YOUNGSTOWN — Fire Chief Barry Finley, who made racial remarks toward two union officials and then expressed regret when being investigated by city lawyers, will not face any punishment for his actions.

The decision to “not take disciplinary action against Finley regarding this matter” came in a Monday announcement from Mayor Jamael Tito Brown.

“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. “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 and made public Monday, 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, writing “there is work to be done to enhance the relationship between the chief and” the firefighters.

Brown didn’t address those training recommendations in his statement.

Brown told The Vindicator on Monday: “The findings also highlight the importance of creating and maintaining a working environment conducive to constructive collaboration amongst all departments. Therefore, I plan for all administration senior staff to take part in professional and ethics training. My long-term goal is for this (to) also be incorporated into training for all city staff.”

In the statement, Brown said: “A modernized, efficient department that is united in the cause of putting the safety of Youngstown residents first is a vision I share with Chief Finley. I look forward to him continuing to work towards that vision.”

Finley didn’t respond Monday to a request for comment.

Fire union President Jon Racco wrote in a Monday statement: “The details and statements listed in the city’s investigation into Chief Finley are false. This conclusion is disappointing, but one we expected from this INTERNAL investigation. The facts are that Finley has a documented pattern of violent, abusive, racist behavior that has continued across his entire employment history and three different union administrations since he’s been chief.”

Racco added: “Our ongoing EXTERNAL litigation will prove it. The city is negligently violating its own policies by keeping him in place and failing to provide a safe, discrimination-free workplace for our members.”

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

Finley admitted in a statement to Deputy Law Director Lou D’Apolito 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 statements to D’Apolito wrote that Finley used profane language when referring to them, and the chief stood up and threatened to physically harm Thomas.

D’Apolito finished his brief investigation with an Oct. 4 report contending the statements from the union officials and Finley “were similar” so “there was no need to interview the parties further and draft interview statements for signatures.”

D’Apolito wrote: “The investigation information was presented to the mayor. The mayor has taken appropriate administrative action.”

When asked Oct. 10 about any action, Brown said he was waiting for Shells Simmons to return Oct. 15 from vacation “to look at some remedies to deal with this. It is a problem, but it’s on both sides, and that’s what we want to look at. This whole work environment. We started questioning one side then we question the other side, and a lot of things start coming up that we’re uncovering.”

Brown also said that Finley “might be the one in a hostile work environment. We’re going to work through that,” and said “there’s some racial issues there” from both sides with firefighters not respecting Finley because he’s black.

In response on Oct. 10, Racco said the mayor’s statements and depiction of events “are 100% false. They are only intended to draw attention away from the fact that he has appointed a fire chief who is unfit for his duties and that the city has repeatedly covered up his abuse.”

REPORT DETAILS

Racco and Thomas 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.

Shells Simmons’ report states Finley feels “that some staff were being racist and disrespectful towards him.”

Shells Simmons wrote in her report that she interviewed ranking fire officers, primarily under the condition of anonymity, and all felt Finley should remain chief.

She wrote the anonymous ranking fire officers told her Racco and Thomas “were also at fault because they ‘know how to push his buttons.’ (Their words) They all felt that there should be some improvements regarding communicating with Chief Finley. Most importantly, they all felt chief was doing a good job as chief of YFD.”

Shells Simmons said about half of the ranking officers “felt there should be some type of disciplinary measures taken towards” Finley.

Shells Simmons wrote she had a ride-along with Battalion Chief Timothy Frease on Nov. 15 and spent time that day at different stations talking to firefighters.

“I discovered quickly that mostly all of the firefighters felt that Chief Finley was very capable of his position as chief,” she wrote. “They felt he was doing a very good job. They felt that while he has a temper that it did not distract from the good work he did for the city.”

Shells Simmons wrote about an incident a few years ago when there were “FBF” shirts, mugs, hats and other items that came from firefighters. FBF stands for F— Barry Finley.

Battalion Chief Charlie Smith, who was union president, at the time told her he made sure they were removed as soon as he found out about them.

Finley said the items were “around for a while before they were removed” and they contributed to the racism and disrespect he faces from some firefighters, according to the report.

Finley said Racco and Thomas “always disrespect him as he is carrying out his duties as fire chief,” according to the report.

Shells Simmons specifically mentioned talking to Smith who “expressed his support for Chief Finley and wanted to make sure that I knew that. He also indicated that he would help Chief Finley with whatever he needed. He thought that Chief Finley would benefit from having an assistant in order to delegate some of this duties.”

Reached to comment Monday, Smith said he explained the numerous problems with Finley and told Shells Simmons that “he’s not a good chief. I had nothing good to say about him as chief, but I said there was no reason not to keep him.”

As for the contention he urged that Finley get an assistant, Smith said he told Shells Simmons that the chief would benefit from assistance from someone like herself when making final decisions because the mayor isn’t helpful and there’s no reason for an assistant fire chief.

Frease, who was the only other firefighter mentioned by name in Shells Simmons’ report as someone she spoke to, said he told the law director that most people personally like Finley, “but thought professionally, he was in over his head and stressed,” and “I can’t remember anyone saying he was doing a great job.”

Frease said firefighters at four stations said to him and Shells Simmons it was “more likely than not” that Finley would eventually physically assault someone. That wasn’t included in the report.

Shells Simmons wrote in her report that various community members –none of which are named — approached her about the investigation and all supported Finley and that the chief is being treated unfairly by some of his staff.

Shells Simmons took about seven weeks from the start of her investigation to issue a report last Wednesday to Brown, who then released the law director’s recommendations and his written statement Monday through Andy Resnick, who operates CS Public Affairs of Canfield. The firm was hired in June on a $60,000 contract to develop a strategic communications plan and “present a positive image of the entire city,” according to an ordinance approved by city council.

FINLEY ISSUES

There’s been a lengthy list of disputes between the fire union and Finley since his February 2018 appointment as chief, including about 50 grievances, a December 2019 vote of no-confidence, a number of unfair labor practices against the city and multiple lawsuits.

There’s been at least four complaints since 2019 filed with the city by firefighters over Finley’s behavior toward them that are not in the chief’s personnel files kept by various city departments.

Among them is a May 2, 2023, human resources complaint filed by Racco in which he wrote that Finley told him to “shut my mouth” while being “visibly agitated and hostile” during an April 6, 2023, meeting as he accused the union president of criticizing him on social media. The statements were on the union’s Facebook page.

Racco wrote that Finley berated him and “stood over me in a manner that was obviously intended to be physically intimidating.” Racco said Finley also told him he “had grown up ‘white and privileged.'”

Complaints came from two firefighters, who quit after about a year each with the department, in which they stated Finley threatened to fire them at a Jan. 19, 2023 meeting after contending one of the two — he didn’t know which one — contacted a news outlet about their transfer to the inspection bureau. Finley is accused in the complaints of verbal harassment and intimidation.

Fire Capt. Ben Esposito filed numerous complaints — and listed several of them in an Oct. 16 letter to Shells Simmons — accusing Finley of “acting in an overly hostile and / or retaliatory manner towards myself, constituting an abuse of his authority as fire chief so as to exact a personal vendetta against myself while subjecting me to a hostile work environment” for the past six years. Esposito said in response to his efforts to point out abuses by Finley resulted in him facing a disciplinary hearing.

Finley had a number of incidents in his personnel file from before he was chief. The most notable one was a Feb. 1, 2012, 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.” As part of that suspension, Finley agreed to “attend, participate in and fully cooperate with an evaluation by an anger management professional” at his cost.

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. John J. O’Neill Jr., then the fire chief, wrote in a May 15, 2013, letter that Finley’s “actions were an outrageous display (of) insubordination. In fact, the most indignant display that I have witnessed as long as I have been the fire chief.” he added Finley “came dangerously close to violating” the termination agreement.

Finley was given a verbal reprimand on Nov. 26, 2013, for twice making inappropriate and offensive comments toward a firefighter regarding his wife.

In Finley’s personnel record is an Oct. 28, 2019, incident in which he admits he told Smith, who was union president at the time, regarding Patrick Holcomb, a firefighter, that he “would have thrown him through a wall” after an incident at a meeting 12 days prior in which the firefighter was insubordinate.

Holcomb and the union filed a grievance accusing Finley of displaying “hostile and intimidating behavior.” There is no documentation of Finley being disciplined over the matter.