||| BY MIA KARTIGANER , SPECIAL TO theORCASONIAN |||


There are some curious and valid questions being put forth by this community out of concern for the well-being of everyone at the Orcas Island Fire Department. Until they are answered I hope the OIFR Management and Board will treat the staff that are speaking out with the same regard as the law affords Whistleblowers.

Though the Vote of No Confidence (VoNC) regarding Chief Williams was made public in September. Union members say the discussion leading up to signing the VoNC had been going on for at least two years. When the board declined to acknowledge the Union’s letter they felt the need to go public.

In trying to understand the foundation of the Union’s concerns about the Chief’s competency, I went back to 2016 when the then commission of three created a search committee for the purpose of hiring a new Chief.

The commissioners at the time were Wes Heinmiller, Barbara Bedell and Jim Coffin. They created a list of criteria for the committee to focus on.

The search committee found that Scott Williams, acting as interim chief at the time, met none of the criteria. After an extensive search the committee found two candidates. The board insisted on including Williams as a third. The most qualified candidate was seeking the position in part to fulfill the 2-3 more years required to gain his Washington State pension before retiring. He suggested that the board hire him as chief, with Williams as assistant chief, so that he could mentor him and prepare Williams to take the position.The board declined.

As the search committee prepared to recommend restarting the search, Wes Heinmiller called a Special Meeting for the purpose of announcing the hire of Scott Williams as Chief. Amanda Montague, who had recently been appointed to the board to replace Jim Coffin, was chosen by Heinmiller and Bedell over Jim Helminski, Tim Fuller, Pierrette Guimond, Steve Vierthaler and John Dann to fill Coffin’s spot. Montague herself says she doesn’t understand why she was selected, given the choices. It was immediately clear to her, however, that hiring Williams for the Chief position was a forgone conclusion.

In my interviews with present commissioners it was openly acknowledged that Chief Williams was in need of training at the time of his hire. I asked Wes Heinmiller what specific training the Chief has gotten since then and he said he couldn’t speak to that. Commissioner Fuller, in the presence of Lin McNulty, theOrcasonian editor and again later in a two-hour phone call, said that the Chief needs to work on communication, clarity of expectations and follow up.

The industry standard for anyone to rise above the position of Battalion Chief is that they have a BA in Fire Sciences, Public Administration or some equivalent. Rather than require that Williams pursue a focused degree, the commissioners have offered counseling and mentorship they feel their own backgrounds qualify them to give.

In the Minutes from the August 16, 2021 Board of Fire Commissioners Meeting, the Chief’s Report included discussion of hiring Per Diem employees. He said that the Union had been obstructing the process and reaching out to the candidates to dissuade them from the position(s). Please read.

When “Commissioner Christmas expressed feeling disturbed by this and requested clarification, wanting to know why the Union doesn’t want per diem and why they are telling applicants not to complete the process” the “Chief shared that he doesn’t want to get too far into this conversation at this time.”

This would have been the time to mention that he had not gone through the agreed upon process contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA. The Union is meant to be included in the screening of the per diem applicants in order to interview, evaluate and work with them.

The two main sticking points that extended the CBA negotiation process by at least six months were the Union’s request for minimum staffing for safety (having an FF/EMT and a FF/Medic on shift at all times) and management wanting to be able to cover FF/EMT shifts with volunteers. The Union wanted minimum requirements in place for any volunteer coverage of a staff FF/EMT shift. They asked that volunteers be in good standing with at least twenty calls a month, as well as having EMT, Firefighter One and engine operator credentials.

The Union’s concerns have been focused on safety, quality of care and service. The contract requires mutually agreed upon per diems and volunteer coverage. Unfortunately the narrative of Union obstruction has persisted. For almost two years the OIFR web page’s top banner:

The policy has been to keep non-essential non-responders out of the building in order to limit exposure to the people who we rely on to answer emergency calls. Understandable. And yet, the Orcas Island Health Care District Superintendent, along with Island Hospital administrators, were going in and out of the building to hold meetings, sometimes in the small non-public conference room, once holding an interview in the private kitchen space for the staff.

The duty responders were never introduced or acknowledged. They were never given any notice that there would be non-departmental people in the building who may or may not be masked. In a text from then Administrative Director Jim Schuh to the chief on September 10, (gained through a public records request) “What all does Anne need set up for the 1:00 OHCD meeting?” “It was not unusual to hear the sound of the keypad code being input and to look up and see that Anne Presson was in the building.” In addition to being the OIHCD Superintendent at the time, she is also the partner of Chief Williams.

It is these sorts of inconsistencies and lack of communication that the “disgruntled” (as named in the OIFR flyer that we all got in our mail and hopefully read prior to recycling them) employee(s) are responding to.

On the upside, the new Assistant Chief Holly van Schaick has been a nice addition to the District.

Tune in for more, very soon.


 

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