Kenneth Ellerbe

We noted in today’s Morning Roundup that Vince Gray is reportedly set to announce that he will replace outgoing D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Dennis Rubin with former D.C. deputy fire chief Kenneth Ellerbe, who is currently working as the chief of Sarasota, Florida’s fire department. Ellerbe has a long history with D.C. Fire and EMS, even having served as the department’s interim chief for four months in 2000. Ellerbe, however, didn’t have the cleanest transition when he left the District earlier this year.

Ellerbe resigned from his post in February, after news broke that he was allowed to continue to work as the deputy chief in Washington after accepting the job in Florida — a maneuver which allowed Ellerbe to collect his pension, even though he wasn’t being paid by the city anymore. Pensions for D.C. fire department officials kick in when they reach 50 years of age — when Ellerbe accepted the job with the Sarasota F.D., he was but a few months short of being able to collect. So Rubin arranged for what was dubbed as a “personnel exchange program” which allowed Ellerbe to stay on D.C.’s books, despite the fact he was working nearly a thousand miles away in sunny Florida. Obviously, the program was scrapped once people caught on to its real purpose.

I’ll go ahead and echo We Love DC’s sentiment: if the reports about Gray bringing Ellerbe back as chief pan out, the new Chief’s Council confirmation hearing could be one of the more intriguing in recent memory.