by April Scheinoha
Reporter

Members of the Thief River Falls Fire Department received a tongue-lashing from two members of the Public Safety/Liquor Committee at a special meeting Wednesday, Oct. 26. The committee called the special meeting five days earlier to discuss the fire department.

At the end of the meeting, committee members agreed to recommend former co-fire chief Rick Beier to serve as sole interim fire chief. That recommendation came on the heels of a petition seeking Beier’s appointment as sole fire chief and was signed by the majority of Thief River Falls firefighters in the combination full-time and volunteer department.

The committee recommendation, which wasn’t unanimous, now goes to the full Thief River Falls City Council. The council has the final say and is expected to consider the interim appointment at its meeting Tuesday, Nov. 1. If Beier were appointed as interim sole fire chief, he would be paid halfway between his current grade level and the proposed grade level for the new position. He would still serve in the current firefighter rotation.

In the past, the city paid the two co-fire chiefs a total annual range of $167,731.20 to $212,808.96. City Administrator Angie Philipp said neither of the co-fire chiefs were at the top of their salary range. A sole fire chief working in the regular firefighter rotation was expected to be paid $100,963.20 to $128,069.76. A sole fire chief working a Monday through Friday day shift was expected to be paid $84,136 to $106,724.80.

History
At least five months ago, then-Co Fire Chief Marty Semanko announced his intentions to retire Friday, Sept. 2. After speaking with the firefighters and weighing its options, the council approved continuing with the co-fire chief system in July. Mark Bieganek was appointed co-fire chief and served in that capacity for six days before resigning Sept. 8. Beier, who had been co-fire chief since 2016, announced his intentions to resign effective Sept. 26. With Beier’s resignation imminent, the council approved seeking a sole fire chief and filling the job opening Sept. 20.

On Oct. 18, the council unanimously tabled the acceptance of applications for a sole fire chief and moved the matter back to the Public Safety/Liquor Committee for further discussion. The committee was initially set to meet after next week’s council meeting. However, the special meeting was held.

The fire department is also short one full-time firefighter since the council hasn’t formally hired anyone to fill Semanko’s vacancy as a full-time firefighter. It has accepted applications, but the matter has been put on hold.

At the special committee meeting, council members Jason Aarestad and Anthony Bolduc both suggested hiring a sole fire chief, a deputy fire chief and paid on-call firefighters. During the meeting, Aarestad, committee chairperson, seemed to back down from his suggestion and later agreed with recommending Beier to serve as sole fire chief.

Bolduc appeared to remain steadfast, referring to issues within the fire department and his inability to trust Beier as a leader after Beier stepped down as co-fire chief. He also spoke about the need to save money, not spend money.

Council member Steve Narverud, who serves on the committee with them, continued to voice his support for a sole fire chief and agreed with recommending Beier’s appointment. He indicated Beier is detail-oriented and the rest of the firefighters were saying they would listen to him. Narverud added that it was up to the council to do something differently if it didn’t work out.

Council member Rachel Prudhomme, who also serves on the committee, was unable to attend the meeting. She provided the committee with an email outlining her preference for a sole fire chief.

The committee recommendation came after five of the six full-time firefighters signed the petition, which was dated two days earlier. All five attended the committee meeting. Devin Spears didn’t sign the petition nor did he attend the committee meeting. It was noted he was covering the Fire Hall when the committee met.

Fourteen of the 21 volunteer firefighters, including volunteer fire chief Brian Jacobson, signed the petition. Jacobson and fellow volunteer firefighter Grant Asp attended the committee meeting. Council member Mike Lorenson also attended the meeting. He was unable to provide any input to his fellow council members since he doesn’t serve on the committee.

Bieganek presented the petition on the firefighters’ behalf and said they weren’t telling the committee how to run the fire department. “I think we have a lot of egg on our face,” he said about the fire department.

The turning point for Bieganek was when a community member told him, after reading a newspaper article about the matter, that he was concerned about the competence of the firefighters to mitigate disaster for his family.

For his part, Aarestad was disappointed in how things evolved. He said he couldn’t believe how the situation became such a mess, especially when the department was a seven-person department. He referred to the bickering in the department and how both city employees and the council have a code of conduct. That code of conduct, he said, is to look out for the taxpayer. Aarestad also referred to a lack of information supplied by the department when the council asked for it.

“It’s quite embarrassing on our side,” said Aarestad. “It’s quite embarrassing on your side.”

Aarestad then made a recommendation for a sole fire chief, a deputy fire chief and paid on-call firefighters. He indicated that he had learned it wasn’t necessarily true that the Insurance Services Office fire protection rating would drop. It would fluctuate a little, said Aarestad, who noted the impact wouldn’t be as drastic as some believed on homeowners’ insurance policies if the fire protection changed here.

If the city picked an interim sole fire chief, Aarestad said he didn’t know whom he would pick. “Rick, you put us in a spot,” said Aarestad, who noted Beier’s credibility and professionalism disappeared when he resigned as co-fire chief.

Beier replied that he stepped down as co-fire chief once he no longer believed in the co-fire chief system.

Bolduc also voiced his support for a fire chief, deputy fire chief and paid on-call firefighters. He told the firefighters that they made a mockery of the fire department and the council. Bolduc further noted that the council simply asked for paperwork and then the situation led them to this point.

The Brainerd Fire Department operates under the system proposed by Aarestad and Bolduc. Brainerd has a population of 35,000. Aarestad said the city needs to look at saving money.

After hearing that comment, Narverud said the city would save about $65,000 the first year that it would have a sole fire chief. However, at one point, he admitted that the city may eventually have to hire an assistant fire chief.

Beier told committee members that the Brainerd Fire Department has an annual budget of $1,124,393. The Thief River Falls Fire Department has an annual budget of about $769,000.

Prudhomme’s email provided some insight into her thoughts about the matter. In the email sent to Aarestad and Philipp prior to the meeting, she wrote, “I do not object to continuing a co-chief system, but it would be my preference to move to a single chief and restructure the current employees to have only one firefighter on duty overnight.”

In that same email, she also referred to “grave concerns regarding the dysfunction that is occurring” among the current full-time firefighters. She also “did not feel it was appropriate to hand over the co-chief positions to the current full-time employees or give them the decision-making process as to who should be involved in those positions.”

The committee members discussed how it would present the information to the council, including whether it should make a recommendation and what that recommendation should be. At one point, full-time firefighter Blair Lund asked whether having co-fire chiefs was an option.

His question led Bolduc to respond that the firefighters had signed a petition for a sole chief. “I’d love to have my options at my job, but I don’t,” said Bolduc, who noted that he continued to have the same mindset he had earlier.

Full-time firefighter Scott Walker told the committee that a couple of firefighters had been on the fence about how the department should be managed. Walker has since made up his mind. “I’m afraid of losing Rick as a chief,” said Walker. “He’s very knowledgeable.”

Walker’s statement was echoed by fellow full-time firefighter Paul Gonsorowski.

Despite their statements of support for Beier, Bolduc said the way they provided input into the management structure decision was “complete ass backwards.” If they had just asked for a sole fire chief initially, Bolduc said Beier would probably have been picked. Instead, Beier backed out after serving as co-fire chief. Bolduc said he now doesn’t know if he can trust Beier as a leader.

Bieganek replied that the firefighters had an “ass chewing” and all of them needed to hear it. “It’s not a smokescreen here,” said Bieganek, who added that they wanted to move forward and were prepared to do better.

Jacobson, the volunteer fire chief who is also employed by the city full-time in another capacity, said they back Beier 110%.

Later, Gonsorowski alluded to the unity in the fire department. He told the committee that seven firefighters would have seven different ideas about how to run the fire department. However, Gonsorowski noted they had a great crew that wasn’t swearing at, yelling at or assaulting each other. He said that the committee had given the firefighters an adequate spanking.

Beier was willing to accept the appointment if the council offered it to him. However, he admitted that he was concerned about righting the ship and then having the council kick him to the curb if it wanted to do so.

“To me, it’s to prove yourself again,” Bolduc said.

“Understandable,” Beier replied.

If Beier were appointed to the position, some committee members anticipated they would know within a few months whether Beier would be appointed in his own right. Police Chief Marissa Adam had served as interim police chief before her formal appointment. In a short period of time, the council decided to make Adam’s appointment permanent. Like the situation proposed with Beier, Adam’s interim appointment meant that disciplinary matters had to be handled by Philipp due to union issues.

Beier voiced concerns about the number of full-time firefighters. If he works a shift by himself, he said he is unable to make any fire code inspections.

“I would like to wait a little bit, just to make sure that things would work,” said Aarestad, who added that the fire department had operated with six full-time firefighters in the past. He also indicated he wasn’t saying that the fire department wouldn’t have seven full-time firefighters in the future.

It has been difficult operating with six full-time firefighters, replied Beier, who noted that they have no room to cover shifts when someone is hurt or ill. He added that Walker was hurt recently, leading the five remaining firefighters to cover shifts with a large amount of overtime paid to them.

Aarestad then invoked the memory of the late Jerald Brown, saying Brown had suggested in the past that the full-time firefighters may be able to find a volunteer firefighter to sleep at the Fire Hall overnight. He then suggested that the committee move forward with recommending Beier as sole fire chief, but holding off on seeking a seventh full-time firefighter.

Correction: The salary figures in the latest articles about the interim Thief River Falls fire chief appointment need to be clarified and corrected. The newspaper should have noted that the figures were based on working 2,496 hours per year. With regard to the co-fire chiefs, the salary range was listed as a Grade 7. Neither of the co-fire chiefs were listed at the top of that grade, which had an annual salary range for two co-fire chiefs at $167,731.20 to $212,808.96.