Stand with Wichita Firefighters IAFF Local 135

No confidence in Wichita Fire Chief

Last month, the Wichita Firefighters IAFF Local 135 polled their members, and 94% of the firefighters stated that they have no confidence in the leadership abilities of their Fire Chief, Ron Blackwell. Also, 97% of them approved a vote of no confidence for Deputy Chief Ron Aaron and Division Chief Billy Wenzel.

Issues with the Fire Administration have been multiplying over the past few years, as the Wichita Fire Administration has violated its Memorandum of Agreement with IAFF on multiple occasions. Other issues include giving significant raises to select members of his key staff, during a time where units were taken out of service due to alleged lack of funding.  Removing Training Officers and creating civilian positions that are inconsistent with the best interests of Citizen Safety, making numerous decisions against the direction of the City Manager and City Council, making serious errors in the promotional process, and having misplaced budget priorities.

Stand with Wichita's firefighters! Contact members of the City Council. Let your representative represent you.

Mayor Carl Brewer, CBrewer@wichita.gov

District I,  Lavonta Williams, LKWilliams@wichita.gov

District II, Pete Meitzner,  PMeitzner@wichita.gov

District III, James Clendenin, JClendenin@wichita.gov

District IV, Michael ODonnell, MODonnell@wichita.gov

District V, Jeff Longwell, JLongwell@wichita.gov

District VI Janet Miller, JLMiller@wichita.gov

Thank you for standing with the firefighters of IAFF local 135!

Source: AFL-CIO Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation