Crime & Safety
Suspended Fire Chief Agrees to Early Retirement, Avoiding Further Investigation
An attorney for Orland Fire Protection District Chief Bryant Krizik, who was put on paid leave this spring, said the chief was considering a lawsuit of his own.
Bryant Krizik, suspended chief, has decided not to back out of an early retirement agreement, sparing both sides from possible litigation as he officially steps down today.
“It would be in the best interest of everybody if the agreement stood,” Karl Otteson, an attorney for the fire district, said Tuesday, and moved "forward with whatever the district thinks is the best thing to do with the chief's position."
. To date no specifics about that investigation have been released. However, at last week’s board meeting, . District board president Jim Hickey said he was "disgusted" by what was found.
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Though the chief denied the implications, his attorney has argued that, if true, Krizik's computer “was not only his to use. People in the station knew how to use it, how to log on. It was used for training material, and for other needs, by all kinds of people.”
Since then, attorneys on both sides have disagreed over the language of the retirement agreement and whether the fire district had the right to discuss its investigation against Krizik, even vaguely, in public.
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His attorney, Rich Gonzalez, argued that the agreement proves there’s no basis for formal charges against his client, while Ottosen said the fire district just wants to avoid the headache and expense of any further investigation or possible trial.
Furthermore, Otteson has contended that the district never agreed to refrain from discussing the investigation, but rather it agreed not to publish the early retirement agreement. Either way, Krizik walked away from the previous board meeting against the district for defamatory remarks, his attorney said.
Deputy Chief Joseph Madden, who was also put on paid leave this spring, and was publicly cleared of any wrong doing.
Battalion Chief Raymond Kay has been appointed acting chief in Krizik’s absence, and he will remain in place while the district searches for a permanent fire chief.
The position had not been posted on the fire district’s website as of Wednesday evening.
