”.
I agree with Fireman, regardless of the name he chose to post under. The cultures and management philosophies of ALL the fire agencies are distinctly different and if I were applying as an entry level firefighter, I would choose Lake Valley. It has nothing to do with being a good old boy. They are more like a family and that’s who I would want to have my back going into a fire.
Are we going to pretend that the City isn’t the dysfunctional mess that it is just to save a little money? I live in the County and appreciate the fire service I receive. Don’t mess it up by consolidating with an agency that needs to get its own house in order.
A new, inspirational Chief for SLTFD is the first place to start.
The City has been, and is, a dysfunctional, bloated, inefficient mess, known best only for its many debacles. It should be dissolved and everything turned over to the County for administration and operation, which would save massive amounts of public dollars for both and eliminate all the duplicity and redundant management positions.
I agree with Steve whole-heartedly.
I agree with Keep Tahoe Cool. The LVFD good ol boys might actually have to do run some calls from time to time if there was a merge. Merge the two, cut the “fat” off the top and get some work done.