||| FROM TONI KNUDSON |||


“My anger is such I can opine for pages, but I will make this letter short and to the point.”

This is the first sentence in the anonymous letter that was sent to Hilary Canty, Volunteer EMT for 22 years at Orcas Island Fire and Rescue (OIFR) who was indefinitely suspended by Chief Williams on November 4, 2021. The letter continues just as it started, angry and unbelievably intimidating. To the point where the author(s) becomes deranged and threatening. This hateful letter promises to destroy her valuable work at Orcas Island Community Foundation, threatens her personally and is so full of confidential information that only someone inside the OIFR organization wrote it. It ends in calling the union members a gang.

Yes, those dedicated and highly trained professionals that come at all hours day and night to provide assistance to every person in a situation, life threatening or not.

Where has everyone gone? We have lost too many of our valuable volunteers with no great hope to attract more due to the poor reputation and management style that Chief Williams and the BOFC have created. As described to me several times, it’s hostile. OIFR has lost several valuable union members, some due to this hostile culture, with no known plan to replace them. The union members have been asking when they can expect help, with no response from Chief Williams.

And now Hilary…. 22 years of dedicated service, countless hours of intense training for her EMT volunteer position, and an integral part of the team. Gone without even a mention of thank you or anything else from OIFR, like most before her. She has been indefinitely suspended for expressing her concerns regarding the lack of recruitment for future volunteers and for the lack of training available for those that do step up. Her point that COVID is no longer the excuse from keeping our community safe by having the level of staffing to deliver healthcare and public safety services, volunteer, or union, at OIFR.

Hilary also publicly expressed her opinion in support of a Fire Commissioner candidate. Of course, the author(s) of the anonymous letter sent to Hilary focused on and loathed her act of support for newly elected Patrick Shepler.

When Chief Williams was appointed to his position five years ago, sadly he came without training for such a position, has no college degree to guide him with issues like conflict resolution, business management, employee communication, and so forth. This is evident. Chief Williams lacks the basic skills to run OIFR and manages with vindictive behavior, from the examples given to me. The OIFR employees are fearful of being in the same space alone with him. When he was appointed, the Board of Fire Commissioners (BOFC) did not follow the advice from the scouting firm they hired to find a chief. Instead, it appears as if they wanted someone they could control, positioning for their own benefit, not choosing for the better of the department or much less the community. This does not go for every member on the Board, but for the majority from what I have been told and have witnessed. Now we have two inexperienced Fire Chief’s at a cost of $250K per year to run OIFR. And of course, this is with the badge of a No Confidence Vote by the union members for their person in charge, Chief Williams. Under his management, OIFR is down five union members, somewhere around 25% of the volunteers, some of which are on non-active status for some reason, and operating with 6 of 8 union positions filled. The EMTs and Fire personnel are currently working an unfair amount of overtime to cover the lack of personnel, to keep us safe. They are tired.

After listening to the BOFC meetings, watching videos of meetings with Chief Williams, talking with OIFR volunteers, as well as union members, my conclusion is this fire department is in major trouble. The OIFR house needs to be cleaned of the toxic, vindictive and destructive workplace culture. That means people need to go and people need to be voted out. As community members we should be very concerned for our safety. I invite you to revisit the letter written by Alex Conrad September 21, 2021 in which he stated “We want the public to know that the people who keep you safe —members of Orcas Fire and Rescue — don’t feel safe,” As a community of our size and location, we should listen and respond to the people that do keep us safe. I don’t want anyone to not receive the OIFD’s help because of adult egos.


 

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