Saying Goodbye to the Fire Chief

I was not able to make the retirement celebration for Central County Fire Chief Don Dornell last night but Mayor Keighran and my lovely wife, Councilmember Cathy Baylock, were there along with a sizeable crowd to send Don off to retirement.  From the program we learn that Don was

Hired with the City of Burlingame Fire Department as a firefighter in 1977.  Promoted to Fire Captain in 1985 and Assistant Chief in 1997.  Appointed to be the second Fire Chief of the Central County Fire Department in 2006 and the shared Fire Chief for the CCFD, Millbrae Fire Department and San Bruno Fire Department in 2012.

You will recall from this post about the Screaming Eagles that Don

Served as the first Chairman of the Burlingame Adopt-a-Unit Program since 2004 which as sponsored the adopted soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division through 5 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I hope Don enjoys his retirement and welcome to new CCFD Fire Chief Mark Ladas.  Here's Cathy Baylock wishing Don well last night.

Comments

[Ron Fulderon]

I hope he can get by okay on that measly civil servant pension and that he doesn't have to leave the state like many of my friends are planning to do to survive.

[Anne]

It does appear that he bumped up his position for the last few months. Maybe we need a law that says you have to stay in the top job for five years or more to collect that level of pension.

[alittlebird]

All I can say is that it is INSANE that he get that kind of pension.

[Ron Fulderon]

"Maybe we need a law that says you have to stay in the top job for five years or more to collect that level of pension."

Anne, I think your statement illustrates the type of thinking that got us into this position. Someone on the board of supervisors or the city manager or whoever sets that pension amount could read a statement like yours and see it as an endorsement of these very high pensions, under certain conditions.

There is no way that a civil servant should be paid these huge pensions regardless of whether it is the top job or having served it for five years or ten years.

It is an injustice to the current tax payers that are working to pay these pensions and to our children who will be burdened with these policies.