MONROE — The Monroe Common Council Ad Hoc Fire Dept Investigation Committee made about nine recommendations during its final meeting Dec. 5, seeking feedback from Fire Chief Dan Smits and Monroe Volunteer Firefighters President Jeff Kundert throughout.
Smits and Kundert were announced as spokesmen for the respective sides by committee chair Kelly Hermanson at the beginning of the meeting, who also laid out guidelines that discussion was to be concise, relevant and respectful.
One of the major themes emphasized was communication.
“The part that was really clear through the process is that the communication is an issue and it’s broken down. The relationship’s an issue and it’s broken down,” Hermanson said.
Some of the committee’s recommendations, summarized by committee member Brooke Bauman at the end of the meeting, specifically focus on repairing that communication breakdown. Those include updating the fire department’s organization chart with names — something that Bauman said was a task all city department heads would be charged with also.
It was also recommended that, at the next officer meeting, they discuss the preferred means of communication between the chief and the MVFF, as well as that the minutes of those meetings be recorded and given to officers.
Another recommendation, to apply to both the MVFF and the Friends of the Behring Senior Center, was to set a policy for how the groups should communicate with their related departments, such as via the department head.
A primary topic of recommendation centered on property, many of which will have city-wide implications. It was recommended that MVFF make a list of all the property it had at the MERIT Center, and elsewhere on city property, and have a discussion between the group, the chiefs and the mayor regarding ownership.
It was followed by the related recommendation of a policy about personal property on city property, and a facility use policy, to include access and expectations. Both of those would also be applied to other departments.
Depending on the steps involved, recommendations will go on to city committees for action, such as Salary and Personnel or Finance and Taxation, to department heads, or to Facilities and Logistics Director Rob Jacobson, and each city employee will receive the internal communications policy from Mayor Louis Armstrong.
“I hope that it’s agreeable to both parties,” said committee member Josh Binger. “And I hope that we can move forward as a city and a department.”
“There’s always going to be some times when people don’t get along,” said Smits after the meeting. “But I think we’re working towards where … there is a very efficient department, and that’s going to take the work of everybody.”
City Attorney Dan Bartholf and former city administrator Phil Rath conducted an initial investigation into firefighter complaints earlier this year, completing 50 hours of interviews and “fact gathering” and compiled a report that was delivered to the Salary and Personnel Committee in late September.
That report contained many recommendations for improvement for both chiefs and firefighters, but also concluded that “a majority of ‘claims’ regarding the chief were embellished and overly sensationalized.”
Multiple council members felt the report was “biased” and ultimately voted to override its recommendations and investigate the issues raised themselves, hence the formation of the ad hoc committee.
Comparing the report and the committee findings, Smits felt the conclusions were the same, and added that he believed the initial reporter “was done without bias.”