Service at the Center of Decker’s Work With Charlotte Fire

Published on October 13, 2026

Leanne Decker, Charlotte Fire’s Civilian of the Year.

For Leanne Decker, helping someone with a paycheck problem, a benefits question or a missed insurance deadline is more than another task to clear from her inbox.

It is an opportunity to make someone's day a little easier.

That approach to service has followed Decker throughout a career that began in customer service when she was 14, continued through years working in payroll and human resources, and eventually brought her to Charlotte Fire.

Now, it has helped earn her recognition as Charlotte Fire’s Civilian of the Year.

Decker works in Charlotte Fire's human resources operation, where much of her job happens away from emergency scenes but directly affects the firefighters and employees who serve across the organization. She assists employees with issues that can have an immediate impact on their lives, including payroll, benefits and insurance.

Her approach is simple: If someone needs help, help them.

"You never want to make somebody feel bad for asking for help," Decker said. "You never know what kind of situation they're in."

Decker’s work in human resources supports Charlotte Fire employees across the organization.

That philosophy developed long before she arrived at Charlotte Fire.

Decker got her first job at 14 as a bagger at Winn-Dixie and spent much of the next 15 years working in customer service and the grocery business. She also worked in stocking, grocery and perishable departments, but customer service remained at the center of what she did.

She believes those early years shaped the way she works with people today.

"I truly believe everybody should have to work customer service," Decker said. "Customer service almost just gives you that drive to always want to help people."

Her career eventually took her to the City of Charlotte's Human Resources Department, where she worked for about seven years and served as a payroll lead. That position gave her an opportunity to work closely with departments throughout the city and to see how different organizations operated.

Charlotte Fire stood out.

Decker said her interactions with Patricia Adams, human resources administrator for Charlotte Fire, and Emily Lineberger, human resources generalist for Charlotte Fire, helped shape her impression of the department. When questions came up, she remembered getting answers quickly. People were willing to call rather than allowing an issue to linger through a string of emails, and she saw employees willing to help one another instead of simply passing responsibilities along.

"Everybody pitched in to help," Decker said.

She had hoped to eventually move to Charlotte Fire, but the right opening did not become available at the time.

Decker outside Charlotte Fire headquarters, where she works as part of the department’s human resources team.

Instead, circumstances took her in another direction.

Decker left the City of Charlotte for a payroll position with the City of Gastonia. The move also made sense for her family. One of her daughters had been accepted into a specialty school, and working in Gastonia placed Decker only a few minutes away, allowing her to handle the daily transportation her daughter needed.

About a year later, the timing changed.

While attending one of her children's events, Decker ran into Adams and Lineberger. She learned the Charlotte Fire position she had once hoped for was finally becoming available. Around the same time, her daughter had received her driver's license and no longer needed Decker to provide daily transportation.

Decker applied and returned to Charlotte, this time with Charlotte Fire.

For her, the timing felt right.

Once inside the organization, the culture she had observed from the outside was much the same as she had expected.

Her job frequently puts her in contact with firefighters who need assistance navigating administrative processes they do not routinely encounter. Decker understands that something familiar to an HR professional may be unfamiliar to someone whose daily responsibilities are focused on emergency response.

She points to the arrival of a new baby as an example.

A firefighter may forget to add a newborn to an insurance policy within the necessary timeframe. For Decker, the response is not to criticize the mistake. It is to figure out what happened and help correct it.

"These guys don't do this every day," she said. "They're out fighting fires, not dealing with insurance."

She sometimes thinks about how she would respond if her own husband were in the same situation.

"I treat these guys just like they would be my husband," Decker said. "Yep, he forgot. Let's get it fixed. Move on."

Decker says she wants employees to know they can turn to her when they need help.

That willingness to help is rooted in something deeper than knowing HR policies or payroll procedures.

Decker said she has always wanted to be someone others can depend on. She learned early that people often carry circumstances others know nothing about, and asking for assistance can sometimes be difficult on its own.

She also places significant value on how people are remembered by those they encounter.

"At the end of the day, all you have for yourself is your name," Decker said. "I want people to always be like, 'Oh yes, she always helped.' I don't want it to be like, 'Oh God, I don't want to call her because she always complains when I call.'"

That reputation for being available and willing to help is especially important in a department where civilian employees support an emergency response workforce operating around the clock.

For Decker, however, career success is not measured by continually moving into a higher-paying position.

She learned that lesson while balancing her career with raising three children, all of whom have been heavily involved in sports. Two are now seniors in college and another is a college freshman.

When Decker left Charlotte's human resources department for Gastonia, she took a pay cut. What she gained was something she considered more valuable at that point in her life: balance.

She no longer carried a city phone or brought a work computer home, allowing her to leave work at the end of the day and focus on her family.

"It took me a long time to learn that when I started having kids," Decker said. "There are other things important in life. It's not just about chasing the dollar."

Decker says the balance she has found at Charlotte Fire is one reason she hopes to finish her career with the department.

That remains part of what she values about her current role with Charlotte Fire.

She can focus on the employees who need her during the workday while still being present for her husband and children when the workday ends.

There are stressful days, she acknowledged, just as there are in any job. But Decker said those days have not changed how she feels about the organization or where she sees her future.

She is not focused on finding the next position or moving simply for a higher salary. She is comfortable in a role that allows her to help people while maintaining the balance she worked for throughout much of her career.

"I see myself retiring with Charlotte Fire," Decker said. "I'm very happy."

For an employee whose career has been built around customer service, payroll and human resources, the Civilian of the Year recognition reflects the value of work that often happens quietly behind the scenes.

Decker does not respond to fires or ride on an apparatus. Her service comes through making sure the people who do have someone they can call when they need help.

And for Decker, being that person is exactly where she wants to be.