Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara City Fire Department
The Santa Barbara City Fire Department would like to announce the retirement of Operations Division Chief Lee Waldron. He will leave the City of Santa Barbara as of November 19, 2020 after serving for 36 years in the fire service.
Chief Waldron was hired by the Santa Barbara City Fire Department in 1984. He promoted to Engineer in 1990 and to Captain in 1995. Chief Waldron rose to the rank of Battalion Chief in 2010.
Chief Waldron worked in many assignments during his tenure, including Hazmat Team member, Aircraft Rescue Firefighter and Truck Captain. Chief Waldron worked in the Training Division as both a Captain and Battalion Chief where he managed several recruit academies and conducted multiple promotional exams for all ranks. He was also a shift Battalion Chief.
Chief Waldron was awarded “Firefighter of the Year”, by the Santa Barbara City Firefighters Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Lions club. He also served as a board member of the Santa Barbara City Firefighters Association and as a Liaison to the Santa Barbara Firefighters Alliance.
Chief Waldron promoted into his current position at Operations Division Chief in May 2015. He helped establish a Type 3 Incident Management Team comprised of all of the agencies in Santa Barbara County. He is certified as both a Company Officer and Chief Officer by the California State Fire Marshal. Chief Waldron was the interim Fire Chief from March 2018 until January 2019.
Former Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Pat McElroy said this about Chief Waldron “Over his whole career and especially the last ten years, Lee Waldron has been a rock solid fire leader in the Santa Barbara County Operational Area. When I was Chief he was my right arm.”
The Santa Barbara City Fire Department would like to congratulate Chief Waldron on a long successful career, and thank him for his service. We wish him a happy retirement.
Enjoy that sweet three-figure pension that we all pay for. Maybe you’ll do what your buddies do and move to another county and get another job to double-dip with those pensions.
Thank you for more than 3 decades of public service. Ignore the dimwits.
I think you mean “six” figure pension, don’t you? I will chip in my 15 cents, that is all I have left after helping to pay for current salaries in Santa Barbara.
Name another public job where you work 3 days a week, can retire at 50, and get 90% of your salary for the rest of your life? As well as other benefits including health insurance. I don’t even think cops have it this good, although it’s close.
I don’t feel it’s right that Bezos makes trillions of dollars and isn’t taxed more. Firefighters and police officer’s paychecks are paid directly by us and our taxes. It’s a bit harder to swallow when you see how much they make for what they do. Same goes for city managers.
The idea of ‘retirement’ is that the person is no longer earning a living. No one should get two ‘retirements’ at the public expense. They are gaming the system.
Bjork promoted from within several times. Casey himself was promoted from within. What actual positions are you referring to? You might be thinking of the County.
RHS, most of these people continue to work for other agencies and so get to double dip. They don’t actually stop working. Not good for taxpayers given their lucrative salaries and pensions. https://santamariatimes.com/news/local/slo-county-fire-chief-retiring-taking-new-job-in-sb-county/article_7267d21e-52d9-536c-ba03-aafd926dcbfe.html
Public safety personnel deserve the retirement they earned! So what if they find work after retirement.
People who retire from government jobs should be outright banned from holding any paying public position ever again. It would be one thing if these people retired and got another job in the private industry, but too often they come back and double dip in the public industry. Stop this practice! It’s not okay!