Chief Rowland Herald will begin a real estate career in North Carolina after 25 years as a Clearwater firefighter.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published February 28, 2004
CLEARWATER - With his Fire Department plagued by problems he says he can't fix, Chief Rowland Herald announced Friday that he will retire.
Effective Aug. 27, Herald's departure will come weeks after his 25th anniversary with the department, more than six as its chief.
"Twenty-five years of service seemed about right for me," he said. "At some point it's important that you pass the baton."
Herald, 49, is already eligible to retire, but as recently as June, said he planned to work until he is 55. On Friday, Herald said changes in personal circumstances over the past three years, including the death of both parents, led him to reconsider.
"It's a little easier to relocate now," he said. "I'm in a little different place."
Soft-spoken and mild-mannered, Herald built a reputation as a consensus builder and student of management theory. He is widely described as a nice man, but is leaving a 202-employee department that city administrators agree needs much improvement.
Last month, preliminary results of an independent audit found the department lacks training, discipline, cooperation and effective command structure and needs sweeping - and expensive - organizational changes.
The audit was ordered by the city after a fatal high rise fire at Dolphin Cove condominiums in June 2002 killed two elderly residents and seriously injured three firefighters.
The review came on the heels of a critical examination of Dolphin Cove by the United States Fire Administration and a review by the St. Petersburg Times that found firefighters violated department guidelines and failed to follow basic tactical procedures.
Herald has contested several assumptions made in the most recent review and disputed its preliminary conclusions. A final draft is expected next month.
Meanwhile, the city is preparing to return to the bargaining table with its fire unions, whose membership has been working without a contract since October 2002. Last year, the talks reached an impasse and firefighters staged repeated pickets at City Hall and city-sponsored events.
Addressing the organization's systemic problems will require a long-term commitment that Herald said he is unable to make. Herald said he plans to move to North Carolina, where he has a second home and investment properties, to begin a new career in real estate.
"I didn't want to start something, get it only halfway implemented, then leave the department," he said. "In the last year, I realized if in fact I want to do anything else in my life outside this job ... If I want to start something else and put any kind of longevity into it, I'd have to start now."
City officials agreed the department will benefit from new leadership.
"He's taken it as far as it can go," said City Manager Bill Horne. "We talked and he came to that conclusion. I definitely embrace and agree with him and support his decision."
Mayor Brian Aungst described Herald as "a class act," saying, "You'll never meet a nicer person."
Herald, he said, inherited a troubled organization.
"In some ways he's been a victim of circumstances and the way the department has been run," Aungst said. "You can't blame all the issues on Rowland Herald."
The city will conduct a national search for a new chief, and Horne said Herald will focus on short-term changes to improve the department in the next six months. Remaking the embattled department will take time, Horne added.
On Friday, Jim Carino, vice president of Local No. 1158, said he supported Herald's decision to step down. But he worried about the effect of more transition on the department. Since 1997, he said, 12 chiefs, including assistants and deputies, have left.
"I think we're going through some very trying times," Carino said. "The people on the job feel pretty much abandoned by our leadership."
Horne said Herald leaves behind a legacy of good work.
Since taking over as chief in 1998, Herald has worked to upgrade equipment and apparatus. He also presided over construction of new fire stations on Sand Key and at Clearwater Mall and a new station under construction in the city's northwest section.
In a quarter century with the department, Herald said he is proudest of leading the effort that won accreditation last year by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Only 84 departments worldwide earned that status, he said.
"I'm determined," Herald said Friday, "it will be a better organization when I leave than when I found it."
