SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Fire Board offered Michael Greer an interim chief position for the Seeley Lake Rural Fire District pending finalizing the pay rate and job description. They also agreed to start advertising for a new fire chief and agreed to make preliminary comment on the 61-unit subdivision proposed in Powell County.
Greer has been involved in emergency services his entire life and brings upper level management and leadership roles from his other work experiences. He graduated from paramedic school in 1996. He currently is a critical care paramedic for the state of Montana and recently graduated from Atlantic University School of Medicine. He is applying to physician residencies which would not start until July if he gets one.
“Maybe I can come in and provide some help, some stability and help weather a storm,” said Greer who has a lot of medical background but is not as strong in the fire service even though he has worked for a number of years in the fire service.
Greer was a member of the Seeley Lake Fire Department from May 2009-June 2011.
“For the time I was here, Seeley Lake [fire department] was amazing and fun and it was a great experience,” said Greer who fell in love with Seeley Lake during those couple of years. “I know a lot has happened. I hope that maybe I can bring an objective, dispassionate, unemotional perspective to the whole thing [since I was not a part of the situation].”
Greer said he sees the chief position as a middle management position between the district board and the volunteer membership. He said everywhere he has been there has always been some strife caused by the disconnect of upper level management and the working people.
“There are people in the middle whose job it is to try to connect, communicate and mitigate between the two,” said Greer. “I’m a firm believer that 99 percent of all problems, issues, whatever comes up are due to lack of communication, misunderstandings, people not talking and people not hearing. And 99 percent of all the issues can be solved by good communication.”
Greer said that while he is aware of some of the issues, he doesn’t have a personal agenda and he can commit six months to the department where he would be willing to move to Seeley Lake.
“I will make it my goal to try to get the department back to what I remember which is everyone loved working together and being together,” said Greer. “Everyone is here because they want to serve the community and they want to help. If it gets to the point where they don’t want to be here then it doesn’t work. The community is hugely dependent on everyone here and everything that goes on in this building.”
According to Board Chair Scott Kennedy, there are no legal requirements to advertise the position for an interim chief but they can if they choose. The board discussed it and agreed they wanted to spend their time advertising for a chief and would accept the help for the transition.
The interim chief can be hired for up to 12 months and can be fired at any time. The interim chief is not entitled to benefits except those required by state law including sick leave and vacation pay. The interim would be paid hourly with overtime if responding to calls after hours.
Kennedy asked if Greer was willing to teach after hours as a volunteer. Greer said he is willing to teach and so is his wife. Kennedy said it was his understanding that Greer could volunteer to lead training after hours as long as training was left out of his official job description. He would confirm that with the county attorney.
Captain Cory Calnan said he thinks that the volunteers could use help in the interim and Greer is a worthy candidate.
Kennedy said financially there would be no problem hiring an interim chief. “We have someone here to help and if nothing else we are hiring an [excellent] paramedic and that is something this town has come to expect at some level,” said Kennedy.
The board voted unanimously to pay $20 per hour to hire Greer as an interim chief because of his experience. He would also have the chief’s pickup to use and fuel paid by the district. Kennedy will work with Greer to outline specifics and establish a start date if Greer chooses to accept the position.
Greer thanked the board for their vote of confidence and said he would do everything he could to help get the department back on track.
The board agreed to advertise the chief position after adjusting the description used the last time. The pay for the position will be depending on experience. The formal job description will be discussed at a future meeting.
Captain Cory Calnan asked that a member of the volunteers be included in the interviewing process. Captain Shawn Ellinghouse agreed asking the board to put together a hiring committee with a member of the fire company and even a member of the community to help weed it out.
“I think that would provide a transparent process that meets the needs of both the board and the folks that are expected to follow that leader,” said Calnan.
Kennedy said those details would be worked out. The board discussed having two board members, one member of the fire company and the interim chief on the hiring committee but nothing was put to a vote.
Kennedy said he visited the property of the proposed 61-unit subdivision in Powell County. Missoula County attorney advised Kennedy that the board should submit comment on the proposal including any concerns.
Preliminary concerns Kennedy identified included: overburden of two existing roads through previous developments; one road is not a county road and is private; North Canyon Drive is in poor condition, is very steep and does not appear to meet county specifications and limited maintenance; there are no taxes back to Missoula County; additional emergency service impact fee consideration and annexation.
Ellinghouse said he would like to see the owners of the subdivision give a presentation to the fire department after they are further along in the process.
The board agreed to send the letter with concerns.
In other business:
• All drugs were removed from the ambulances and vehicles since no one on the department is qualified to administer drugs following Chief Bob Vanden Heuvel’s resignation.
• The district does not have a waiver for a firefighter to drive the ambulance with only one EMT. That will be discussed at the next meeting.
• Calnan completed an inventory of the district’s radios last year and he is working on cross referencing that with what is missing and what is out of service. He said one was damaged from the fire season.
• The maintenance position advertisement and job description will be discussed at a future meeting.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Dec. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Fire Hall. However, the board anticipates special meetings throughout the entire hiring process. All meetings will be noticed on the website seeleyfire.org and posted on the door of the Fire Hall 48 hours in advance.
Reader Comments(0)