Former St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Chief Jim Large retired from firefighting amid a pall of allegations that he created a hostile and discriminatory work environment for women and minorities.<\/p>\n
Large left in\u00a0March 2024\u00a0after Mayor\u00a0Ken Welch\u00a0said a review found no evidence to back the claims. But in the months since, Large remained a fixture at city fire stations and fire department ceremonies.<\/p>\n
Weeks ago, the city directed Large to provide advance notice of visits to fire stations, saying they have been become excessive and disruptive. The former chief said he has not returned since.<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief\u00a0Brett Ciskoski\u00a0sent a certified letter to Large\u2019s home the day after Christmas laying out visitation guidelines. Ciskoski wrote that Large\u2019s visits had continued after a verbal appeal to limit them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe volume and duration of these visits have created an operational interference, disrupted training, created unnecessary confusion for our on duty personnel, and have compromised the focused environment our personnel require,\u201d Ciskoski wrote.<\/p>\n
Ciskoski wrote that Large must give 48 hours notice prior to arriving at any station and to keep all future interactions with crews \u201cpositive and constructive in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring your visit, refrain from direct involvement in ongoing operational drills, active incident discussions, or detailed personnel matters,\u201d Ciskoski wrote. \u201cThis allows our crews and officers to maintain their focus on current tasks and follow the established chain of command without interruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Large told the\u00a0Tampa Bay Times\u00a0that he would check in with the officers at the stations he visited, the master station downtown and Station 6 in\u00a0Central Oak Park.<\/p>\n
He said he would make sure he wasn\u2019t interfering with the work day. And he said he would often go around lunchtime. None of the officers at those stations complained, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the pettiness of the current fire chief and the current mayor,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s the same group of people that tried to attack me before, that if they see me, they complain when I\u2019m around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anonymous comments<\/a>\u00a0from a city employee survey done in 2023 accused Large of fostering a workplace hostile to women and minorities.\u00a0Seven firefighters echoed those complaints<\/a>\u00a0in interviews with the\u00a0Times.<\/p>\n Welch\u00a0placed Large on administrative leave<\/a>\u00a0but\u00a0reinstated him<\/a>\u00a0about two weeks later after what Welch described as \u201ca careful review of the facts\u201d produced no direct evidence of misbehavior.<\/p>\n That Christmas, Large\u2019s adult daughter publicly posted a photo to social media of her father grinning and holding a coffee mug that read:\u00a0\u201cGo ahead, call HR.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0About three weeks later, the city announced that Large\u2019s 50-year tenure with the department\u00a0would come to an end in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n Welch said he wasn\u2019t happy about the photo of the coffee mug. Large was eligible for a base severance package of $52,000, which by city policy can only be paid out if employees retire or resign at the mayor\u2019s request or their job changes or is eliminated. Employees terminated for misconduct are ineligible for severance pay.<\/p>\n Large also received a payout of $21,670 in unused sick leave. He has been receiving a monthly pension of $7,542 since 2004.<\/p>\n Large said Welch\u2019s chief of staff,\u00a0Doyle Walsh, rescinded an invite to him for a\u00a0May 2024\u00a0employee recognition ceremony where he was scheduled to get his award for 50 years of service. He said Walsh told him he was already recognized at the mayor\u2019s State of the City address, but Large did not know he was going to be honored there and his family was not present with him.<\/p>\n \u201cEver since I left, it\u2019s been discrimination from this administration,\u201d Large said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been one thing after another.\u201d<\/p>\n Large has attended promotional ceremonies for the fire department, a memorial dedication and\u00a0City Council\u00a0committee meetings when a management evaluation done on the fire department was discussed. He said the study that found widespread\u00a0fears of discrimination\u00a0<\/a>in the department was \u201cpoorly done\u201d and omitted important fiscal points.<\/p>\n Large told the\u00a0Times\u00a0that he is thinking about running for mayor. He said what Large called Welch\u2019s\u00a0lack of attendance at\u00a0City Hall<\/a>\u00a0bothered him.<\/p>\n \u201cKen Welch is a failure.\u00a0Charlie Crist<\/a>\u00a0is not the answer,\u201d he said, referring to the former governor who also has said he is\u00a0considering whether to enter the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city needs an option,\u201d Large said. \u201cThey need someone who will make tough decisions. I\u2019m considering all the options that might be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Welch\u00a0officially began his reelection bid<\/a>\u00a0Monday. He was flanked by representatives of the fire department\u2019s union, which endorsed him.<\/p>\n \u201cMayor Welch is focused on results, not rhetoric,\u201d said\u00a0Adrienne Bogen, chairperson of the political committee supporting Welch. \u201cUnder his leadership, St. Petersburg has strengthened public safety, invested in infrastructure and affordable housing, and kept the city financially strong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a92026 Tampa Bay Times. Visit\u00a0tampabay.com<\/a>. Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Chief Jim Large retired from firefighting amid a pall of allegations that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-149016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}