RFD Press Conference

Rochester Fire Chief John Caufield held a news conference late this afternoon to announce the appointment of Molly Clifford to the newly created position of Director of Fire Administration. Molly will part of the executive staff of the Rochester Fire Department. Her position will be an administrative position and does not include operational responsibilities, emergency response or incident command.

Chief Caufield reported that the fire marshal position will be reassigned and announced at a later date.

When asked about budget cuts, Chief Caufield said “there would be no layoffs or closing of fire stations or fire companies.”

The Chief answered questions about whether this appointment was a political favor as Molly was part of Mayor Duffy’s election campaign. The Chief stated “Emphatically that this appointment was not a political favor”

A question was posed to Molly about her credentials for the position and she stated she managed 70 employees of NET, she did community outreach work and was assistant General Manager for Rural Metro.

A question was asked to Chief Caufield about whether the job was posted or offered to any firefighter in house. His answer was “There was a person right at our doorstep” and we did not have to look elsewhere.

The following documents were handed out at the news conference and show the job duties of the Director of Fire Administration and a organizational chart.

Job Title page one, two, three.
Organizational flow chart.

There are two videos below, the first is Chief Caufield and the beginning of the news conference and is about 5 min long. The second is Molly Clifford speaking along with some question and answer by the news media which is about 7 min long.

Apparently some people cannot watch the videos below. Please click here for video 1 and here for video 2.