John Hult, Jonathan Ellis, and Joe Sneve

Argus Leader

Sioux Falls Fire Chief Jim Sideras was fired after investigators searched his home Tuesday.

Authorities have said nothing about the source or subject of the investigation.

Firefighters were instructed not to communicate with Sideras or allow him on property.

The interim Sioux Falls fire chief sent a department-wide email Tuesday night ordering firefighters to bar former Chief Jim Sideras from any fire stations or the fire headquarters building.

The warning from Interim Chief Brad Goodroad came hours after news broke that authorities had served a search warrant at Sideras' Sioux Falls home on Tuesday. Goodroad's email, obtained by Argus Leader Media, was sent about an hour after the city announced Sideras was no longer employed by the city.

"Please do not let him into the building if he were to contact you or ask," Goodroad wrote. "It is advised to not contact Jim in any way nor receive any contact from him. If Jim does try to contact you or try to enter a station please let your supervisor know."

Authorities Wednesday continued to remain tight lipped about the investigation. Sideras had not been arrested, and officials have declined to comment on what motivated them to search his home. Sideras had been chief since July 2011 and had recently announced his retirement.

Mayor Mike Huether, who spoke fondly of Sideras last month at his retirement announcement, would not say why Sideras was no longer employed by the city or whether it was connected to the search of the former chief's home.

"It's in the hands of the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Department and the [Division of Criminal Investigation], and they have to do their job now," Huether said.

Several City Councilors said Wednesday they had not been briefed on the situation and hoped to learn more as the investigation plays out. City Councilor Greg Neitzert said the abrupt departure suggests to him that city administrators know more than they are saying publicly.

"They wouldn't have done it unless they knew they had cause," Neitzert said. "There has to be more than just smoke here."

The lack of information has led to scrutiny of Sideras, who rose through the ranks after joining the department in 1983, including an ethics complaint originally filed in 2011 by a former division chief who was fired in 2014 after reading Sideras' emails.

►Previously: City Fire chief Jim Sideras fired, search warrant issued

The city's response late Tuesday suggests officials were caught flat footed by word of the search warrant. After news had already broke, Bill O'Toole, the city's human resources director, sent an email at 4:11 p.m. to the department announcing Sideras' last day and Goodroad's elevation to interim chief.

"Given the short window of time associated with this matter, email was the most effective means of communicating this important announcement," O'Toole wrote.

Goodroad followed O'Toole's email about 40 minutes later with a department-wide email directing his employees not to comment if contacted by the media.

"As most of you may already know there has been some information in the media," Goodroad wrote. "You can expect more information as an investigations unfolds. We are a strong and resilient organization and we will be successful through this challenge."

About a half-hour later, the city publicly announced Sideras' departure. Goodroad followed with the second email at 6:09 p.m. advising his employees to bar Sideras from department buildings.

The ethics complaint by former division chief Pat Warren was ignored last summer but took on new significance Wednesday.

►Previously: 'Enjoyed every minute': Fire chief Jim Sideras to retire

Warren, a one-time candidate for Sideras' job in 2011, accused Sideras of attempting to take two international vacations with pay in 2010 and 2011. Warren was fired and later sentenced to probation for unauthorized computer access after police learned he'd been reading Sideras' emails.

Sideras accused Warren of using the email information to foment dissent within the department and undercut his leadership in his statement to the sentencing court. Warren said in 2015 he'd been suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and criticized the city's mental health outreach programs for firefighters.

Last summer, Warren sent a lengthy email to every member of the recently elected City Council requesting that they fully investigate the ethics complaint he'd made in 2011 before his dismissal. His allegation was based on Sideras' entries in his Microsoft Outlook calendar, which was shared to the management team, Warren said.

Warren told councilors that Sideras took two vacations without taking vacation hours. The first took Sideras to China, Warren said, where he spoke at a two-day conference but stayed for three weeks with his family. The second trip took place in April 2011, when Sideras spoke at a conference in England.

Warren said each trip was marked as a personal vacation, but that the vacation hours hadn't been deducted.

"After the ethics complaint was filed and Sideras was contacted about the complaint, he deleted the vacation entries from his Outlook calendar," Warren wrote to Council members.

As unused vacation hours are paid back to firefighters at the end of their tenure and used to calculate pension rates, Warren said the vacation skimming amounted to theft.

"At his current rate of pay, that’s $5,938. That’s grand theft, a Class 4 felony," Warren wrote.

On Wednesday, Warren said no one from the Council ever contacted him about his email last summer, and that no one has been in touch with him in recent weeks.

City Councilor Rick Kiley in an email last summer instructed fellow councilors not to contact or speak with Warren and to direct any questions to city attorney Dave Pfeifle. The Council does not have authority to force an ethics investigation of a city employee.

Warren doubts his allegations are connected to Sideras' firing, as no one's been in contact with him in recent weeks. It's unlikely allegations like his, he said, would have led to an immediate dismissal or a search of Sideras' home.

“For that immediate firing, there would have to be a clear violation of city policy,” Warren said.

Attorney General Marty Jackley, whose office requested the search warrant at Sideras' home, said the results of the search and any forensic testing will determine further action. A search warrant could be but is not necessarily a precursor to charges, Jackley said.

"Sometimes a search warrant can exonerate someone," Jackley said.