Personnel Purgatory
Parker McKay Investigators Report - Commissioners Take No Action Taken
As suspensions of the Fire District Chief and the Fire District Director continue to drag on for months now, the Board of Commissioners absorbed a Parker McKay personnel investigation in Executive Session. And while no investigative findings could be shared with the public, Commission Chair Jules Thiessen offered a slender and unsatisfying meeting summary: “no action was taken”.
And so the Fire District continues its dubious tactic of allowing either Thiessen or Saucier to assume leadership roles in Fire District operations. Regarding same, The Reporter questioned why the District keeps ping-ponging the role of “Records Custodian” between the Board Chair and Vice Chair. Mr. Thiessen remarked that they have no choice because of the ongoing suspensions.
As if the personnel process was not surrounded by enough intrigue, Vice Chair Saucier “walked on” a resolution named “Approval For Witness Anonymity For Internal Investigations”. The resolution passed with no discussion and a unanimous vote.
All of this came in the context of a resolution for “Line Officer Qualifications” being removed from the agenda.
To cap off the night’s personnel actions, the Board engaged in a contentious hearing regarding Resolution 2026-008 “Appointing Part Time Fire Inspector and Bureau Compensation”.
Jeena Sheppard started the discussion about that resolution by asking “I would like to know when we interviewed [Mr. Davis]” for the position? Ms. Saucier avoided that question but said that as a “duty crew” member, Mr. Davis had worked for the Fire Inspector Dogget who liked Davis’s performance. Sheppard responded that the process should be one of advertising for personnel and interviewing candidates. Saucier replied that Dogget “specifically requested” Mr. Davis. Rosemarie Logue commented that Mr. Thiessen had deferred this candidate search to Ms. Saucier, but did Chairman Thiessen review any of the search work? Thiessen said he had reviewed it some but stressed that he was aware the the District is way behind on its inspections and needs an Inspector. Logue suggested that the appointment be tabled because she did not believe the backlog was “as pressing as we have been lead to believe” and that if it were that pressing, “I would love to know why no one put an email out to the rest of us”. Logue motioned to table the resolution and Sheppard seconded it saying “we need to start doing things properly”. That motion was rejected by a 3-2 vote of Saucier/Gaskill/Thiessen who then advanced the resolution to appoint the fire inspector. That was also passed by the same 3-2 vote of Saucier/Gaskill/Thiessen.
Just before that vote was finalized, Ms. Logue stated,
“I want the public to be aware. Not only does this appoint Mr. Davis without advertising for the position, it will raise all personnel rates to $35/hr which is the same thing we said No to just half a month ago”.