Richardson wrote that Wright’s “failure to understand the basics” of departmental budgeting is “egregious being that you have been working in your capacity for such a long time.” According to city salary lists, Wright was hired in 2011.

Richardson wrote that Wright has no authority to request 2-2-1 meetings with the City Council and told him to “gain a better understanding about your role and responsibilities as a firefighter.”

“Then, one day we can have an intelligent conversation about budgets and personnel management in local government,” Richardson wrote.

Wright said in an interview Thursday that firefighters are “doing everything we can to have professional discourse and it definitely fell off the rails.”

“It has had an effect on morale,” he said. “I’m aware the verbiage I used was direct, but I stand behind what I wrote and my statements that the city administration does not understand our staffing needs.”

Wright said that he was “taken aback” by Richardson’s response.