After more than two decades of service, Palo Alto Fire Deputy Chief Catherine Capriles concluded her career with the city Friday.
Capriles joined the city in 1994 and gradually climbed up the management ladder, becoming a captain in 2007 and a deputy chief in 2012. Over the last two years, she has been embroiled in a legal dispute with the city after Fire Chief Eric Nickel suspended her for taking a department firetruck to Mountain View, where she lives, reportedly without proper authorization.
The incident spurred a successful appeal from Capriles, in which a judge overturned the suspension, followed by a “fact-finding” statement from City Manager James Keene, who upheld the original suspension. Capriles then sued the city to challenge that decision.
In considering disciplinary measures, Nickel considered demoting Capriles, according to a finding from Administrative Law Judge Michael Scarlett, who ruled against the city. After considering “appellant’s stellar 22 year career with the Department with or above expected performance evaluations and her letters of recognition and acknowledgement, Chief Nickel concluded that the suspension was the appropriate level of discipline,” Scarlett wrote.
Nickel told the Weekly that Capriles’ departure is in no way related to the dispute. Nickel said she had let the department know almost a year ago about her retirement plans.
“She reached her service retirement age and was eligible to retire, and she retired,” Nickel said.
Capriles told the Weekly in an email Friday that she felt it was time for her to complete this part of her journey. She plans to teach swimming in Mountain View.
Glad you are retiring. Many other firefighters can’t wait. This chief has destroyed a (once was) outstanding fire department by cutting fire units and reducing staffing as 911 calls continue to increase every year. Funny, but he stated that when he was hired, that he only wanted to do 5 years with PAFD and move on. I guess nobody wants to hire him.
“Funny, but he stated that when he was hired…”
@FireFighter… Ah, He is a she.
#IBelieveYouCatherine!
Another example of poor newswriting-there is no explanation of what the heck the deputy fire chief is doing taking a Palo Alto fire truck to her residence in Mountain View-what?…… she just happened to be driving around in a fire truck when she remembered she had to run home to make sure she had turned off her coffeemaker machine? Also the small detail of her suspension-was it with or without pay? If you are going to cover this type of item make sure you do it completely so readers have some idea of what’s going on.
@David
You are so right. There is much more to this. Numerous complaints and police reports were filed regrading her reckless driving of her assigned vehicle. She also was engaged in retaliatory acts. The records are there is the writer wanted to look. She was given the option to retire. She should have been fired on the spot.
Regardless, good riddance. There are plenty of good and professional firefighters ready to step up and not bring a bad name and image to the profession.
It’s a challenge when you do illegal things. Eventually people get caught. But from what I know, this was not the only issue with her. Moving forward may her replacement be excellent and Palo Alto Fire Department thrive.
To AllYouCanEat, the poster is talking about the fire chief who is a he.
Capriles was a terrific person, very real and personable.
Wish her best of times in retirement!
Happy retirement Chief Capriles. Change in an organization is certain just like death and taxes. May the department heal and grow under the new leadership in the D/C role (McNally).
Call me a cynic, but do the math and count the days. It would appear she was given time to reach retirement age at 50 once she was caught breaking department policy and endangering the mission effectiveness of the fire department. Glad to see the Fire Department being so forgiving with taxpayers’ money. Rewarding unethical behavior among senior management will only lead to more trouble.