By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Depending who you listened to Nov. 30 at a special joint session of the Waterford and Rochester village boards, one or the other – or both – of the villages’ fire chiefs were responsible for the current tension between their departments.
But as Village of Rochester Board President Ed Chart finally said, “You guys have got to get together.”
“Someone’s got to start with an olive branch,” said Chart near the end of a meeting that lasted close to two hours. “You guys are all adults here. You shouldn’t have to have us holding your hands.”
The two boards, along with Rochester Fire Chief Walter Henning, Rochester Assistant Chief Jack Biermann, Waterford Chief Rick Mueller and Waterford Assistant Chief John Dahms, attempted to work their way through what the two boards agree has gone from a butting of heads to a public safety concern in recent months.
The issue came to a head in early November when Village of Waterford President Tom Roanhouse wrote a letter to the Rochester Village Board. That letter outlined an initial concern about Village of Waterford chiefs being left off the Rochester Mutual Aid Box Alarm System call cards, as well as “unprofessional” comments by former Waterford chief Steve Denman – who is now a member of the Rochester Fire Department.
In response, Rochester’s Chart held a meeting with members of the Rochester fire department – and found out that members had similar complaints about the Waterford fire department.
A joint meeting was then requested so the issues could be addressed.
New chief, new ways
When the Village of Waterford hired its first-ever paid fire chief in Mueller, a number of things were changed, as outlined by Roanhouse Monday night.
Among the changes: going from a member election-based system for choosing leadership to a merit-based system; rearranged shifts and staffing to make the best use of company members; and starting a youth options program.
The two programs each gave a brief history – and hit on one major difference. Rochester is a private fire company staffed by volunteers that contracts with the Village of Rochester, while the Village of Waterford department is publicly funded – albeit staffed with part-time personnel.
Mueller, however, added that he’d gone to a different method of incident command as well, using a worksheet that allowed him to track all members of all companies on the scene – and substitute for them appropriately. That also involves using a higher-power radio inside the cab of a truck to “run” the fire scene.
He said Rochester’s method of assigning numbers to fire department members, using a tag board with Velcro and having numerous commanders on scene was outdated and dangerous.
“There has been zero cooperation,” Mueller said of implementing the new system. “This is not a professional or a moral stance.”
Henning, meanwhile, said Rochester’s system had worked fine for the last 30 years, and that changing the entire system wasn’t using “common sense.” He also said the training times dictated by the Waterford command group didn’t work for him.
Both ended their prepared comments by saying they would break the automatic mutual aid pacts previously agreed to if they couldn’t work something out.
There were a few personal comments made, including Biermann saying that Mueller threatened his department at one point by saying “I won’t go around you, I’ll go through you.”
Mueller clarified that remark was made specifically in terms of getting to his incident command area at a fire scene, and added, “I don’t want to argue with people. I want to accomplish things.”
Needing each other
Neither village board wanted to consider that possibility, however, agreeing that not only did Rochester and Waterford need each other, but the automatic aid agreements with other communities such as Burlington and Tichigan.
The issue is especially important now, said Rochester Trustee Gary Beck, because of the closing of the bridge on Highway D in Waterford over the Fox River. That replacement is expected to happen in early 2016 and is expected to last about six months.
The closing of the Main Street bridge over the Fox River in Waterford (Highway 20) is expected to follow in 2017, and Beck said either of the departments might end up first on scene as a result of the bridge closures.
Disagreements remained, however, in how to best get together and work out the issues. After exchanging more specific criticisms a second time, village board members on both sides started prompting the two chiefs to at least “put a toe in the water” and set up a mutually agreeable date to simply sit down and talk.
The boards also clarified the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System situation, with Rochester saying they hadn’t left the Waterford names off for any other purpose other than assuming Waterford would send a chief along with a fire crew in any case.
Biermann also said the chiefs remained on MABAS structure fire cards. However, both Henning and Biermann admitted that the names had been previously listed and removed this year.
The two boards gave the chiefs a week to set up a meeting. The two chiefs were also encouraged to start a former practice – quarterly meetings that included the Rochester, Waterford and Tichigan fire chiefs.
After leaving it in the hands of the two chiefs to set up an initial meeting in an attempt to work through the issues, Rochester Trustee Chris Bennett expressed some pessimism about the situation, especially given Rochester’s status as a private company the village contracts with.
“Our options are extraordinarily limited,” said Bennett. “That’s still an independent company that works under its own by-laws.”
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