“Mayor Slay purposefully changed the personnel rules so he could pass over the most qualified deputy chief to promote his lower-ranking friend,” Comptroller Darlene Green said in response to Mayor Francis G. Slay’s promotion of Battalion Chief Dennis Jenkerson to fire chief, which was announced on Monday.
“This action continues Francis Slay’s shameful pattern of putting race, politics and cronyism ahead of public safety.”
Battalion chiefs were not eligible for the position of fire chief until eligibility rules were amended by the Department of Personnel in October without announcement or justification. Personnel Director Richard Frank has not responded to repeated requests for explanation by the American.
Slay passed over Deputy Chief Charles Coyle (and two other deputy chiefs) to promote Jenkerson. Jenkerson is white. Coyle is black.
Slay alluded to race in announcing Jenkerson’s promotion, saying no man should be promoted because of color.
According to the Post-Dispatch, Jenkerson had scored higher than Coyle on a test. Coyle had the superior rank and still has far more leadership experience.
Jenkerson is a third-generation City firefighter, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father. He’s also a first in several ways.
Jenkerson is the first to be named chief while under police investigation. Slay campaign advisor Louis Hamilton has confirmed that a group of on-duty firefighters under Jenkerson’s command cut a diving board off Hamilton’s private swimming pool.
Jenkerson also is the first battalion chief selected as chief (or eligible to be selected as chief) over a deputy chief.
With the city in the midst of racial meltdown, Slay chose his personal friend Jenkerson – baggage and all.
“The mayor’s action is a continuation of his treating African-American people like second-class citizens,” Green said.
“Through his actions, African Americans have lost years of progress in the City Fire Department.”
“This is a sad day indeed for St. Louis,” the Rev. Douglas Parham said after hearing of Jenkerson’s promotion.
He said Slay’s decision to promote Jenkerson “was not unexpected.”
“But it shows the mayor has total disregard for the black community,” Parham said. “We must fight. We must fight now.”
Disparity in experience
Of course, Jenkerson replaces Fire Chief Sherman George, who was demoted after refusing to make promotions from a contested 2004 list. George had advised the City not to hire testing consultant EB Jacobs, whose test later produced a list woefully unbalanced by race. After George’s demotion, interim chief Steve Kotraba promptly promoted 23 whites but only four blacks to captain.
Without naming names, George questioned the wisdom of appointing a battalion chief to lead the entire Fire Department.
“Battalion chief is an entry-level management position, where you manage no more than 31 people, never manage the budget and gain no experience in implementing policy,” George said.
As deputy chief, Coyle has managed one-third of the entire Fire Department, or more than 300 firefighters. Jenkerson has never managed as many as 30 firefighters.
As fire marshal, Coyle has administered policy for the entire department for more than eight years. As battalion chief, Jenkerson has had no department-wide policy role or experience.
Officially, the decision to promote Jenkerson was credited to Public Safety Director Charles Bryson, who officially manages more than 1,500 people in his new position. As Bryson told the American, before his promotion by Slay he had never managed more than 12 people.
Before he officially demoted George, Bryson never had hiring, firing or demoting authority over anyone.
Green said, “Slay’s pattern of using black people to cloak his real intentions is not lost on people who believe in justice and fairness.”
John Moten Jr., president of the Black Leadership Roundtable, said the organization is “profoundly disappointed” in the promotion of Jenkerson over Coyle.
“And with our disappointment comes the fact that we must consider responding in some way,” Moten said.
Moten said, while his support for George’s reinstatement never wavered, he did write a letter of support for Coyle. “I made that known to Mayor Slay and to Charles Bryson,” Moten said.
Again, Slay ignored the BLR.
‘A sad time for St. Louis’
Parham is part of a fight to recall Slay, and more than 350 people attended a diverse, spirited Unity Rally on Sunday.
Comptroller Green and License Collector Michael McMillan were both in attendance.
Following Jenkerson’s promotion, McMillan said he was disappointed that Sherman George was not reinstated and that Coyle was not promoted to chief.
“This is a sad time for St. Louis – period,” McMillan said.
“We are on the brink of significant success, yet mired in our oldest problems to this day.”
He warned that Slay’s actions would undermine years of social and financial investment in the city.
“We have spent so much money learning how St. Louis can be a greater city,” McMillan said.
“We hear repeatedly that young people of all colors do not wish to live in a city that is racially divided. As a result, we are unable to recruit or retain the best and brightest people because of our inability to fix our racial divide.”
Parham said that divide “is now much deeper.”
‘No’ to sales tax
Alderman Terry Kennedy, chair of the African-American Aldermanic Caucus, said the mayor could expect a fight against some key proposals from City Hall. Included could be a possible request for a sales tax increase to bolster the police and fire departments.
Kennedy said he personally couldn’t see backing a sales tax increase with the city in racial turmoil.
“(Mayor Slay) shows that he doesn’t realize that African Americans make up 55 percent of the city’s population,” Kennedy said.
“He doesn’t have his finger on that.”
Addington Stewart, president of the Firefighters Institute for Racial Equality, said Slay “has put politics, partisanship and race preference ahead of the safety of St. Louis citizens.”
Stewart said, “Politics, cronyism and race now drive the decisions made at City Hall.”
Wale Amusa, who with several other community leaders attended a meeting with Slay to the consternation of Parham and George, called Jenkerson’s promotion over Coyle “patently and tragically unfair.”
“Mayor Francis Slay and Public Safety Director Charles Bryson missed a historic opportunity to strike a blow for fairness,” Amusa said.
“This decision undermines the efforts to promote and secure the substantial inclusion of minorities in the economic and organizational life of the city and region.”
‘More fired up’
State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed said Slay’s actions would work against him “because we are even more fired up.”
Nasheed presided over the emotional rally on Sunday at the Gateway Class Sports Foundation’s headquarters on the city’s North Side.
“Racial injustice has plagued St. Louis under Slay’s leadership. This city is more polarized than ever before,” she said.
At the rally, Parham challenged the Slay administration in an inspirational speech that moved the crowd. He thundered, “The mayor has picked a fight with us. But he faces a people more powerful than he.”
“They believe that power resides in corporate board rooms. They believe that power resides in huge bank accounts,” Parham said.
“But you must know today that power truly resides in the human spirit.”
Parham said St. Louis’ black community “will no longer endure oppression, no longer accept disrespect. We will not allow the finest of our citizens to be vilified and crucified.”
The Rev. Michael Voster of the United Church of Christ spoke to the crowd on “the syndrome of the Pharaoh.”
“We are out to unseat the Pharaoh,” Voster said.
“At best (Slay) can be accused of racial insensitivity. But it’s worse than that. Racism in City politics is systematic. A new day can come, a new day will come.”
Parham and Nasheed again called on black elected officials and clergy members to join the movement against Slay’s racially divisive politics.
Parham said, “You cannot represent a constituency without courage. There is no neutrality in this fight.”
Jenkerson said he would immediately begin working to address problems with promotions testing and the racial divide in the department.
“It is a priority,” Jenkerson said at Monday’s press conference, as Slay and Bryson grinned.
Stewart of FIRE said Jenkerson’s promotion eliminates any chance of racial reconciliation between his organization and the white-dominated firefighters’ union – which vehemently opposed George’s promotion to chief and worked against his administration from the day he was appointed.
Stewart said, “We reject the constructive firing of Chief Sherman George, and we do not recognize the selection process used to install Jenkerson.”
