Recent Terminations and Turmoil Dominates Fire Candidate Forum

Seeley Lake Rural Fire District (Non-partisan: 2, 3-year terms): Incumbents Connie Clark and Gary Lewis and candidates Mark Kues, Shawn Ellinghouse and Alyssa McLean are running for two, three-year positions. Clark was not in attendance at the forum but was represented by surrogate Bonnie Connell. Connell did not respond to questions for Clark but did give her opening and closing statements.

Mark Kues has lived in Seeley Lake since 2011 with his wife. He has 30+ years of experience in firefighting. He is a five-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. He helped write and design the Incident Command System that the Fire Department uses. He would like to use his experience to help steer and guide the fire department through the board. He has ideas that would change the way they perform. He is looking for transparency. He would like to dedicate his skills and time to the Seeley Lake Fire Department and the Board of Trustees.

Connie Clark is a Montana native, born and raised in Kalispell. She has lived with her husband in Seeley Lake since 1991 when they purchased Pop's Family Restaurant. She started with the Fire District Board in 2016. She is honored to serve in this capacity and hopes to continue to do so. She has no personal agenda but simply wants to serve her community and the district. She brings many years of experience as a Seeley Lake resident, knowing not only the issues that are important to the community, but also the field of emergency services with the department. She wants only the best for Seeley Lake and the Fire District. She hopes that what she brings to the board is worth everyone's vote. She considers it an honor and a privilege to serve and represent the citizens of Seeley Lake as a trustee.

Gary Lewis is the current vice-chair of the Fire Board. He and his wife own Deer Creek Excavating. He has lived in Seeley Lake for a little more than 50 years and has served on the Fire Board for approximately 20 years. He feels the board has made significant improvements over the last few months and said the interim chief has been fantastic. They have cleaned up a lot of policies and procedures. He is running to stay on the board because he believes this is a very critical time with the new chief starting soon. He feels firefighters need to be protected with the best equipment that can be purchased within the budget and be given the best training available.

Shawn Ellinghouse was on the Seeley Lake Fire Department for 17 1/2 years. In his tenure he helped with making some policies. His goal as a trustee is to work on transparency for the District, not only to the members but also with the community. He also wants to be proactive. Working with the department and owning his own firefighting company, he knows what it takes to protect homes against both structure and wildland fire. He has been an Emergency Medical Technician for 10 years. He understands the needs of the district. He is running to support the community and hopes for their support.

Alyssa McLean said all departments face highs and lows, usually not as polarizing as the ones the fire department is currently facing. She has recently been given the opportunity to sit in on a class at the fire department. She was impressed by the camaraderie and the skill of the instructor Interim Chief Michael Greer. She appreciates the volunteers because she was in a rollover car accident and was given good care. She has noticed that the conduct of the board has been slightly questionable. She wants to approach that in an objective, graceful and professional way. She wants to get involved because it is messy, because things are hard right now, and she has a passion for people. She was raised to love people and to respect the people that she disagrees with and she wants to bring that to the board. She has a passion for research, background in finance and management, heart for the community and she wants to serve the community on the board because she doesn't have the stomach to be an EMT.

Why are so many candidates vying for two spots?

Lewis said it is because there has been so much turnover and turmoil in the last few months. It has caused hard feels on some sides. It is amazing there are so many candidates that are so well qualified.

Ellinghouse said when he decided to run for the board he only saw a few names. Since he is no longer a part of the department, he still wanted to serve his community. He feels this is the next best way he can do it. His knowledge of what it takes for structure and wildland fire, medical response and backcountry medicine, allows him to know what is needed to do the job.

McLean said that in the last year the department, according to the online roster, has lost 50 percent of its officers who were very qualified and 15 percent of its volunteers. That is unacceptable. She does not want to say the board is doing things wrong but feels she can and wants to help right the ship. She appreciates all the work of the board, interim chief and volunteers. She refused to discourage them but things are wrong and she believes she can help.

Kues said when he signed up for the board only the two incumbents were listed. He stepped into the race to offer change to those that wanted it.

Shawn and Mark, since you both have been terminated from the Fire District and Shawn you have been previously suspended, why should this community place you in the position of a board member for the Fire District?

Kues said he was not terminated, he resigned his position. He is still currently a member of the Greenough/Potomac Volunteer Fire Department.

Ellinghouse said yes, he was terminated. He said that was a personal issue that is in the past. He wants to do what is best for the town of Seeley Lake, the department and its members. He wants to support them with what is needed. He also said he was suspended previously and was brought back on, put in the highest officer position while they hired a new chief and he left as a captain.

McLean said she wants to know why the very skilled and qualified people, that were either terminated or chose to walk away from the department, recently hit their breaking point. She believes that these very skilled and qualified people still love this community despite the politics and drama that went on in the department. She doesn't feel that should discredit any candidate.

Lewis had no comment

Is the community in danger of not having qualified people to fight a fire or to respond to emergencies right now? Should Seeley Lake citizens be concerned?

Lewis said no. There are more volunteers coming in than they have had in a long time. He believes they have the best operated volunteer group in Montana and definitely in Missoula County. He feels the community is blessed, the volunteers gets a lot of excellent training and there are a lot of qualified people coming in and moving up in the positions.

Ellinghouse said no. The department is doing the best they can. They have a lot of people. He commends the people that are still there. He has worked with a lot of them and some of the new ones bring a lot to the table. He wants to help the volunteers succeed. He knows a lot and can share that information. He said it is not his job to tell the new chief how to do his job, his job is to make sure the chief has what he needs.

McLean said the population of Seeley Lake is 1,700 people. The town nearly triples in the summer with tourists. The department needs more volunteers. The community is not in danger because the department is qualified. They also have a lot of good, willing volunteers. However, she wants the community to understand the gravity of the 112 years of experience, qualification and certifications that have left the department in the last year. While she has faith in the department as it is right now, the community needs volunteers and they could not afford to lose the ones they did.

Kues said he does not think that the community is in danger. He wants to get on the board to ensure there is funding, support for the chief and the volunteers. He knows what it is like to have the correct gear, not too much and not too little. He wants to make sure the community gets their best "bang for their buck."

Do you feel it would be valuable for the District to pursue paid responders beyond the chief and district administrator? Why or why not?

Ellinghouse said paid responders would benefit the district. There were a lot of nights and days that he and his wife ran five calls by themselves because the other responders were unavailable. He doesn't think it is out of the question. It is something that would benefit this community and is something this town needs to consider.

McLean said none of the current volunteers do it for the money and that is the reason the board should work towards paying them. The people care about people so fiercely and they deserve the paycheck and they deserve the respect. With a background in finance she would like to see how the board can work towards that.

Kues said at another department he worked with, day-time response was very low. They hired two paid paramedics and "it worked beautifully." He feels with some restructuring with the personnel that are there and retraining, it could be done at a reasonable cost. He thinks this would benefit the community during working hours when the other responders are working their jobs.

Lewis said they have looked into paying volunteers. He does not know if they can pay some and not pay the others. The board has looked at levies. When he started, the chief wasn't paid and neither was the maintenance position, they are both paid positions now. He doesn't think it is unreasonable to entertain the idea.

A number of volunteers were recently terminated. The district had no policies in place to protect them and the board chose not to "take the high road" and pattern its action with the county HR policies that provide for corrective action, not just straight to termination. How would the board prevent this from happening in the future?

McLean said she can't imagine answering to a chain of command of six people and just by yourself. She believes with every termination, they need to have an advocate that is a neutral party who can sit with that person and objectively hear both sides of the argument and lend a shoulder for someone facing disciplinary action. She added that the new Seeley Lake Auxiliary could possibility step in as an advocate.

Kues said that anyone that has as an employee for 17 years doesn't usually terminate without justification and even with justification, someone is not usually fired unless they are "blatantly out of line." Losing a stripe or other disciplinary action may have been more appropriate and ensure that something is in place to prevent this from happening. To give one person the power to say yeah or nay is not very justified, it needs to be a panel of personnel to deal with the problems.

Lewis said there are policies and procedures and they were gone through. As to how they happened, he said he was told to have "no comment."

Ellinghouse said there should be a neutral member for the membership. If on the board, he would do the best he could to listen to both sides, go to the district chief and officers and listen to their side. He would also talk to the membership and listen to them.

Mr. Lewis, who advised you not to comment?

Lewis replied "No comment."

What are ideas for grants and other funding sources to help fund additional equipment?

Lewis said the interim chief has been writing grants and they have received a grant. Grant writing was a high priority when selecting a new chief. There are always grants available if there is someone that can write them. That is how the District got the new ambulance and the District is working on them all the time.

Ellinghouse said he and his wife have been to grant school and there are a lot available. He would do everything he could to help the new incoming chief either look for and/or help write grants. Grants are the only way the district can afford the newest, latest, greatest equipment.

McLean grew up as a daughter of a 25-year veteran firefighter with the Missoula Fire Department. She was blessed to make connections through that. She is a fast typist and data entry clerk and loves research and digging deep for grants. She has connections with surrounding departments and connections in Seeley Lake. She would love nothing more than to support a chief with grant writing and there are tons out there. Chief Bob Vanden Heuvel did an excellent job securing the grant for the new ambulance and she hopes to continue that progress.

Kues said there are many grants available to fire departments. He sees grants as a major source of funding and that is something they need to be actively pursuing regularly. Anything that can be done to help from putting a levy to the taxpayers needs to be part of the board's job.

If a chief is hired to handle all the operational aspects of the department, if something is so blatant and insubordinate as not communicating, what do you expect the chief to do and how would you handle that?

Ellinghouse if someone is blatant and insubordinate and doesn't do what the chief wants, he would ask the chief how is he going to handle it. Discipline should be handled by the chief and the officers, not the chief and anyone else such as a firefighter, board member or someone from the Fire Company or community. It is the officers that need to deal with the person.

McLean said that she would approach insubordination between an officer and a chief with patience. This is a hard and emotional industry and it's taxing on the mind. She would spend more time before the termination was handed out. She would recommend that the board spend more time with the person(s) in disagreement. She believes that breeds respect and more understanding when more time is spent on these actions.

Kues said insubordination on a fire department can be handled in two different ways. Insubordination may require permanent, definite and assertive action if something happened on an incident. If outside of an incident, there are other means to deal with these issues. That is why having a group of people to hear and work through the problems is the best option. He doesn't feel that one person should have the power because attitude and tempers flare really fast.

Lewis said the board does not hand down discipline, it all falls on the chief. It is up to the chief to determine what insubordination is going on and how it is handled. That can be a very difficult job. They don't just go out and drop people. It is too important to maintain local volunteers because they are volunteers. There is conflict between personnel so sometimes it happens.

Closing Statements

McLean has a seven-year-old son and her husband is the general manager at Kurt's Polaris. She loves people. She disagrees with some things that have gone on in the Fire Department and has disagreed with the board chair and the interim chief and recognizes that she will probably have these disagreements in the future. However, she wants to spend time with them, love and support them through debates and disagreements. She believes that is the way to have a balanced board that will be successful, that will get the grants and money to support the firefighters and will get the volunteers paid. The uglier this gets, the more she has a desire to get in and shine a light on conduct, professionalism, grace, patience and the rules. She loves truth and justice, camaraderie and Seeley Lake. She loves the current fire board and she wants to add to it.

Kues said he would like to be the person that carries the citizens' voice and the voice of the visitors to the area. He wants to take care of their needs through the board. He is an open ear, his phone is always available. He believes a good board member will listen and take action when needed.

Lewis said he is the current vice-chairman of the board. His main goal is to see that the volunteers are taken care of and are never in danger. That means providing the most up-to-date equipment that they can buy and the best training we can give them and the support of the town. They do a fantastic job. They don't get thanked enough, they don't get enough appreciation but they spend the hours out there when no one else wants to get out of bed. He thanked the volunteers and the medical staff.

Ellinghouse fought fires for 17 1/2 years. His dad started in the first ambulance service in Missoula and then the current ambulance service until the 1990s. Now he is currently an active captain for East Missoula Fire helping them as much as he can. He wants to dedicate the same time and energy that he did when he was a member of the department on the board. He knows what it takes. He's gone into burning buildings, he helped design and implement the structure protection plan for the Rice Ridge Fire and helped make the decision to evacuate town. It is in his blood. It always has been and always will be.

Clark (represented by Connell) said that it is important that the board has been working so diligently with the interim chief and the new incoming chief, the officers and the volunteer Fire Company. She has no personal agenda and only wishes to serve the community and the district. She brings many years of experience as a Seeley Lake resident, knowing the issues that are important to the community, but also in the field of emergency services with the department. She wants only the best for the Seeley Lake Fire District. She hopes that what she brings to the board is worthy of everyone's vote. She considers it an honor and a privilege to serve and represent the citizens of Seeley Lake as a trustee.