||| FROM PATRICK SHEPLER |||
Dear Chairperson Fuller, Secretary Kimple, and the Orcas Island Community:
Patrick Shepler
This letter is my resignation, effective upon receipt, from the Board of Fire Commissioners, San Juan County Fire Protection District #2. (Orcas Island Fire & Rescue, OIFR).
I wish success to my two former coworkers who remain with the department and to the dedicated volunteers who have kept their heads down, and minds focused on the Mission. I also want success for the new department members as they learn to overcome the challenges of this unique practice environment.
Most importantly, I thank the Island Community and the many Orcas voters who elected me. I truly believed I could make a difference.
I do not understand the trajectory of the fire department and have been excluded from the decision-making process. That is an untenable position.
I hope the Orcas community, as stakeholders in your new OIFR, continue to watch closely and demand your rights to transparency and effective leadership.
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I am so sorry to hear this Patrick. Knowing how much this Community means to you this had to be a very difficult decision to come to. Thank you for the Thousands of hours you have given us. From Mentor, Trainer , Paramedic and Commission.. you do make a big difference!
May your future be bright and rewarding!
I’ve seen first hand the First Level of responders under your leadership that’s paying it forward. Many thanks Patrick.
A great loss for Orcas Fire.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
Thank you for your efforts, Patrick.
If each Board opening gets filled with an apologist for the current dysfunction, how do we fix this? Anyone trying to effect change will be marginalized under the current structure.
Thanks for trying! I appreciate your efforts!
Thank you for your years of service to the community. We are richer for it.
Thank you for all that you have done for OIFR and the Orcas community for so many years, Patrick. You leaving the Commission is a loss for both the community and the Department, but it is understandable given the continued dysfunction at OIFR. Your integrity, professionalism, energy and heart have been nothing short of inspirational to me. I sincerely hope that both the community and OIFR take notice that really good people are leaving the Department for good reason. There is an opportunity to change this trajectory, but that will involve people getting involved and creating the change that is needed in order for good people to continue to want to be involved and feel valued in what they bring to the Department.
Patrick did not sit in a negative environment in his 5 months as a Commissioner, he was on a Committee like the other commissioners and he was treated respectfully. His choice to leave the Board at this time and put his property for sale is for personal reason .
The voters of Orcas need to start asking some hard questions, and demanding real answers.
Our lucky penny tossed into the volcano. Thank you for trying, Patrick!
Kudos on leaving much more gracefully than a certain tantrum-throwing predecessor. Comments like Pierette’s are to be expected when you take your leave with humility and don’t trash the house on your way out.
Thank you for your integrity, service, and leadership; we’re lucky to have benefitted from your expertise and professionalism for so many years.
Betty, the calm voice of reason. Do No Harm. It’s truly the Esprit Decor…
The fundamental rule of Righteousness..
This is extremely troubling. Beyond well-deserved thanks and good wishes for Patrick’s long and dedicated community service, his statement deserves a response, both from the voting public and from the Orcas Fire Commission. Fire Commissioners are elected officials, and those of us who voted for Patrick did so for a reason. How is it that he is excluded from decisionmaking to the extent that he finds his position untenable? The long-smoldering problems in the department, which have now caused multiple resignations by good volunteers, have been a cause of major public concern, but the Commission has remained mum. Commissioners should respond now or voters will respond at the next election.