Pahrump Valley Firefighters Union announces second 'no confidence' vote for fire chief

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Pahrump Valley Firefighters Union announced they've voted a 'no confidence' in Fire Chief Scott Lewis for a second time.

The first was back in September 2012, but no action was taken by the former town manager.

The union says they held the second vote because of their concerns about the health, safety, and mismanagement of the Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue.

Chief Lewis has been with Pahrump since September 2002.

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Current Town Manager Tim Sutton released the following statement after the second vote.

The Town has been notified of the vote of no confidence taken by the Pahrump Valley Firefighters IAFF Local 4068 union. This is an unfortunate, retaliatory move initiated by a few members of union leadership who were recently disciplined for endangering the public and passed over for a captain promotion.

Several of the concerns raised during the vote are legitimate. However, these are more properly addressed during the collective bargaining process. The IAFF and the Town have a long-standing history of productive collective bargaining and have successfully ratified several collective agreements since the last vote of no confidence approximately 15 years ago. To claim that no positive changes have occurred with PVFRS in the interim is disingenuous and diminishes the hard bargaining work done by Chief Lewis, Town management, and, ironically, the union’s own bargaining representatives.

The Town of Pahrump values its firefighters and will continue to work with the union to ensure that the Town is an ideal place to work. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the Town will ever have the same salaries and resources as neighboring Las Vegas from which the union draws its comparisons.

Nothing in this response is intended to diminish the high regard we have for our firefighters and EMS personnel. The Town recognizes the long hours our first responders put in and the dangerous, even life-threatening situations they encounter on a daily basis. The Town is committed to addressing issues raised by the union in the appropriate forums with the resources available.