Posts Tagged John Kavanagh

Gurnee Fire Department news

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik has decided not to conduct a candidate search to replace longtime Fire Chief Fred Friedl. On Monday, Kovarik will appoint John Kavanagh to the top job, according to the published board meeting agenda.

Kovarik initially said the village would conduct a search to fill the job. In June, Kavanagh was asked to lead the department during a search for a full-time chief. 

Whether Kavanagh’s promotion happens Monday depends on the consent of the village board. In June, the board unanimously approved his appointment to be acting chief. If the appointment is approved by the village board, Kavanagh will be the seventh fire chief in the department’s history, which dates to 1930.

In June, the Daily Herald obtained hundreds of pages of village documents and emails, through a Freedom of Information Act request for material possibly related to Friedl’s departure. The documents included Friedl’s resignation letter, which he sent on June 1, two days after he met with Kovarik, Village Administrator Pat Muetz, and Human Resources Director Christine Palmieri.

“Given the choices presented before me ‘Forced Retirement or Termination’, I dutifully submit to ‘Forced Retirement,'” Friedl wrote.

Kovarik disputes Friedl’s description of the May 30 meeting. She said she and the administrators went to his office about 7:30 a.m. that day and she informed him he was released from duty immediately.

Six days later, Kovarik recommended to the village board that Kavanagh, who was deputy chief at the time, be named acting fire chief.

The documents received by the Daily Herald contained no indication Friedl had been recently disciplined, nor were there outstanding complaints against him.

thanks Dan

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Gurnee Fire Department news

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Former Gurnee Fire Chief Fred Friedl’s long tenure was celebrated at a ceremony Wednesday night.  The popular chief was relieved of duty last month when Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik decided not to reappoint him. It is for that reason perhaps that the ceremony did not happen during a Gurnee board meeting.

Instead, Friedl’s friends and former colleagues told him how much they appreciated him during the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District board meeting in the training room at Fire Station No. 2.

The Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District pays the Gurnee Fire Department to provide its residents, who mostly live in unincorporated Lake County, with fire service.

Phillip DeRuntz, president of the three-member board of trustees, said that during his 13 years on the board, Friedl had been a constant he could rely on for help and counsel when times were tough.

Battalion Chief Jim Pellitteri, who worked under Friedl for several years at the Gurnee Fire Department, said Friedl treated everyone with kindness, even those weren’t kind to him.

The ceremony was paused briefly so the approximately 60 people who had gathered to honor Friedl could listen to a radio dispatcher read a message announcing Friedl’s final tone, a gesture done at most retirement ceremonies for high-ranking firefighters.

Gurnee’s acting fire chief, John Kavanagh, also gave a speech thanking Friedl, saying Friedl had allowed firefighters to grow as individuals over the last 20 years and make the department what it is today.

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