Following a one-hour executive session Monday, the Whitefield Board of Selectmen confirmed fire chief Tim Pellerin is still a town employee.
Also attending the closed-door meeting were deputy chief Scott Higgins and EMS deputy chief Lynn Talacko.
At last week’s regular board meeting, Nicole Mathews, a Firefighter I and II, criticized Pellerin’s leadership, based partly on a trespass complaint filed with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office last month. She also requested an audit of the North Whitefield Fire Association (NWFA), where Pellerin is treasurer.
Mathews, who aired her concerns in open session, stressed she was doing so as a citizen of the town, not as a member of the fire department. (“‘Convoluted’ incident lands Whitefield fire chief in hot water,” LCN, Page 1, 1/27/11)
Mathews is also the town’s EMA director and is currently out of state training with the Air National Guard.
Selectwoman Sue McKeen said no action was taken on the complaint because “it isn’t a town matter.” Mathews could have asked for an audit or aired her complaint through the association rather than through the town, McKeen added.
Even though McKeen said Monday’s executive session concerned “a personnel issue,” the board also described the matter as “personal.”
“It’s a soap opera,” chairman Steve McCormick commented.
As reported by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, on Jan. 16 law enforcement was called to 632 Townhouse Road, where Mathews lives. Two of her friends, who are also firefighters, were housesitting during her absence the night before.
According to the report, the incident “was about criminal trespass and unwanted text messages from Tim Pellerin.” Although the young woman receiving the messages was advised of the procedure for getting a protective order, she declined to undertake that procedure, and she also did not wish to bring “criminal charges,” according to the report.
Mathews requested that Pellerin be served with a trespass order.
Sgt. Michael Field of the State Police investigated on behalf of the LCSO and wrote Pellerin an email dated Jan. 20, stating, “There are no charges pending and the investigation is closed in State Police files.” The only action was a “request” that Pellerin not return to Mathews’ residence except in the case of an “actual emergency requiring your response.”
Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett asked the State Police to investigate because Pellerin is also the county’s EMA chief.
Two days after the Jan. 24 selectmen’s meeting, NWFA president Bryan Ross was one of three officers to resign from the association. Ross had no comment other than to say he and the others continue on as firefighters in the municipal department.
Under the municipal organization voted in last March, the town’s three companies, which also include Kings Mills and Coopers Mills, retain their status as independent associations with their own slate of officers.
Sexual harassment policy
McCormick said this week he’d spoken with Maine Municipal Association (MMA) officials and been advised “we were within our rights not to call an executive session [Jan. 24].”
At its Jan. 31 meeting, the select board talked behind closed doors with the top three fire department officers about adopting a sexual harassment policy for all town employees, which include both paid and volunteer firefighters.
After the session, McCormick reported that the board learned of the existence of a fire department sexual harassment policy. Within the past six months municipal firefighters “trained and signed off on that policy,” he said. The select board has not yet seen the plan but will meet with all fire department personnel mid-month. “There’ll be a paragraph [added] addressing fraternization,” McCormick said.
Fraternization policies address romantic involvement between supervisors and subordinates.
Since last Monday, the board has hustled to research and implement a personnel policy and obtained a model from MMA. Before pursuing that further, however, McCormick said, “We want to see what the fire department has adopted.”
When asked, McCormick said he did not know why Pellerin hadn’t presented the department’s sexual harassment policy earlier for the board to review. Last summer, after he was hired as town chief, Pellerin began reporting regularly to the board, as required by the fire department ordinance. In mid-August he reported on inspection and maintenance checklists and draft leases for the fire companies’ buildings and equipment.
According to the essential duties of the fire chief described in the ordinance, he or she “establishes policies and procedures for fire and EMS departments in order to implement directives from the board of selectmen; handles grievances, maintains departmental discipline and the conduct and general behavior of assigned personnel; prepares and submits monthly reports to the selectboard regarding the departments’ activities and prepares a variety of other reports as appropriate,” among other responsibilities.
McCormick said he had been unable to find any policy addressing harassment or a grievance procedure in town office files last week. Neither he nor McKeen recall being briefed on the harassment policy.
Between the trespass incident and Mathews’ appearance before the board, Pellerin volunteered to bring McCormick a copy of Lincoln County’s policy on fraternization. He delivered a fraternization policy, with the headline in bold letters, “Town of Whitefield, Maine,” to the board’s Jan. 24 meeting but said in a telephone interview the next day with The Lincoln County News that the policy was “generic” and he had “taken it offline.”
Part of the provided policy reads: “The Town of Whitefield recognizes that the question of whether a relationship constitutes fraternization or simply a social relationship is a very personal issue. However, because of the potential for inappropriate conduct, you are encouraged to bring any questions you may have regarding fraternization to the attention of your Department Head, or any member of the Selectboard.”
Pellerin had no public comments this week.
Selectman Frank Ober is registered to attend an MMA workshop on personnel practices and policies later this week.
