Guest MINDSETTER™ Kenney: Why is Pare Still Working

Guest MINDSETTER™ Kenney: Why is Pare Still Working

Once again I’m forced to ask why is Steven Pare still working as the Public Safety Commissioner in the City of Providence?  He’s proven to be anything but an effective leader in Providence, particularly with the Fire Department. A single person simply cannot adequately function as both Commissioner and Fire Chief in a city the size of Providence. I’ve pointed this out on a number of occasions over a period of time that spans years now but nothing seems to change. 

The Providence Fire Department is in violation of several federal laws regarding the mandatory positions in Command Staff that are required to be filled. The absence of these positions in the structure of the department leaves the City liable for federal fines in the six figure range, not to mention the inevitable penalties that will be handed down in the event of any litigation against the City and the department if there is any loss of life or property that can be traced back to the utter lack of leadership within the PFD. 

Right now, and for well over a year, there is not a single person in the Command Staff of the PFD. Think about it…not a single person from the PFD works in the fire department’s office anymore. Not one! Before this mass deconstruction of the hierarchy of the fire department by Mr. Pare there were 7 Fire Chiefs and various officers and firefighters on duty every day during the week. The only person with any authority to make any major decisions for the PFD is Pare. He has absolutely no experience of any kind with the fire service and has demonstrated time after time that he is completely incompetent at leading a fire department. 

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He may have been an adequate Superintendant of the RI State Police due to his 25 years of experience within that department, although I have heard differently, but that doesn’t give him the ability to run a fire department as the Fire Chief. He currently holds the position of Commissioner of Public Safety in Providence as well as the position of Chief of Department of the PFD. Understand that he holds the position of COD despite the fact that every single member of the PFD has more training and more experience with fire suppression and EMS than he. It makes it difficult for his subordinates to respect his authority when they understand the job so much more than he does. 

Partly because of this, and partly because it is his primary leadership trait, he commands through intimidation. As an example of this he recently set forth the ultimatum that he would change the department’s schedule back to the old schedule if he believes there is any abuse of sick leave in the coming months. This is despite the fact that the administration’s (and his) just recently abandoned attempt at changing the PFD schedule was an utter failure that cost the City millions of dollars instead of realizing any projected savings. 

Recently he was in the news for proposing that Providence public safety personnel should not be paid a severance for unused sick and vacation time at separation of service. While this may sound good to some none of the reporters interviewing him asked if he received a payout for his unused sick or vacation days when he retired from the State Police. No one respects a so-called leader who has two sets of standards…one for himself and his cronies and one for everybody else. 

Tom Kenney is a retired captain of the Providence Fire Department.