DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1997, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997                TAG: 9703100119EDITION: CITY          SECTION: METRO TODAY PAGE: 1B TYPE: PROFILE SOURCE: By Lou Grieco Dayton Daily News                                    PROFILE             FIRE CHIEF ZICKLER FACING CHALLENGE OF CUTS, CRITICS * The head firefighter is trying to keep flames of discord stamped out.    Dayton Fire Chief Robert Zickler arrived 14 months ago with big ideas. InMay, he unveiled a $14.5 million, five-year plan to improve the department.   Today, the honeymoon is most certainly over.   City revenues have not kept pace with expenditures, and city commissionersordered Zickler to cut $780,000 from the budget. Zickler's proposal toeliminate 12 positions at two stations through attrition and to organize a"flying squad" of quick-response personnel has not been approved bycommissioners and is not popular with department rank and file.   After a  little more than a year as chief, Zickler, 54, is making harddecisions about the department. And he does not try to hide his frustrationover what he called having to "mutilate the department rather than build itup."   "I think he's really caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place,"said Tom Trimbach, president of   Dayton Firefighters Local 136. "I feel sorry for him, because he's reallytorn about this."   Zickler has been able to enact some of his plans, including buying new airmasks and starting paramedic training for some firefighters. Still, he'sconcerned about the morale of his rank and file, knowing that employees areused to long-term chiefs who devote their careers to the Dayton department.   In Indianapolis, where Zickler was assistant chief before coming here inJanuary 1996, he was known as the man with the big plans.   "Bob is a brilliant man," said Tom Hanify, president of the IndianapolisMetropolitan Professional Firefighters Union, Local 416. "They always describehim as a visionary. You're lucky to have him."   Zickler introduced emergency medical services to the Indianapolisdepartment, introduced a fitness program,  started rope-and-dive rescue teamsand purchased safer equipment, Hanify said.   Hanify called Zickler an honest man who treated his employees with respect.   Peter Beering, the general counsel for the city's Department of PublicSafety, said Zickler's "greatest strength is his ability to see the futurewell before the future arrives."   He called him meticulous, extraordinarily bright and innovative.   But Hanify cited one shortcoming: "He's not a salesman."   Hanify said Zickler seemed more at ease speaking one-on-one than in groupsettings. At his going-away party, different people took turns speaking. Whenthey asked Zickler to say a few words, he said no.   "I said, `Bob, it's your going-away party, you've got to speak,'' Hanifysaid.   Instead, Zickler talked to each person - about 150 - individually.   Zickler admits he's "probably borderline on the shy side" and admits he isnot a natural politician.   His strength, he said, is conceptual planning. He can explain almost anydepartment issue in detail, and can prove it during any discussion.   Asked about his flaws, Zickler said, "I probably don't pay as muchattention as I need to to pat people on the back."   A short, compact man with large eyes, Zickler's tousled black hair isturning gray. An inch-long scar running off his upper lip is a reminder of anice hockey accident three decades ago when he was playing goalie without amask. A puck crashed into his face, breaking his nose and jaw.   "It was a hell of a save, though," he deadpanned.   Zickler has a "very unique sense of humor," which he needs to deal with thepressures of his job, said City Manager Valerie Lemmie.   Commissioner Tony Capizzi said he has "generally high marks for him."   However, city finances require cutting, Capizzi said, and Zickler's biggestchallenge is keeping up the morale of employees while also downsizing thedepartment. "I think he has the capability to do that," he said.   Mayor Mike Turner said that Zickler is knowledgeable but that he failed toadequately inform the commission about the flying squad. "I think there isadditional information that we have not received that will be important (inthe commission's decision)," Turner said.   Under Zickler's plan, a flying squad vehicle - a Chevy Suburban - would goon EMS runs in support of a paramedic crew, rather than taking slower, morecrew-intensive fire vehicles. Union leaders said the flying squad vehiclecan't begin to put out a fire and doesn't have a rescue capability of its own.   Zickler has met with his employees to ask where cuts should be made, a movethat pleases Trimbach and the firefighters' union. "We've never been involvedin that process before," he said.   Still, Trimbach said Zickler sometimes fails to communicate with staffersand explain his decisions, leaving firefighters and paramedics confused, hesaid.   Tom Ritchie, regional director of the American Federation of State, Countyand Municipal Employees Council 8, which represents the dispatchers and someother department employees, said he was happy to have been consulted byZickler in recent weeks.   "I think he's attempting to build a consensus," he said. "I think that's agood quality."   Ritchie said relations with Zickler "started off a little rocky" andweren't helped when Vicki Carr, a dispatch supervisor, was removed. "It wasdefinitely not a popular move," Ritchey said.   Zickler countered that he promoted Carr to special-projects coordinator,making her the second woman to advance to the department's senior staff.   Still, both union leaders concede Zickler seems to be trying to reach outto his employees. But firefighters and paramedics remain angry about the cuts,concerned that they will hurt services, Trimbach said.   Zickler has said additional cuts will most likely be necessary next year aswell, and Trimbach said he wonders if the chief - whom he describes as one ofthe most knowledgeable people he's ever met - can get his larger plans back ontrack.   "I don't know if he has the (political) skills to accomplish (that)," hesaid.LENGTH:  113 linesILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:           SKIP PETERSON DAYTON DAILY NEWS             Dayton Fire Chief Robert Zickler is caught between the proverbial          rock and a hard place, said one observer. CATEG: ACCIDENTS & EMERGENCIESSUBJ: FIRE CHIEFNA: ROBERT ZICKLER    DAYTON FIRE DEPARTMENTGEOG:  AT:  ENHANCER: ref9