The Fire Brigades Union has today called for the resignation of Northamptonshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold, following a fiasco around the appointment of an Interim Chief Fire Officer for the county.
After Northamptonshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Mark Jones, resigned suddenly last week, Commissioner Stephen Mold appointed his own chief of staff, Nicci Marzec, to the role – despite the fact that Ms Marzec had never been a firefighter and had no operational experience of the fire service.
After an outcry from the Fire Brigades Union and local politicians, Stephen Mold has now clarified that Nicci Marzec has ‘stepped back’ from the role. In a press statement, he accepted that he “acted too quickly and did not engage with the Police, Fire and Crime Panel”, and that his friendship with Marzec had “become the story”.
The Fire Brigades Union has today called for Mold to resign as Commissioner following what it described as a “shambolic” series of events, in which the explanations for Mold’s actions “don’t appear to add up”.
Adam Taylor, Fire Brigades Union Executive Council representative for the East Midlands, said:
“The Fire Brigades Union welcomes the fact that the proposed Interim Chief Fire Officer has stepped back from her appointment. It should have been obvious that appointing someone to this role without any fire service experience was untenable.
“The rushed manner of this appointment, and the lack of accountability, is yet more evidence of the unsuitability of the Police and Crime Commissioner system for the Fire and Rescue Service.
“Stephen Mold has presided over a series of events which has been nothing short of shambolic.
“What’s more, his explanations for the events which have taken place do not appear to add up. He has argued that the appointment needed to be rushed because of a racing event at Silverstone, but his appointee had no operational experience anyway.
“He also stated that the none of the pre-existing leadership team of Northants Fire and Rescue Service was ready to take up the role - but has now appointed one of them.
“Stephen Mold should now resign has Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, and we invite members of the scrutiny panel to consider whether his position is in fact still tenable.”
