City and Rural Fire to remain separate indefinitely

The Polson Fire Department and the Polson Rural Fire District have been operating under a “Mutual Aid Agreement” for three weeks since becoming separate and distinct departments.

The leadership of both agencies, PFD Chief Clint Cottle and PRFD Board Chairman R. Jack Clapp, are in disagreement concerning both departments working together in the future.

PFD and PRFD officially entered a “Mutual Aid Agreement” on Sept. 2. Under the agreement, and confirmed by an official statement by Polson City Manager Mark Shrives, both fire departments have agreed to provide assistance when needed. “This direction was determined based on studies and recommendations from fire industry experts, through numerous conversations between the two entities, and upon recommendation of our leadership,” Shrives wrote in a statement sent to Polson City Commissioners, the Rural Fire District Board of Trustees, and the volunteer firefighters serving both departments.

At the Polson commissioner’s meeting on Sept. 21, Chief Cottle and Chairman Clapp presented statements to Mayor Heather Knutson and the commissioners. Both statements illustrated the disagreement between the city and Polson Rural Fire Districts.

Chief Cottle delivered a statement on the current status and general operations of the PFD since he was appointed chief of the city fire department in August.

Cottle stressed to the commissioners that the most important objective of the PFD since the separation of both agencies and consequent operation under the mutual aid agreement is that fire service not be disrupted in any way.

“We are committed to providing the best possible service to the community,” he said. “And to provide assistance [to the PRFD] when needed.”

Cottle went on to give his observations of the department under his leadership. “I’ve seen morale become greatly improved,” he said. “Before I took over, the fire station was like a wasteland. Now I see volunteers coming in during the day asking how they can help, what they can do.”

Clapp, representing the PRFD, addressed the commissioners and expressed his concerns with the current status of the separation of the departments.

Clapp cited two independent studies, the Polson Rural Fire District Agency Evaluation released in Nov. of 2013, and the Polson Fire Department Agency Review released on April 2, 2015.

“Both studies have a clear recommendation: to proceed as one entity,” Clapp said.

Clapp summarized the events leading up to the separation and questioned whether both agencies can agree to work as one. He referred to the proposal given to the commissioners weeks before the separation that was essentially a contract to give response authority to the Polson Rural Fire District over all fire responses—the contract, if signed by the city, would give the PRFD the power to oversee a unified agency—which was rejected by the city commissioners.

“When Chief Cottle was appointed interim chief,” Clapp told the commissioners, “we decided to retain [former Polson Fire Chief John Fairchild] through the fire season.”

Clapp said with the fire season winding down, Fairchild will no longer hold the position as of Sept. 30, after which the rural board will advertise the position of a new fire chief to be filled. Concerning the overall future of both departments working together, Clapp asked, “Is there a way to operate in a cost efficient way as one entity?”

Commissioner Ken Silas addressed Clapp after his statement and disagreed with his summation of the two independent studies.

“There were other alternatives listed in both studies,” Silas said. In both studies it was recommended that both agencies be separate entities.” Silas cited both studies’ observations of low morale, lack of leadership, lack of trust, and general disorganization of both agencies at the time. Silas brought up the Interlocal Agreement—the document that unified the city and the rural departments—and its “expiration.” The nonrenewal of the Interlocal Agreement essentially terminated the unification of both departments on July 1, 2012, although both departments continued to abide by the agreement.

“I respectfully disagree,” Clapp told Silas. “That the agreement had expired.” The rural has been paying the city of Polson $15,000 every year for services, Clapp said, therefore the agreement was still in effect.

Silas said, that being the case, the city still provided a service—the salary of a fire chief that served both agencies. Furthermore, Silas said that renewal discussions were on record and proposals were presented to the city commissioners and the rural board of trustees for approval.

Clapp suggested that the city might be inclined to return the money if the agreement had expired. After the meeting, Clapp said he wasn’t completely serious, and used that as an example of the Interlocal Agreement’s legitimacy.

Mayor Heather Knutson thanked Clapp for trying to seek an agreement on the future of a possible reunification, but under the circumstances, it would require further review.

“We want to provide the same service under the mutual aid agreement,” Knutson said. She referred to Cottle’s earlier remarks—the improved morale, the new leadership of the Polson Fire Department—as reasons why she would rather let more time pass to allow for these positive changes to develop, including the training of the volunteer firefighters. “We are healthy,” Knutson said.

Clapp concluded by saying that the rural department is willing to discuss the future with the commissioners. “We have an open door,” Clapp said.

Recent weeks have seen a change in the dynamic and membership of the volunteer firefighters in both departments. After the meeting, Chief Cottle said that 21 volunteers have decided to exclusively work for the Polson Fire Department in the three weeks since becoming separate departments. However, he made it clear that whatever the reasons of the volunteers who made that decision, he did not want to speak ill of the Polson Rural Fire District. “I’m dead serious about this,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to work amicably.”

Cottle also stressed that the volunteer membership was not pressured nor given ultimatums. He told the commissioners they had three options: serve both departments, serve the city, or serve the rural. Shrives also sent a letter to the membership at the time of the Mutual Agreement and said both departments could operate as they had, and members did not need to pick; they could serve both. “I didn’t want the firefighters to be put in that position,” Shrives said, in an interview.

More than three sources that wished to remain anonymous due to the nature of the situation told the Lake County Leader that since the separation, many members had resigned from the PRFD. The number reached a “safe” figure of more than 15 as of last Friday.

Chairman Clapp disputes this number, and said the PRFD has experienced member loss during the past three weeks, but he said it is normal. “We have not had more than 15 resignations. Both departments experience losses in membership,” he said. “We’ve had 10 new applicants in the past two months.”

The recent tension and subsequent separation of the two departments has been brewing for a long time.

When the Polson Fire Department operated in tandem with the Polson Rural Fire District, Chief John Fairchild oversaw both departments.

The Polson Fire Department Agency Review, conducted by former Missoula Polson Rural Fire District Chief Curt Belts, a professional with over 30 years of experience, and released on April 2 determined that the city and Polson Rural Fire Districts had many problems.

“There is an overall lack of clear direction,” the report stated, “which has greatly contributed to the internal conflict within PFD. Without clear direction, there is no unified approach in which to manage the department. When such voids exist, the members of the department form their own beliefs as to what the right approach should be for the PFD. Thus, more unrest.”

City Manager Mark Shrives initiated the investigation after receiving a signed letter of No Confidence with the leadership of Fairchild in November of 2014. Shrives interviewed the volunteers who signed the letter. The Belts report was initiated and released in April 2015. The study revealed the same problems within the PFD, and cited information from the 2013 ESCI, confirming the internal problems.

“I was concerned,” Shrives said, after reading both independent reports.

On July 1, 2015, Shrives accepted Fairchild’s resignation.

After reviewing both reports, he decided the best course of action would be to find a fire chief to address the “administrative concerns.”

Shrives felt that both reports clearly issue warnings about lack of leadership, lack of discipline, and a lack of trust within the department at the time. He saw in Clint Cottle—although he was not a firefighter—a person who could understand the logistics of an emergency agency, one that requires volunteers and a chain-of-command.

“While [Chief Cottle] wasn’t technically a firefighter, he was experienced in emergency management,” Shrives said. When Cottle was selected first as interim chief and later took the oath to be the chief of the PFD, the Polson Rural Fire District appointed Fairchild fire chief within the week after resigning from the Polson Fire Department.

Whereas in the past both departments operated under the leadership of one fire chief—a city employee with a salary—now both the city and the rural had two chiefs. Fairchild was offered a salary at the PRFD without the city’s consent, nor approval. A fact that Shrives says in all fairness was the rural board’s decision.” Rural has always run their own business,” Shrives said. With the PRFD “retaining” Fairchild and paying him a salary, Shrives wrote in the Sept 2 statement: “It has been noted that you did not budget for a payment to the City under the [Interlocal] agreement and you have budgeted for a paid fire chief. This clearly indicated that you have determined that the agreement is not renewed...”

However, before the separation on Sept. 2—both agreed upon by City Manager Shrives and Chairman Jack Clapp in a written document signed on August 5—”We believe that at this time it would be in the best interest of both governing bodies and the citizens we serve,” Shrives and Clapp wrote, “to amicably move forward with forming two separate departments.”

The adoption of a rural fire chief that would essentially split the leadership of the fire departments could be seen as the final push into separation into “distinct” departments.

The April 2015 report warned against such chain-of-command that wasc not good for a department already struggling with leadership. As it concluded earlier this year: “There is no clear chain of command in place particularly where direct reporting is concerned. There are many end runs being made as a result, especially by the Firefighters when they don’t get their way or don’t believe or trust in the command structure. Internal conflicts erupt as a result are unfortunate, but not expected (sic) result of ineffective leadership…this intergroup picking ‘sides’…”

The meeting on Tuesday night ended between two departments in disagreement about the future; the city continues to move forward with Chief Cottle and assist under the Mutual Aid Agreement. There are no plans for reunification.