ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — A week after the St. Johns County fire chief left his post, there is new information about what led up to his resignation.
Scott Bullard is has been with the St. Johns County Fire Department for 21 years. He received an award for his work in 2013. This year, he was St. Johns County’s fire chief for less than five months.
He was hired in May, and at a county commission meeting on Oct. 3, commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph asked about something that was not on the agenda.
She said, "Has Captain (sic) Bullard resigned formally?" County Administrator Joy Andrews responded, "Chief Bullard tendered his verbal resignation yesterday."
First Coast News has obtained a copy of Bullard's “voluntary resignation form,” dated that same day, Oct. 3. That next day, Oct. 4, he wrote a resignation letter. In it, he said, his resignation was “recommended by the county administration." Bullard wrote "I am forced to resign from this position having done nothing to cause detriment to the fire department of the county.”
First Coast News obtained portions of Bullard’s personnel file, provided by the county administration offices.
In that file, an August letter from the St. Johns County firefighters’ union cites “serious safety concerns for our firefighters and Chief Bullard’s actions make us question his ability to lead this department competently, safely and with integrity.”
The union stated Bullard switched the standard uniform to one that was “65 percent polyester uniforms," something the union points out OSHA rules do not support and it says is a “deviation from industry standards”. The union had “supported 100 percent cotton T-shirts and button-ups” because the union said they “were found to be the safest uniform available.”
The file also includes concerns that Bullard unilaterally ended the use of vacation time for employees who ran out of sick leave, saying employees now would instead be “placed on leave without pay”.
The county administrator, Joy Andrews, wrote a letter stating Bullard's decision was in “direct conflict with county policy” and told him it needed to “be rescinded immediately.”
Weeks later, Bullard resigned.
At the county commission meeting on Oct. 3, the county administrator said only this about Bullard's departure: "We are fostering a culture of inclusiveness and culture of supporting our team and a culture of transparency and openness, and that’s the plan and hope that we’re trying to do for the recruitment of the next fire chief."
The county attorney, David Migut, quickly interjected, and asked commissioners and the administrator to hush.
"It is my request to you to try to wrap up conversation on this," Migut said, "It’s a personnel issue,"
We have tried to reach out to Bullard to see if he would like to share his story with us.