John Scarffe, Nederland. The Nederland Fire Protection District approved working with a human resource consulting firm at the regular, online meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2020. The Board also approved website improvements and gave statements regarding the paid leave of Fire Chief Rick Dirr.

At the Board’s August 5 meeting, Board Member Patrick Richardson introduced a proposal to hire CPS, a human services consulting company. In April, the Board wanted to do some research and figure out a contract with human resource consulting providers. 

Richardson recommended hiring CPS in Littleton, which had been recommended and has worked with several fire districts. They proposed a monthly retainer of $1,450 for consulting by phone or in person, and other items could be included in future years. They could build a handbook, do policy development and an organizational assessment and training for current and future members. 

CPS has the background and was less expensive. Richardson recommended that CPS complete a benefit package review and an organizational assessment and include one onsite training session before the end of the year, so they can start correcting issues and help the Department set goals.

Starting next year, they could work on an employee handbook and three sessions covering policies and procedures to set the rules of the road for new members. Rates are based on $70 per hour. 

Board Chair Irwin-Powell said since they are local they can come to the department, and that’s very useful. He has spent time on human resources issues that may have been hidden but are serious. The department is not equipped to deal with legal and employment compliance issues. An organizational assessment is absolutely required, because they have too much internal strife. 

The Board is too close to the issues, so it would be helpful to have an independent, third party come in and make suggestions without bias or history, and do it as soon as possible. “I believe a lot of problems will come to a head if we don’t start to resolve them,” Irwin-Powell said. 

Board members said they didn’t get the proposal or got it late, and were okay with another meeting on the next Wednesday, August 12, to approve hiring the firm. At the September 2 meeting, Irwin-Powell said the human resources consulting firm will come in tomorrow, September 3, to meet with shift officers. 

Irwin-Powell recommended moving forward with truck tires because the snow season is around the corner. Department members did cleanup at Station 1, and the medical store has been cleaned. They are finding items that are out of date and working on a plan to keep functioning.

He asked the Board to adopt and commit to Everyone Goes Home, an organization that provides support and is an incredibly important initiative. “It makes us much more professional after we address internal issues.” 

It’s a national program, and Denver is in it. Nederland has access to a local representative. According to the website Everyone Goes Home® strives to prevent firefighter line-of-duty deaths and injuries.

In March 2004, a Firefighter Life Safety Summit addressed the need for change within the fire service. At this summit, the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives were created and a program was born to ensure that Everyone Goes Home. 

The goal is to help the U.S. Fire Administration achieve its objective of reducing the number of preventable firefighter fatalities and can be found at https://www.everyonegoeshome.com/. The Board approved adopting the program.

Irwin-Powell introduced proposals for a new website, which would be easy to use. The current system is clunky. With a new site, they could upload the Board meetings and make a section on meetings. 

“When we get back to face-to-face meetings, we will continue on Zoom,” he said. He received an estimate that it would take about a week to complete the new site, and would have an easy portal for membership to sign in, so they can post documents on training and other information. It’s purely drag and drop. 

The monthly fee would cost $100, he said. Complaints about the current website include it’s difficult to update with administrative tasks. In 2019, Chief Dirr was posting the minutes. 

“I don’t know how difficult that was, but it was harder than it needs to be,” Irwin Powell said. Updates in the software would take a lot of work. 

Board Member Henry Zurbrugg said his company is spending less than $100 a month and asked if Irwin-Powell got another bid. Irwin-Powell said this is the only firm for special districts. Others would have to do the layout and design by themselves, and they don’t have time.

Zurbrugg said this is not a mission priority and suggested tabling this for now and finding someone who could update the information. 

Board Member Ray Willis said it would nice to be able to do it themselves. Board members finally agreed they would be okay with $400 for the balance of the year, and they would like to see it done in a week. Irwin-Powell said he will talk to them tomorrow.

At the beginning of the meeting, Board members gave a statement about putting Fire Chief Rick Dirr on paid leave. On August 19, 2020, the Board conducted a special meeting for an executive session regarding Dirr and a failure to follow recognized protocols that led to a potentially hazardous situation on scene. 

Irwin-Powell said it has been a busy two weeks on the Board with a lot of questions raised. The operational abilities of the Fire Department are intact, and the skills of the volunteers are incredible. The Fire Department has received 22 calls since the chief has been on leave and have been answered sufficiently. 

Everything is a safety issue. Firefighters die all the time and almost always this shouldn’t have happened, Irwin-Powell said. “Would you rather see your firefighters in the Fourth of July Parade or in a funeral parade?” 

That’s what this is about, the safety of our firefighters, he said. He has spent several days this week with interviews regarding the situation. Currently most grievances end with the chief, and that’s ridiculous. The Department will no longer operate on what they used to do. 

We will adopt and commit to Everyone Goes Home with no compromises or excuses, he said. We should have been doing this for years. 

Zurbrugg wrote a letter to The Mountain-Ear newspaper that was disrespectful, Irwin-Powell said, and asked how Zurbrugg could show his face at the meeting. Zurbrugg said he is supporting the fire chief because the new Board brought items against Dirr before due process is done. 

“The allegations that I don’t care about the district and our firefighters made me pause,” Zurbrugg said. “I took that personally, and it was inappropriate.” 

Zurbrugg has served the district for 20 years. The safety and care of firefighters is the top priority. We don’t need character assassination on social media. “I’m still a director, and in another company, these attacks would not be tolerated. It doesn’t sit well with me with the promotion of operation officers to crew chiefs.” 

Three shift officers were retitled to operational chief without Board input, Zurbrugg said. Two fifths of the Board are ruling as judge and jury, which is a violation of district policies. Are operational chiefs qualified to run the district? 

What happens when the chief returns, or is it a forgone conclusion he won’t return? “I want the current Board not to preside over investigations, and I’m thinking about asking for a citizen’s oversight board for supervision of the current Board,” Zurbrugg said.

Irwin-Powell said that when the chief goes on vacation or is incapacitated, shift officers take over, and without a pay increase, they stepped up to take over, and the Board didn’t make any promises. Its described as an investigation, and he interviewed nine people about the incident and it’s pretty shocking. 

He is reaching out to Denver Fire regarding findings of the investigation, and he and Board Member Willis have 16 hours of audio from the interviews. “We don’t want it to be a witch hunt. I’ve reached out to resources in Denver Fire and will ask them to look over investigations, and they will have a few opinions.” 

Richardson said by not talking about the chief, the previous Board hadn’t done anything. Technically, they still have trucks that shouldn’t be driven. This is just a fact from a third-party mechanic. If he owned a private business, the police would pull the trucks over and have them towed.

Willis said this is the first he has heard of promotions handed out, and that should have been brought to the Board. The current Board has made accusations of the previous Board about no transparency, and this is the same, working in darkness. 

During public comment, participants said the Board is giving vague information about who is in charge and advocated for investigation by an independent resource. Irwin-Powell said shift officers are talented individuals and have a lot of experience. It was necessary to put them in charge. 

Fire Department members submitted a letter placing safety as the first priority for the Nederland Fire Protection District. The membership does countless hours for training and needs to be supported. 

The letter supported current Board improvements for safety, improved training and recruiting. It was signed by Lindsey Sweeney. Andrew Joslin, Bobby Swanson, Ken Kehoe, Alex Olivas, Eric Abramson, Anthony De Salvo and Jamie Carpenter. 

Irwin-Powell said he supported a citizens’ board, and they should move forward talking about it. Richardson said that before the new board, volunteers and employees had no access to the Board, and were told they would be terminated if they went to the Board. They have been told that for years.

Irwin-Powell said the human resources services company will update the employee manual. Also, the statute allows for a recall of the Board in six months, but they are trying to fix the problems. 

The Board should have a meeting with the public because there is a disconnect somewhere, and the chief would be part of that conversation. Board members and public comment pushed for an independent investigator about the complaints against Dirr. 

The next meeting of the Nederland Fire District Board of Directors will be on Wednesday, October 7, 2020.

(Originally published in the September 10, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)