Tipton Leaving NFPCA To Become City Manager
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Howard D. Tipton, 42, has resigned as administrator of the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, effective October 1. He will become city manager of Daytona Beach, Fla.
Tipton was appointed as the first administrator of the new-born NFPCA by President Ford and he took the oath of office on August 26, 1975. As the appointee of a Republican president, Tipton joined the ranks of the politically endangered species with the advent of the Carter administration.
The resignation comes while details are being worked out for the transfer of the NFPCA from the Department of Commerce to the new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that was created as part of Carter’s government reorganization program. The Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration, the Federal Preparedness Agency (of the General Services Administration), and the Federal Insurance Administration, along with several lesser agencies will be corralled under FEMA.
The transfer of the NFPCA to FEMA is expected to take place sometime between next January and April. FEMA will have a director, a deputy director and five principal program managers—all appointed by the President.
The appointment of a successor to Tipton is clouded by the imminent transfer of the NFPCA to FEMA. David Lucht, NFPCA deputy administrator, is expected to become acting administrator when Tipton leaves, but it is known that Lucht’s position as second in command does not exist in the FEMA organization chart. As a result, it has been learned that Lucht is looking for employment elsewhere. Like Tipton, Lucht also was appointed by Ford, a fact which is unlikely to be an asset in a Democratic administration.
As NFPCA administrator, Tipton holds an executive level IV position, which is the same level the deputy director of FEMA will hold. Because the principal program managers, one of whom will head the NFPCA, will be one step below the deputy director, it follows that their pay grades also will be at least one step below. By holding up the appointment of Tipton’s successor until after the transfer to FEMA, the pay grade question can be resolved without the involvement of personalities.
When Tipton goes to Daytona Beach, he will be a city manager for the second time. He was city manager of Glendora, Calif., from 1962 to 1969. During the next two years, he was vice president and general manager of Lampman and Associates of Pomona, Calif., and then he became executive director of the President’s National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control from 1971 to 1973. After that, he was director of intergovernmental affairs for the U. S. Department of Transportation and then director of intergovernmental affairs for San Diego County, a position he left to become NFPCA administrator.
