Cuts Not Intended to Force Out Fire Chief, Mayor Says : City Hall: New course is predicted for embattled department. Difficult search for replacement expected.

Although Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said Wednesday that his proposed budget cuts were not intended to force out the fire chief, Donald O. Manning’s abrupt announcement that he would step down at the end of the week has handed the mayor and City Council a chance to set a new course for the embattled department.

Saying he is confident that “Angelenos know I would never do anything to jeopardize safety,” Riordan dismissed Manning’s contention that his push to eliminate the department’s 57 highly paid staff assistants had helped prompt the chief to resign.

Riordan said the resignation was not a surprise, though. He said the chief “had discussions with me” about the possibility during their contentious budget discussions.

Despite Manning’s criticism of the mayor’s budget, Riordan praised the chief, saying, “I think the Fire Department is extremely well run. . . . Manning should be able to walk out tall and proud.”

The mayor did not say whether he had attempted to influence Manning’s decision. However, a source close to the mayor said the chief’s departure “will bring a breath of fresh air.”

“Our firefighters are great . . . but it’s time for a change,” the source said, “and this guy couldn’t do it.”

Manning’s departure marks the beginning of what is sure to be a closely watched, contentious search for a new leader. The city’s Fire Commission met in closed session Wednesday to begin seeking an interim chief.

It will meet again today and expects to have a temporary replacement before Manning leaves Sunday, President Elizabeth Lowe said.

A tougher job may be filling the position permanently. Already, there is discussion at City Hall over whether the new chief should come from within the department or from outside it.

Fire Commissioner Larry Gonzalez noted the long and rocky adjustment periods of Police Chief Willie L. Williams and former schools Supt. Leonard Britton, both outsiders who faced opposition from within. “It’s fine and dandy to say we need a new face, but when push comes to shove,” Gonzalez said, “there’s nothing like going with someone who has the institutional knowledge and credibility.”

The mayor said he has no preference on where the new chief comes from, as long as “we get the best person possible.”

Manning said his resignation was prompted by the proposed budget cut, as well as “allegations and innuendoes” about his role as head of a controversial nonprofit corporation and about widespread discrimination in the department. He fired off an emotional letter, distributed throughout the department Tuesday, announcing his plan to step down.

That gave the mayor his first chance, under a charter change granted by voters earlier this month, to be free of Civil Service restrictions in picking a department head.

But the job awaiting Manning’s successor will not be easy--turning around a department riddled with allegations of racial and gender discrimination. Manning, while heading a department highly regarded nationwide for its firefighting skills, has drawn criticism for renting out an old fire station as a film site without letting the city know about the money he was collecting.

Two investigations--one by the City Council into allegations of sexism against blacks and women, the other by the city controller’s office into the fire station rental arrangements, which were overseen by Manning--will continue as before, city officials said Thursday.

Several other officials, including Gonzalez and Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, said they want to be sure that minorities have an equal chance of being considered for the top job as part of on ongoing effort to address inequities in the department.

The president of the Stentorians, an organization of black firefighters in the department, said a great deal is riding on the selection of a new chief.

“We are at a critical turning point,” President David Spence said. “We can either go back to business as usual or we can select a new chief who will lead us in reforming the Los Angeles City Fire Department. . . . The only way to measure these qualities is through a concise and comprehensive evaluation process that is open to all qualified chief officers.”

Ridley-Thomas, a member of the council’s Personnel Committee, which is investigating allegations of discrimination, said, “This is not just about the chief. The problems in the department are bigger than any one single individual.”

Neither Manning, who has threatened legal action against the city, nor his attorney responded to telephone calls from The Times, which has written extensively about the department’s troubles.

But the chief, attending a conference in Washington, blamed the mayor in an interview with KTLA Channel 5.

“I think there’s no question I can point my finger at the mayor. It’s his budget. It’s his recommendation,” Manning said in explaining why he was making the “supreme protest” in quitting.

Deputy Mayor Mike Keeley, who led the mayor’s budget-writing team, said all council members, as well as Manning, had been made aware of the mayor’s proposals well in advance.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, head of the Personnel Committee, said she was puzzled that Manning would choose to quit instead of staying and arguing his case before the council, which has the final say in budget matters.

Despite the $8 million that the mayor proposes to save by eliminating the staff assistants, whom he referred to as highly paid chauffeurs, Riordan is calling for a small spending increase overall for the department.

The proposal to cut the assistants was “a way to encourage the Fire Department to take a fresh look at the way they do things, (but) I have an open mind, and I want the Fire Department to have an open mind too,” Riordan said.