Fire chief
May 1st, 2007 by 
Alica
Larry Johnson has resigned as chief of the Brandon Volunteer Fire Department.
Did Larry do a good job while he was chief? If so, isn’t there a way to get him to change his mind?
Otherwise, who would make a better chief? Eventually, considering city growth, there will come a time when the fire department, or the city, will need to make fire chief into a paid position. Is now the time?
What should be the next step for the Brandon Volunteer Fire Department?
Posted in Uncategorized | 
May 1st, 2007 at 7:59 am
Larry Johnson has done a great job for the Fire Department. I feel the city should make the fire chief a paid position and offer it to Larry.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Larry has been an outstanding chief and will be missed. However, I think sadly there are underlying reasons why Larry is leaving–perhaps the ambulance issue. All of Brandon should wish him well. Sorry to see you go Larry.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:49 am
Having Larry resign as Fire Chief was a major decision. This decision was very difficult but was one he felt needed to be made. Larry’s resignation was in no way influenced by the outcome of the ambulance issue. Rather, it was due to some internal issues within the department that he did not support. Fire Fighting was his life and sometimes one must do what is right even if they don’t want to but they know it is right. Larry has been continually trying to get the chief’s position paid, and yes I do believe we need it in
Brandon. Who will accept the position, that I don’t know. All I have to say is that the decision Larry made to leave the fire department and resign from the chief position has nothing to do with the ambulance issues for the entire department was to remain neutral. Maybe this is a situation where the body of the department should have listened to the chief as well as the other assistant chiefs and other board members.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:29 am
From what I hear Larry did do a good job, but the what bothers or concerns me tthe most is the last comment. “Maybe this is a situation where the body of the department should have listened to the chief as well as the other assistant chiefs and other board members. “. From what I heard heard the general body had to read about his resignation in the paper or be one of special people who would follow him. I always thought listening was a two street.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Resign from chief along with retiring came to a surprising not only to the community and other members of the department but also to his family. The reason a paid position is needed because it is more than one person doing the work their is multiple times where I spent more time at the station then their own members helping my father. Listen is a two way street but only if u do not know the facts. The internal problem is just not a one-time problem it has grown from a smaller one to a larger one with one member. The department thoughts of not following along with the removal of this member shows they do not see eye to eye with Larry. As Larry says over and over, “Only so many times you can be kicked in the balls before you can not take it anymore.” With this situation being the last straw even though many do not like the outcome. So many next time they will think twice before they allow something and look at the big picture instead of what is being showed to them.
May 29th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Yes, Larry did a lot for the fire department, I hope that will not be forgotten, because he did live and breath it, and he was good at it. And yes, it was Larry’s choice to resign, but the way that the situation unfolded made the whole thing look a sketchy.
From what the person prior to me wrote “the general body had to read about his resignation in the paper or be one of special people who would follow him.” And also, the statement, written by one of his daughters, “it was due to some internal issues within the department that he did not support.”
From hearing some of the firefighters talk around town, it was not that they did not support him on the issue it was that they could not knowing the information that they did, unfortunately were not privy to
the same information as the board members did. So, the support is there, but when a vote like that is going on, everyone needs to know
all of what is happening so that they may make and informed vote. I am sure if that had happened the voting would have been different, and possibly Larry would not have retired.
But, it did not happen. So really, he should be blaming himself and other board members for not being informative NOT the Fire Department as a whole.
Also another topic would be does Larry deserve his retirement pension from the Fire Department? I do not know where the firefighters work
during the day, but I do know where I work, and if I do not give a TWO WEEKS notice I get only the money I put away for retirement not the matching funds from the company. Seeing as all retirement funds come
from the department and Larry did not give a 2 hour notice, let alone two week notice, should he get money from the retirement fund? .. My
Opinion …. NO. Do not get me wrong, I may not know all the facts I am just going by
what I have heard, and these are my opinions.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I may agree that the board of directors should have been a little more informative. it may have changed things. I do know that Larry was not surprise at the way tings turned out do to the sercomstances that were given. It had to be a hard choice to make and I still cannot believe it happened. As far as the retirement, Larry did this kind of work a long time before there was any kind of retirement. You think he does not deserve it, maybe so. Ask Larry some time if it would matter if he did not receive his retirement, I don’t think that is what he was doing this for.