By JORDAN ESSOE/YachatsNews.com
SEAL ROCK – After one member briefly tapped the brakes, the Seal Rock Fire District board voted unanimously Thursday night to hire Will Ewing as its new fire chief.
Ewing was brought into the department last October on a consulting contract after a board majority voted to fire its previous chief, Tom Sakaris. The board soon after promoted Ewing to acting chief and prepared to conduct a comprehensive search for a permanent replacement until earlier this month when they indicated its intention to convert Ewing’s part-time, interim position into a full-time job on a two-year contract.
Ewing, 65, was brought in to reorganize the Seal Rock Fire District and has proven to be a strong philosophical counterpart to the new board majority. Chair Karl Kowalski and members Paul Rimola and Mike Burt are seeking to rework the balance of paid firefighters and volunteer responders in the district and renegotiate the terms of an agreement with Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue to relax sharing of personnel and equipment.
Turnover in leadership and changes to the direction of the board triggered the resignations of two Seal Rock district board members within the last six months — Dustin Joll in October and Tina Fritz earlier this month. Fritz had been vocal in her objections to the board’s direction and hiring Ewing after his arrest in September on domestic violence charges and pleading guilty to one misdemeanor charge in November.
In January, Ewing resigned as fire chief of the Idanha-Detroit Rural Fire Protection District, a part-time post he held concurrently with his initial work with Seal Rock. In addition to his September assault conviction, there was a flurry of controversy in Detroit regarding management practices. In 2017 Ewing was fired from Toledo Fire and Rescue by an interim city manager for insubordination, threatening behavior, and breaking city policy. He has filed a wrongful dismissal suit in federal court against the city and that manager, who was also fired a year later.
There was little hint any of that professional or personal baggage complicated the proceeding Thursday night.
“I see what we’re getting,” said Kowalski, gesturing approvingly to Ewing. “It seems like we’re headed in the right direction to me.”
The only board member to initially question accepting Ewing’s full-time contract was Burt.
“Why are we in such a hurry to get this done?” asked Burt, suggesting simply raising Ewing’s base salary and taking more time to get the contract right. “I personally think we’re moving too fast.”
Board member “Skip” Smith disagreed. He said they needed a chief now for department stability and to better recruit volunteers and hire new paid staff.
Burt objected to the contract not including a job description. Ewing said he had not even seen a job description. Burt was ultimately satisfied with the concession that the job description the board had previously worked on for months would be added to Ewing’s contract.
There was also a discussion regarding whether Ewing, who lives in Toledo, satisfied a requirement to reside within 20 minutes of Seal Rock’s main fire station. Ewing said he thought he could comply with that provision, “depending on traffic in the summertime.”
Other minor contract adjustments included adding 10 days of paid vacation per year, which Smith requested. It was also clarified by Ewing that he wanted it to be easy to “fire him on the spot” if ever needed or required by the board.
“I want you to feel comfortable if you get tired of Will Ewing, you can get rid of me for zero dollars,” said Ewing. “I think that’s important right now to help everybody have good peace of mind for the two-year contract, if that’s what you want to do.”
The contract will pay a base salary of $5,600 per month, $100 a month for a cell phone, and a Medicare supplement allowance of $500. The contract ends June 30, 2024 with the expectation a new fire chief will replace Ewing then.
“Welcome aboard, sir,” Kowalski said to Ewing, after the vote was held. “Again,” he joked.
In a reversal of tone from his previous procedural reservations, Burt offered uninhibited praise of Ewing later in the meeting. Reading from prepared remarks, he began by declaring the past three fire chiefs had failed to inspire him and described how Ewing had already bucked that trend.
“With the personal challenges [Ewing] has faced over the last six months he has shown amazing resilience and optimism,” said Burt. “I place a lot of value on people who are willing to be held accountable and that take responsibility for their actions.”
“Will’s visionary talents are so profound they are almost scary,” Burt said, and challenged Ewing to bring harmony back to the Seal Rock Fire Department.
Suspends talks; hiring temporary firefighters
The Seal Rock board also decided to suspend negotiations with two members of the COCF&R board on their intergovernmental agreement.
“Everything is kind of up in the air. And I think the best thing to do with it right at the moment is nothing,” said Kowalski.
Ewing explained that for the time being he was going to continue to employ the same response model between Seal Rock and COCF&R that was in place when he was hired in October.
“We respond automatically to their calls, they respond automatically to my calls,” Ewing said, and added that he would soon send an email asking what COCF&R’s response requirements would be going forward in the future.
“I’m inclined to stay with that model until May 17, as long as they need it,” said Ewing. But he is still looking to transition to a model where Seal Rock responders are dispatched to help COCF&R only on priority calls.
“If [COCF&R Chief Jamie Mason] has got the staffing down there that makes him flush to his satisfaction, then we can still supplement his response, but it’s not going to be every single call like it is now,” he said.
Seal Rock lost two of its four firefighters this month to other jobs – one to COCF&R and the other to LifeFlight. Ewing said he will be using substitute firefighters on temporary contracts until July 1 and so far has agreements with two from the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District – Joe Schwab and Seth Hedin — who will fill some Seal Rock shifts during their days off.
Schwab told the Seal Rock board that he discussed response protocols with COCF&R firefighters when he was working solo and COCF&R had two firefighters on shift. It was agreed they would come to Seal Rock automatically, but he would respond to Central Coast only if they had a call that required a paramedic.
Because the two Yachats firefighters can’t commit to every shift that needs coverage, Ewing said he will likely end up with a pool of three to six temporary employees.
“I’m looking for locals that know the area, that are somewhat familiar with our vehicles,” Ewing told YachatsNews. But Ewing is not looking to staff up to the same degree COCF&R is.
“Our goal is to have one person on all the shifts that we’re covering, instead of two,” he said. “We’re just basing it on what we need.”
Ewing said he will start the process of finding full-time responders to begin in July and he will try to hire a duty officer who has a higher degree of training and capability. His long-term goal is to have three paid duty officers and a deep bench of “professional volunteers,” which the Seal Rock fire board appears to have embraced as the ultimate solution to their budget problems.
Burt, a former volunteer firefighter, encouraged Ewing to lead the charge to find new recruits.
As of the last head count, Seal Rock may be down to five active volunteers. Ewing has a track record for recruiting and training volunteers and says the district needs to change the culture around the practice.
“It’s got to be a love relationship [with volunteers], not a forced relationship,” said Ewing. “Volunteerism is the heart of the country.”
- Jordan Essoe is a Waldport-based freelance writer who can be reached at alseajournal@gmail.com