Dear Editor,

I would like to thank The Mountain-Ear for covering the recent events that have been occurring at the Nederland Fire Department (NFPD). I would like to take the opportunity to add some perspective and clarity to these events and why they are occurring. It is long overdue for a light to be shone on the problems that plague the department and the truth to be told. I suspect that many of you are unaware that any problems that exist or the threat that they pose to the department. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

The department continues to exist purely due to the commitment of the staff and volunteers to provide excellent service of the district taxpayers. The deficiencies that exist are a result of the attitude of the department management to those who truly serve this community. 

As a volunteer with the department for 9 years, running almost 1800 calls I have experienced the lack of oversight, leadership, respect and poor management firsthand. I left in 2019 after an ethical dilemma made it impossible for me to stay. I did not believe, based on experience, that any other resolution was available to me within the department. I am not alone in being placed in this position. Many valuable resources have either left the department or refuse to participate for similar reasons.

Over the last few months, I have investigated the activities of the board, the budget and the spending of the department in 2019. What I have discovered both shocked and saddened me. I believe the Fire Department is a fundamental resource to this community and I am proud to have been a member and served with those who give their time and energy to provide the service that they do. They all deserve much better leadership and support than they are getting.

I have framed a lot of my concerns to the board about the department from a safety perspective, but the truth is that there are many, many more significant problems that exist. I am not a lone voice or sole agitator and represent the opinions of a majority of the active responders in the department who, for one reason or another, are unable to voice these concerns within the department or to a wider audience. These people, your friends and neighbors, are unable to exact the change required from inside the department and I was unable to stand by and watch people that I respect, and have trusted my life to for years, be continually disrespected, belittled and undervalued.

To be absolutely clear, my only goal in this effort is to improve NFPD by ensuring the safety and welfare of those who serve and ensure that the taxpayers of the district receive value and the best service for their tax dollars. I am happy to discuss the problems that beset the department and are preventing it from being the best that it can be.

The current board has been self-appointed for at least the last 10 years and has become complacent and entirely disrespectful to the volunteers and staff of the department, and also the people of the district. They have forgotten their responsibilities to all parties. They fail to do due diligence resulting in poor decision making that ultimately affect the safety of volunteers and staff of the department and result in questionable budget management and value for money for the taxpayers. They refuse to listen to concerns voiced to them and brush them off as “noise” and do not follow up on issues that are reported to them. These failings expose the volunteers and staff to unacceptable risk, liability and unnecessary stress.

The board has been deficient in their activities in the last few years and have broken multiple district by-laws that exist to protect the district and taxpayers from their behavior. A couple of examples; failing to remove a board member who attended only 4 of 25 board meetings and failing to hold the Fire Chief accountable for his actions. The list goes on and this is not opinion, I have proof of the improper actions, the board is a public entity and as such all of its activities are on the record, although it has managed to stay in the dark for years. This is a board that cannot manage its own internal affairs let alone the almost $1 million budget that they oversee.

The work environment within the department is described as toxic and disorganized by both volunteers and staff. The board allows this situation to continue despite being clearly informed, both in board meetings and personally, of the massive problems that exist. These problems create an environment that disincentivizes volunteer engagement, demoralizes the staff and effectively destroys the department from the inside. 

All of these problems are resolvable. There have been many hours spent in meetings with volunteers and staff listening both to their concerns and ideas for solutions and many more hours preparing for and attending board meetings to try to get the board to act and understand the scope of the problems and their responsibility to act. The board has made some effort to reach out to some of the members but failed to follow up on the information that they have been given.

As a result of the investigation into the operation of the board and because of our respect for the department as a whole myself, Patrick Richardson and Todd Wieseler have been compelled to run for the board in the upcoming election in May to stop the decay. This board cannot be allowed to self-appoint again.

It is time for change and an end to this egregious lack of responsibility and disrespect to those who serve this community for nothing more than the satisfaction that they provide the community with a vital service. Please apply for your absentee ballot to vote by mail and vote on May 5th to start the change in direction that your fire department desperately needs.

You can contact me at iain@nfpdboard2020.com. Stay safe and well.

Regards, 

Iain Irwin-Powell
Nederland