YOUNGSTOWN – Fire Chief Barry Finley, who made racial remarks toward two union officials, will not be disciplined for his actions, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown announced today.

“Unfortunately, what is evident is an environment of continuous tension and distrust between union and department leadership, and a history of antagonistic behavior towards Chief Finley,” Brown wrote in a statement today. “This resistance to change threatens the ability of the chief to implement the needed initiatives to modernize the department and ensure the safety of our community.”

In her three-page report given Wednesday to Brown, Law Director Lori Shells Simmons said she interviewed numerous people and recommended Finley not be disciplined.

“It is my opinion that chief deserves some grace” because “until this moment, the disrespectful incidents the chief has experienced OVER THE YEARS have not been addressed,” she wrote.

Shells Simmons recommended professional development training for Finley and his ranking officers as well as sensitivity training for the entire fire department.

Brown didn’t address those recommendations in his statement. Something could potentially be done in the future as a study of the fire department is underway.

Brown told The Vindicator on Oct. 10 in an exclusive story that the white union officials – President Jon Racco and Vice President Jordan Thomas – don’t recognize they are being racist toward Finley, who is black.

Finley admitted in a statement that he told the two at a Sept. 6 meeting at the law department: “I am so tired of you white boys constantly coming after me for no reason and it just never stops.”

Thomas and Racco in their statement in an Oct. 4 investigation by Deputy Law Director Lou D’Apolito that Finley used profane language when referring to them and the chief stood up and threatened to physically harm Thomas.

The two told Shells Simmons in her follow-up investigation that Finley has a bad temper and always screamed at them, according to her report. She also wrote the two said Finley made racist statements and should be disciplined, the report states, and there would be no resolution unless Finley was removed as chief.

Finley told Shells Simmons he regretted the argument and what he said, but he felt the union officials are always disrespectful to him and said he needed an assistant to delegate duties to so he could run a more efficient department.

Finley told Shells Simmons he was more than willing to take professional development classes to run a more efficient department.

There’s been a long list of disputes between the fire union and Finley since his February 2018 appointment as chief, including about 50 grievances, three unfair labor practices against the city and multiple lawsuits.

There have been at least five complaints since 2020 filed with the city by firefighters over Finley’s behavior toward them that are not in the chief’s personnel files.

Finley had a number of incidents in his personnel file from before he was chief. The most notable one was a Feb. 1, 20213, incident where he picked up a lieutenant from his chair and slammed him so hard against two walls of a fire station that he damaged the drywall.

Finley received a 45-day suspension for that and a 10-year notice that Finley, a captain at the time, would be subject to termination for “any aggressive conduct.” Finley was subsequently involved in a heated discussion with a battalion chief on May 2, 2013, in which he used profanity and refused an order, that led to him being suspended without pay for two days.

For more, read Tuesday’s edition of The Vindicator and Vindy.com.