Floyd Clark

Former Ontario Fire Chief Floyd E. Clark has followed up on the original lawsuit he filed against the city that had hired him as the first African American fire chief in its history with a second amended complaint containing explicit charges of racial discrimination. Named in the complaint are the city, its fire department and city manager Al Boling. According to the suit, Boling created a hostile work environment and orchestrated Clark’s dismissal after Clark balked at providing a promotion for a fire engineer he considered unqualified. Central to the suit is Clark’s contention that the city was resistant to his efforts toward implementing a hiring practice aimed at creating a greater degree of racial diversification among the city’s firefighters.
There are countervailing contentions that Clark’s suit takes as its basis an invalid proposition that management was acting out of a prejudicial animus toward him and that Clark and his current and past attorneys have ignored or misconstrued and are continuing to ignore and misconstrue a series of events or complaints which originated or were perpetrated by others than those Clark blames, including most pointedly individuals whose actions are not at issue in the suit. In particular, the Sentinel is informed by well-placed and knowledgeable sources at City Hall that Clark has fixated on the action of city councilman Jim Bowman, who is described as being Clark’s leading advocate in the city, a consideration which may entail difficulty for Clark and his legal team as the suit progresses toward or actually goes to trial. Moreover, the latest version of the suit contains explosive charges of overt expressions of racial prejudice, including slurs, uttered by Bowman. This is complicated by the consideration that the allegation against Bowman is supported solely by former Ontario City Councilman Paul Vincent Avila, who was turned out of office last year following a four year-tenure in which his credibility had come under increasingly heavy fire.
On May 31, 2017, attorneys Lawrance Bohm and Bradley Mancuso filed a second amended complaint on Clark’s behalf in San Bernardino County Superior Court. That complaint alleges discrimination, harassment, Fair Employment and Housing Act retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation, as well as violations of Labor Code Secions 98.6, 1102.5 and 6310.
Clark hired on with the Ontario Fire Department in 1986 as a fire investigator/inspector. He promoted through the ranks of fire captain, deputy fire marshal, operations battalion chief, deputy fire chief and fire marshal before he was selected in December 2011 to succeed Dave Carrier as Ontario fire chief. In turning to Clark, the city council made him the first African-American fire chief of the Ontario Fire Department in the municipal department’s more than a century of existence. Clark remained as fire chief for three-and-a-half years, a seeming success story, standing as an example of Ontario having joined the ranks of other San Bernardino County cities such as Montclair, San Bernardino, Grand Terrace, Colton and Victorville, which have embraced African Americans as top administrators or key members of management. Clark lasted in the chief’s position well beyond his 55th birthday, the age at which most firefighters retire, and looked to be aiming at staying in place until he was 60, an increasingly rare accomplishment for the firefighting profession in this day and age, with its emphasis on employing youthfully enthusiastic and robust personnel capable of meeting the physical challenges of the sometimes physically challenging assignments firefighting entails. Firefighters are promised lucrative pensions which incentivize early retirement, which generally keeps firemen from remaining in place into their 60s.
Having made his way to the top, however, Clark was intent upon hanging onto the post at least long enough to redress some of the shortcomings he perceived in Ontario’s fire department. Some of those issues had been longstanding.
According to the second amended complaint, “In or around the winter of 1992, chief Clark reported to Battalion Chief Larry Doan that some firefighters were presented with an unfair advantage on the fire captain’s promotional exam by going to a different terminal, re-entering information on the computer system, and completing the exam with unlimited time ramifications. Chief Clark was told by chief Doan that he was being an ‘instigator and that he should mind his own business.’ Based on information and belief, those accused of cheating were promoted and chief Clark was not selected for promotion.”
Clark’s suit maintains that favoritism toward unqualified individuals is ingrained in the department and that even as fire chief he did not have the power to combat it.
According to the second amended complaint, “Between, in, or around January 2012 through November 2015, during recruitment cycles, chief Clark was briefed by staff [training captain/deputy chief of operations Ray Gayk and deputy chief fire prevention Art Andres] on the current recruitment practices. These employees informed him that candidates went before an oral board [composed of one firefighter one engineer, and one captain]. From there, qualified candidates, based on the review of the panel, were selected for interviews. When chief Clark asked if any African-Americans were interviewed, he was told ‘yes.’ However, none were recommended to chief Clark for hiring. When chief Clark asked if he could see the ranking system used for previous candidates, he was denied. Chief Clark asked to participate in the oral board/selection process, but he was denied. Based upon information and belief, Caucasian employees who were similarly situated as plaintiff were given preferential treatment as it relates to job assignments, promotions and compensation. Since his employment thirty years ago, chief Clark was the last African-American employed by the fire department. Chief Clark petitioned city officials to correct and remedy the unfair treatment and discrimination within the department. However city officials and administration refused to listen to chief Clark’s concerns and provided no remedy to address the disparate treatment.”
The suit continues, “On or about December 29, 2013 Al Boling became the city manager for the City of Ontario. In or around January 2014, chief Clark told city manager Boling that he was excited to work with him on increasing diversity in the fire service, to which city manager Boling replied, he did not share chief Clark’s concern and that chief Clark’s focus should be solely on the budget concerns of the fire department.”
Bohn and Mancuso maintain that in 2015 Clark was pressured to recertify engineer Wayne Dennis as a paramedic despite Dennis not having worked as a paramedic for fifteen years. Clark maintained this would constitute an undeserved promotion that would have enhanced Dennis’s retirement benefits.
Clark’s suit alleges that in late July 2015 he was approached by Boling and told to promote Robert Elwell from battalion chief to deputy fire marshal, “despite Mr. Elwell not meeting the minimum qualification for the position. City manager Boling insisted that chief Clark do as instructed.”
Ultimately, a showdown between Bowman and Clark ensued during a meeting at which the fire chief, the councilman and the department’s deputy chiefs were present, according to the complaint. At that point, according to the lawsuit, Bowman told Clark point blank, “You need to go because you are not in touch with the culture of the department anymore.”
According to the suit, Clark went out on medical leave while dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome in November 2015. Boling harassed him during this period by proposing retirement and asking him to turn in the keys to his office and bring his staff car to the station. Clark was noncommittal, hoping at that point he might stay in position for as many as two to three more years. Boling sought to have him move up his retirement date to December 30, 2015. Clark refused. According to the suit, Boling on at least four occasions in December 2015 attempted to “coerce his retirement.” Then, to prevent future bullying, harassment and vexing, Clark gave a tentative commitment to retire in July 2016. But despite that compromise, according to the suit, Boling did not keep his end of the bargain. Boling presented Clark with a settlement agreement in December 2015 that specified his retirement would commence at the end of that month upon his voluntary resignation. Simultaneously, in what was intended as a fait accompli, Boling sent out a memo, without Clark’s knowledge or consent, informing fire department personnel that Clark had given notice of his retirement.
On February 10, 2016, when Clark returned from medical leave and intended to pick up where he had left off, Boling placed him on administrative leave with pay.
In Clark’s suit, Boling and Bowman are depicted as the primary actors forcing Clark’s departure.
Indeed, Bowman is especially demonized in the suit, which states that “On or about March 14, 2016, a City of Ontario council member overheard council member Bowman refer to chief Clark as a ‘coon,’ a ‘nigger,’ and a ‘token black’ to council member Alan Wapner and city manager Boling. City manager Boling replied, ‘I will take care of this. I have a plan.’”
The unidentified council member who claimed to have overheard Bowman’s use of the  slurs is former councilman Paul Vincent Avila, the Sentinel has learned.
The complaint further states, “In or around October 2002, while serving as fire marshal, chief Clark was asked by former fire chief and current City of Ontario Council Member Jim W. Bowman to prejudicially favor Sam’s Club, Inc. to be able to sell fireworks, even though the sale of fireworks was forbidden by city law. Chief Clark reminded [then-fire chief] council member Bowman that this action was illegal. [Then-fire chief] council member Bowman responded, ‘Do as you’re told.’ Chief Clark wrote Sam’s Club, Inc., stating. ‘…per the direction of the fire chief [council member Bowman], you are permitted to sell fireworks.’ After [then-fire chief] council member Bowman saw the letter, he called chief Clark into his office and proceeded to harass and berate chief Clark by calling him “a dumb ass motherfucker [who will] never get away with this.’ Immediately thereafter [then-fire chief] council member Bowman asked chief Clark to take a demotion. Chief Clark went to the city’s human resources department to explain the unwarranted demotion and retaliation. The human resources department replied that [then-fire chief] council member Bowman had proper authority to ask chief Clark to demote. Chief Clark was demoted without reason.”
The Sentinel is informed that in actuality, Bowman, more than any other member of the council, intervened with his council colleagues and staff in defense of Clark. According to reliable sources functioning within Ontario municipal government, it was action by councilman Alan Wapner, which was rebuked in private by Bowman, that served as the catalyst for Clark’s forced exodus as fire chief.
With the Fourth of July celebrations around Ontario in 2015, events occurred which ultimately led to Clark’s once-unblemished reputation as a fixture of both Ontario history and within Ontario’s firefighting pantheon being at first questioned, then sullied. With subsequent events the situation devolved into a circumstance in which Clark was ignominiously terminated. Clark is now maintaining that Ontario’s government structure is a culture dominated by white Anglo Saxon males in which Clark had been given a token promotion but was unable to actually exercise true authority as fire chief.
At the July 7, 2015 Ontario City Council meeting, Wapner confronted both the chief of police, Brad Kaylor, and Clark, pressing them on the proliferation of illegal fireworks throughout the city on July 4, three days earlier. Kaylor responded, saying the city’s codes did not allow the police department to issue citations to those blasting off illegal fireworks within the city limits unless they were caught in the act of doing so. Wapner demanded of Clark how many warnings fire department personnel had issued with regard to the possession or use of fireworks. Clark said he did not have that information but would research it. Wapner’s exchange with Clark was a sharp one, and though Councilwoman Debra Dorst-Porada came across as concerned about the matter as well, the remainder of the council seemed reluctant to gang up on the fire chief over an issue that was a mere manifestation of jubilation that accompanies the most patriotic of American celebrations. Clark did not engage with Wapner at the time, but the public scolding Clark sustained continued to resonate. Subsequently, the Sentinel has learned, the other members of the council, Jim Bowman in particular, privately rebuffed Wapner for having taken the fire chief to the woodshed in public, prompting Wapner to offer a somewhat sheepish apology to his colleagues, claiming he did not fully realize what he had done. No apology was made to Clark, however, and the relationship between Clark and the city went downhill from there.
Ironically, Clark’s sallies against Bowman would result in Bowman becoming less reluctant to go to bat for Clark. In a double irony, Bowman’s defense of Clark precipitated a fissure in the once rock solid political alliance between Bowman and Wapner, and that relationship has yet to fully recover.
Wapner’s slap at Clark was the first public indication of any hint of dissatisfaction with Clark. That public demonstration, exposing Clark as politically vulnerable, triggered, it appears, some show of dissension in the fire department. That dissension manifested from down the chain of command upward, perhaps accentuated by the impatience of the most ambitious members of the department who were angling for promotions, ones that were being held up as Clark remained in a position atop the heap in the fire department beyond his expected retirement age.
One well-placed source has told the Sentinel that by September 2015 “ill will toward Floyd within the ranks” was apparent. That sentiment, involving a handful of firefighters, was conveyed to city manager Al Boling, who in October of 2015 was giving indication that the city was looking toward Clark’s upcoming departure sooner rather than later, and certainly no later than at some point in 2016. Boling articulated to a select group that it was anticipated the department would be moving on with Bob Elwell, who was Clark’s assistant fire chief at that point, succeeding him.
Indeed, Clark’s replacement was actuated in the interim after he went out on medical leave beginning in November 2015 and while he remained absent from the department.
The city’s legal defense is being handled by the Los Angeles-based law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. The lead attorney on the matter is Alison Kalinski.
Bohm and Mancuso exist as the fourth legal team to represent Clark in his dispute with the City of Ontario. While Bohm and Mancuso had sought to sharpen the legal rapier they had in store for the city by the addition of Paul Vincent Avila’s allegation regarding the statements by he said he overheard on March 14, 2016 into the second amended complaint, the Sentinel has learned that Kalinski and the attorneys at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore have the opposite perception, believing that by staking Clark’s case on the credibility of Avila, Bohm and Mancuso have engaged in overreach that will ultimately eviscerate the entirety of the case.
Bohm said, “It’s appalling what happened to chief Clark. We expect and demand better from people in positions of authority.”
Mancuso, said, “I have nothing but respect for those who serve our communities. Chief Clark was a dedicated firefighter and leader for the City of Ontario. He is one of those rare individuals who wants to make a real impact on people’s lives.”
“I was devastated and extremely disappointed with how I was treated,” Clark said. “I would often be afraid of going into work, worried about what they would do next to humiliate or degrade me. I endured my time there as long as I could because I wanted to fulfill my dream of equality in the Ontario Fire Department. I was not treated with dignity or respect. I was made to feel worthless, like I didn’t belong. This was my dream, and sadly, it was turned into a living nightmare.”
Clark added, “I hope this lawsuit changes the environment within the City of Ontario Fire Department so that there will be employees of all races and backgrounds. I hope more people who are being mistreated at their workplace become empowered and brave enough to speak out and seek justice.”  -Mark Gutglueck