"All were chiefs of quality, Doug Riley is the complete package," he said.
It wasn't a specific event that spurred the nomination, according to Hartzog. Rather, it was his daily observations of the chief's commitment to building better relationships with employees, staff and the community.
"He’s more apt to ask how child, spouse or husband is doing, than if that task was done," Hartzog said. "People are important to him."
The assistant chief said he realized how proud he was to work under Riley when the chief first suggest the department should visually show support for one of their own diagnosed with cancer. Custom T-Shirts recognizing Lakeland firefighter and paramedic Clay Geiger's battle against T-Cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma have become the department's standard Friday uniform since November.