There are two pairs of candidates running for the two open seats on the Fire Board. Connie Clark and Gary Lewis are the incumbents. Kristy Pohlman and Alyssa McLean promise to bring positive change to the Fire Board. Do we even need change on the Fire Board? Yes, and here’s why.
About four years ago, during an interim chief’s tenure, there were abnormalities with a callout that raised concerns within the corps of the EMTs. One EMT wrote up the incident and shared it with the Captain. Because the concerns were about the interim chief, the concern was filed with the chief’s supervisor, i.e. the Fire Board. This was all proper procedure.
It may well have been that a gathering of all the facts and discussions with those involved would have revealed that the handling of the callout was fine. But that examination of the concerns raised never happened. Instead, the filer of the complaint was fired for insubordination.
Ignore the issue and attack the person.
When this interim chief, with the support and approval of the incumbent candidates, completed all terminations, both voluntary and involuntary, the community lost over half a century of training and experience. This was training we taxpayers paid for, because someone dared to question the chief’s conduct. I say ‘fired’ but they were volunteers!
Now we have a problem recruiting volunteers, so we may have to go to a paid force, increasing our taxes. Good fiscal stewardship? No.
The Board did an excellent job in their hiring process for the new chief. I assumed that the conflict and turmoil would go away when he came on board. I am disturbed to read, three years later, of continuing and growing complaints about the quality of service provided by the department and the dismissal of those complaints assumed to come from disgruntled former volunteers or their friends.
From the Jan. 21, 2021 Pathfinder, “Lane further explained … that the group of citizens alleging concerns are former volunteers that have been relieved of their duties or their friends.” Aren’t we a community of friends? Aren’t our concerns important?
There are three sides to every story: yours, mine and the truth. I doubt Chief Lane has been given all three sides, apparently not the truth side.
As I read the news articles, I see the culture of “ignore the issue and attack the person” is, sadly, still deeply engrained in the administration of the department. The only way to change that very negative culture is to change the composition of the Board.
If you think all is well, vote for the incumbents. If you are concerned about the quality or cost of service or the refusal of the Fire Board to address citizen concerns, instead attacking citizens, then you should vote for change.
Reread the recent articles. Do you see respect for all citizens and genuine concern for all citizens’ concerns, or do you see attacks? Why did local citizens (friends to us all) feel compelled to take their grievances to the County Commissioners?
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