- October 31, 2024
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A set of competing memos by two director-level county officials — one by its fire chief concerning the conduct of its IT director, and another by the IT director concerning the conduct of the fire chief — have led county officials to announce a formal inquiry.
The fire chief, Don Petito, sent his memo first, writing in a four-page memo to County Administrator Jerry Cameron on Sept. 6 that IT Director Jarrod Shupe was a "control freak" with a "Machiavellian leadership style" that would "eventually use hard to the organization as a whole by placing someone's life in danger or controlling things so tightly, jobs will not be done."
Shupe, in a 13-page response, wrote that Petito's complaint was a continuation of harassment that Shupe and his staff had been receiving from Petito for more than a year, and which, he wrote, regularly included "vulgarity-ridden outbursts from the Chief."
"This complaint appears to be an attempt to break apart the centralization of IT that has been built and create a silo," Shupe wrote.
The conflict between the men had peaked with what Cameron referred to as a "blowup" during the Hurricane Dorian activation at the Emergency Operations Center, or EOC.
At issue were the county's emergency radio channels: Petito wrote in the memo that his deputy chief, in coordination with emergency staff at the area city governments, came up with an agreement about radio channel use and initiated a plan, but that Shupe, without consulting with them, then sent out an alternate plan.
Petito had then emailed Shupe telling him that Shupe should get the plan reviewed before disseminating it, and Shupe had responded that the issuance of radio channels fell under IT's purview.
"His [Shupe's] email disregarded any decision made by Incident Command positions, well above Jarrod's position as Communication Unit leader, as he developed a communication plan without any discussion with leadership," Petito wrote. He adde that Shupe's actions "could have placed emergency responders in jeopardy by contradicting the orders already given by higher-ranking command staff."
Shupe, he added, "Has no formal education action or training in emergency services."
Shupe's letter to Cameron in response to Petito's memo includes information about his training background that belies that assertion: Shupe certified as a firefighter in New York state in 1994 and rose to the rank of lieutenant in a 20-apparatus department that served two counties, then later became an ambulance driver, dispatcher and an EMT, maintaining his EMT certification for eight years before moving to Florida, Shupe wrote.
When Shupe had tried to speak to Petito about the radio channel plan for Dorian, Shupe wrote, Petito raised his voice, "then threatened that this conversation would not be the end of this and that he was going to see to it that it was not. Thus, this complaint was created and submitted."
The two men also disagreed about the use of VHF and the implementation of a new patient care reporting system, according to the memos.
Cameron wrote in a notice to County Commission Chairman Donald O'Brien that he has "convened a Board of Inquiry to look into a number of very serious allegations and cross allegations."
The three-member board will include Cameron, County Attorney Al Hadeed and county Financial Services Director John Brower.
"I look forward to going through the process with the board of inquiry and getting this resolved," Petito said.
