2 ‘No Confidence' Votes For Arlington Fire Chief: Firefighter Union

ARLINGTON, VA — Members of IAFF Local 2800, the union that represents Arlington County’s firefighters and paramedics, voted they are not confident with the leadership of Chief David Povlitz, according to a union release.

The union reported that 243 of its 347 members had cast ballots last month, with 196 (80.66 percent) voting that they had no confidence in Povlitz’s leadership.

“The 200+ men and women who voted are devoted professional members of ACFD,” the union said, in a social media post on Wednesday. “They carefully considered this significant decision. Each member has dedicated their lives to serving the citizens of Arlington County. It's deeply disappointing when county leaders dismiss their voices.”

This was the second time a majority of union members said they had no confidence in Povlitz, who has been the fire chief since 2018. A similar vote was taken in November 2023, with 177 (76.29 percent) of 232 members casting ballots voting that they had no confidence in the current fire chief.

The union shared a list of issues that it said were not being adequately addressed by Povlitz or county management. They include:

• Critical staffing issues and lack of a strategic plan to deal with the ongoing staffing crisis
• Increase in mandatory overtime and hold by positions over the past year
• Issues with organizational culture, including retaliation related to transfers and promotions
• Willful neglect regarding harassment of women and lack of leadership in addressing it
• Lack of transparency with investigative report findings related to harassment and organizational culture
• Uncompetitive compensation and compression in the pay scale
• Retaliatory demotion of senior leadership without cause
• Failure to address concerns with physical examinations and protecting members when complaints are received.

“In the past year, the staffing crisis has worsened with over 30 plus unfilled positions,” according to a union release. "This is only partially filled by a 17-person academy class graduating last week. This has resulted in over 19,910 hours of mandatory overtime compared with 6,785 hours at the same time last year. In addition, firefighters are working up to 72 hours in a row to meet minimum staffing requirements and in October of this year, for the first time in decades, an engine company (Engine 102 Arlington's busiest engine) was removed from service due to lack of staffing with no firefighters available to be forced to stay for additional hours.”

With Povlitz receiving “no confidence” votes from a majority of union members twice in the last year, it was a time for a change, according to Union President Brian Lynch.

"We ask that those in power heed what the men and women who protect this community are saying,” he said.