Bridgeport Fire Dept. dismisses inspector

AARON LEO aleo@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 02/20/2008 11:57:21 PM EST

BRIDGEPORT — Frank Gerardi, one of five city fire inspectors who allegedly used his department minivan for personal business, has been fired.

His termination Jan. 25 was disclosed Wednesday at the Board of Fire Commissioners meeting in Fire Department Headquarters.

He demonstrated "a total lack of respect for authority, for your superior officers and for the Fire Department," Fire Chief Brian Rooney wrote in his notice of termination to Gerardi.

Firefighter Robert Whitbread, president of the Bridgeport Fire Fighters Association Local 834, declined to comment. Gerardi will appeal to the state Labor Department, Whitbread said. The board also denied a grievance from Gerardi contesting the firing.

In the letter to Gerardi, Rooney said the inspector violated department policies by:

-failing to inspect a total of 153 apartment buildings between May 2007 and September 2007;

-going out of town or to locations not assigned during work hours; n spending as little as 30 minutes per shift performing duties and falsifying work documents;

-going to properties that he owns during work hours; n behaving unprofessionally toward a superior on Dec. 7, 2007.

Rooney brought the accusations last October after data from Global Positioning System units hidden in the Fire Marshal Division's new minivans showed Gerardi and four others went to places not assigned to them or went out of town. The other four inspectors, Lorenzo Pittman, Manuel Alicea, Steve Vitka and Ronald

Morales remain on administrative leave.

During a Jan. 15 disciplinary hearing, Gerardi refused to answer questions when presented with the evidence, Rooney said.

He also has received numerous verbal and written warnings and counseling for various departmental violations and a 10-day suspension on Sept. 25, 2006, for violating the department's racial slur policy, according to Rooney.

He was also cited for conduct unbecoming an officer at the Arena at Harbor Yard and barred from working there, Rooney said.

Both Vitka and Gerardi unsuccessfully challenged the installation and use of GPS units in the vans, citing the state's electronic monitoring law.

Meanwhile, the board also denied Vitka's application for a service-related disability pension for lack of documentation, but he can reapply.

Vitka's lawyer, Virginia C. Foreman, declined to identify what disability her client is claiming.

However, Assistant Fire Chief James Grace III said it disturbed him that an earlier workers' compensation claim filed by Gerardi, alleging the same disability, had been rejected.