From the Pierce Flickr page:
Pierce, Mount Prospect Fire Department, IL, 37297-1
Pierce composite
thanks Martin
Posts Tagged Mount Prospect FIre Department
New engine for Mt Prospect
Mar 25
Excerpts from the dailyherald.com:
Mount Prospect has agreed to an out-of-court settlement with fire department Lieutenant Steven Edwards who sued the village last year, claiming he faced retaliation after complaining of a hostile and sexually offensive work culture. Edwards will receive $350,000 and forgiveness of a $1,616 payroll advance.
Fire Chief John Dolan also will send an email to fire department staff wishing Edwards well in his retirement, effective March 31 after 25 years of service.
The village will pay $125,616 of the settlement, with the rest picked up by its insurance carrier, the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency.
“The village and IRMA carefully weighed the financial and operational risks of a protracted legal battle in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and determined a settlement as structured was in the best business interests of the village of Mount Prospect,” Village Manager Michael Cassady said in the village’s statement.
The agreement comes after a 10-hour mediation session March 1 in Chicago. The village’s special legal counsel, IRMA representatives, village staff, Edwards, and his attorneys participated.
Filed in August 2022, the suit claimed members of the department engaged in graphic sexual conversations and viewed pornography in the workplace. Along with the village, the named defendants include Fire Chief John Dolan, former Chief Brian Lambel, Batallion Chief Aaron Grandgeorge, and Heidi Neu, the village’s human resources director.
Edwards joined the fire department in 1997 and over his 24 years received stellar evaluations, including one characterizing his leadership as “shaping the future of the department,” the suit stated.
Over time, the suit alleged, Edwards became increasingly aware of “blatant sexism” in the department, which as of 2020 had 72 sworn firefighters, all of them men. The suit claimed the behavior included ranking female staff members on their potential as sexual partners, discussing sex acts, and making derogatory comments about female patients.
Edwards brought his complaints to Lambel and the village’s human resources department starting in January 2020. A later investigation found misconduct by a battalion chief, who was suspended as a result, according to the lawsuit.
A week after he complained, the suit states, Edwards received the first negative performance evaluation of his career from Grandgeorge. Over the following two years, the suit alleged that Edwards was passed over for promotion to battalion chief, stripped of his training duties, removed from his preferred shift and station, and isolated within the department.
In 2021, the suit states, he was suspended for one day after hitting a station garage with a truck. Others had done so as well, but did not receive the same punishment, the suit alleged.
And as recently as Aug. 2, the suit states, the village threatened to fire Edwards as part of an investigation into his use of sick days. The threat, according to the suit, came shortly after state and federal authorities granted him the right to sue the village.
thanks Martin
This from Danny Nelms:
Former Mount Prospect engine now in West Allis, WI – from FB unknown photographer
photographer unknown
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Talks could resume this week between Mount Prospect and the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District to resolve an impasse over fire and emergency medical service within the district’s service area.
Under a proposed agreement recently approved by Mount Prospect trustees, Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village, and Des Plaines would take over the duties of the fire district, which would dissolve and yield its fire station and equipment. Three new special taxing districts would provide the funding for the municipalities.
Mount Prospect officials say the fire district is running a structural deficit because of a shrinking tax base stemming from annexations, but the fire district has not signed off on the agreement. District officials take issue with the legality of the proposed dissolution, as well as the village’s cost-benefit analysis.
“We don’t believe at this moment that the (agreement) is fair enough to our constituents,” fire district board president Carlos Maldonado said. “However, we want to make sure that we can negotiate something, not just with Mount Prospect, but with the municipalities together.”
A fire protection district trustee accused Mount Prospect of trying to shove an agreement down the district’s throat that is going to take full advantage of them, and said that Mount Prospect still owes the fire district more than $260,000 from a previous agreement.
When asked about the money last week, the Mount Prospect village manager responded, “Why would we pay them, if we’re about to take over those services?”
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Mount Prospect FD Deputy Fire Chief John Dolan
Mount Prospect has named Deputy Fire Chief John Dolan the acting fire chief effective April 16. His predecessor, Brian Lambel, resigned to become fire chief in Wilmette.
Dolan is a 24-year veteran. He was introduced to the fire service through the paid-on-call program.
Excerpts from the Journal-topics.com:
Mt Prospect Fire Chief Brian Lambel
After 21 years with the Mount Prospect Fire Dept. and the last five years at its helm, Fire Chief Brian Lambel is leaving the department at the end of April and will assume the chief’s position in Wilmette.
Lambel, 52, who grew up in Mount Prospect and plans to continue living in the village, said he was contemplating retiring in the next 1-2 years, but when Wilmette approached him about the position, he decided it would be a good fit to serve that community.
Lambel began his fire career in Lincolnshire-Riverwoods in 1990 and came to Mount Prospect in 2000. He took over as chief five years ago when former chief John Malcolm took the top position in Lake Zurich.
Mount Prospect went to the Code 4 for a working fire at 1817 Tano Lane on Wednesday, 4/7/21.
Larry Shapiro photo
More photos from the Historic fire: Goldblatt’s fire in Mt Prospect, 1977 (pt1)
Hi,I just found your blog as I was searching for old photos of the Goldblatts fire. I grew up in Des Plaines in the Craig Manor subdivision at the corner of Wolf & Central Roads. We could see the fire from our house and quickly drove over there. I was 14 at the time and had a cheap old camera and took these photos myself. You may share them anywhere.Please attribute them to: Carole (formerly of Des Plaines)~Carole
Excerpts from the journal-topics.com:
Mount Prospect recently recognized three fire department employees celebrating their Quinquennial anniversaries with the village as they were honored in front of the board of trustees, their families, and fellow employees.
James Miller, celebrating 25 years, started with the fire department in 1995 as an employee and a paid-on-call member. He later became a lieutenant and retired as a paid-on-call member after 20 years as a captain. Miller also serves the village as a fire prevention specialist, an educator, a certified fire investigator, and a certified juvenile fire center intervention specialist.
Miller established and continues to manage the Mount Prospect Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). During the COVID pandemic, Miller played a crucial role in working with the village to aid with the PPE inventory. He currently serves as the village’s emergency management coordinator and oversees the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Mike Mangiamele is celebrating 30 years of service as a paid-on-call firefighter with the village. His career started with an interest in a fire service cadet program during his high school years through District 214. He currently works for school District 59 and became a paid-on-call firefighter to better help his community.
Fire Chief Brian Lambel was recognized by the village for his 20 years of service and recently graduated from the Public Administrator Master’s Degree Program at Northern Illinois University. Lambel has also accepted the Executive Chief Officer Designation from the International Fire Chiefs Association. He has served on many organization boards including as the Executive Committee Secretary and Board Director for the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy, Director of the Illinois Fire Chief Association, as a member of the diversity task force, a Career Advisory Board Member for Harper College, and President for the Mount Prospect Pension Board.
Excerpts from the journal-topics.com:
On Wednesday April 15, the Mount Prospect Fire Dept. officially moved into its new headquarters Station 13 at 111 E. Rand Rd. The village board approved the project in 2018 and construction began in 2019. The project involved adaptive reuse of an existing building, saving $3.7 million in overall costs versus the construction of a new building.
The total project budget of $10.37 million included the purchase of the land and existing building, design fees and soft costs, hard construction costs, project contingencies, plus furniture and fixture purchases. The project was funded through bond sales completed in 2018 and was structured to have zero effect on future tax levies, due to a financing strategy developed by staff and financial consultants, which included refinancing old debt and using village reserves and moderate use of capitalized interest in the debt service repayment plan.
The village recently announced a proposal to redevelop a portion of Block 56 in Mount Prospect’s downtown, which is the block bounded by Northwest Highway, Maple Street, Busse Avenue, and Emerson Street. The proposed development would include the site of the police and fire headquarters and the Chase Bank property at 111 E. Busse Ave.
