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To the Honorable Mayor & City Council of Ft. Worth, Texas:-
In view of the fact that the point has been raised in the council and has gotten into the newspaper that the employees of the fire department are not being passed upon by the council and that thereby a grave infraction of the law is being committed, we your committee on Fire department have in committee meeting assembled concluded that upon that point a statement should be made to the council of our ideas concerning the matter was well as of our action in the premises.
1st. It is the duty of the chief to report his men discharged and new men employed to this committee, and having done this the chief is not derelict in any part of his duty so far as this matter is concerned.
2nd.- If there is dereliction in duty it is this committee which is derelict, and it is willing to assume any and all responsibility that grows out of a failure to report the appointments to the council.
This brings up the question as to whether or not the committee has been derelict, and if so, in what manner and why.
When a copy of the charter and ordinancescame into the hands of the chairman of this committee he then became for the first time familiar with the provisions in the charter and ordinances relating to employees of the fire department, and he called the attention of the committee and the chief to the fact that it was the duty of the committee to report to the council for a confirmation of its action. The chairman was informed and believed from such information then, and believes now that such action had never been customary, that the pay rolls would show the changes, that the reports of the committee would be made public in the news papers, and it would be unjust to the men discharged in that it would hamper them in getting other jobs and might otherwise cause trouble. Nevertheless, the committee decided to report to the council in strict technical accordance with law. They did so at the first opportunity, and it resulted in a few days in trouble, to-wit, an assault on the Mayor by a suspended fireman, the cause of whose suspension had gotten into the papers, he taking the position that the Mayor was responsible in some
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way for the new course pursued by the committee. The Mayor was not present at the meeting of the committee, and had nothing to do with its action which was brought about as before pointed out.
After the trouble the committee met immediately to consider the situation and in view of the disastrous results of their action, and in view of the fact that they individually thought such a course was unjust to the men, concluded that if after consultation with some of the other aldermen and getting the views of the Mayor no objection should be raised that the committee would pursue the old time policy and let the confirmation of the committee's action be by application, towit: by payment of the pay roll which would show all discharged and employment. Other aldermen were consulted, the Mayor's views were obtained by the Chairman of this committee, and this committee then ceased to further directly report the discharges and employments to the council.
We are advised that a payment of the pay roll showing these things is a confirmation of the acts of the committee and of the chief, and if we have acted illegally which we do not believe, we might urge in our defense that it has not been very much more so than some other committees, and like them we can say to the council that our acts were only prompted by a desire to avoid doing injustice to the men, and trouble that might otherwise arise, and not from any desire to keep secret from this council or the public the appointments or other matters of the fire department.
And now having gone over the whole matter, we would say that we now ask the instructions and pleasure of the council as to our future course.
E.C. Orrick W.H. Ward R.H. Tucker
Committee on Fire Department
