By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT – Three new members of the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District board got a tongue-lashing from the public, firefighters and even their chaplain Thursday night for their attacks on the fire chief last month during a contentious meeting.
After eight members of the public lambasted the trio for not trying to learn more how the district operates, not participating in board training, for attacking in public meetings rather than talking directly to staff, the trio apologized for their tone of voice and being argumentative during last month’s meeting.
But it didn’t come easy.
Several times board chair Buster Pankey interrupted speakers during the meeting’s public comment period. Board member Kathryn Menefee oftentimes jumped in to try to explain herself.
As district firefighters chided the three board members, at one point Fire Chief Jamie Mason stopped the meeting to ask new board member Todd Holt “Why’s that funny, Todd?” after Holt guffawed at a statement by firefighter Cody Johnson.
Tensions rose early Thursday night when former board member Peter Carlich of Tidewater started by saying the new board members had been attacking Mason and his staff “like a pack of rabid dogs.”
“The three of you should resign in disgrace,” Carlich said. “Continue in this direction and we’ll recall all of you.”
Pankey, Holt and Menefee were elected to the board in May by campaigning that the previous board did not provide enough oversight of former chief Gary Woodson, who after years of mismanagement was only let go after formal complaints that he sent pornographic material to employees.
Mason, who joined the district from North Lincoln Fire & Rescue as a captain and training officer in February 2020, was named chief by the former board in April after they terminated Woodson. The new majority took office two months later.
The turmoil on the COCF&R board mirrors other issues at two other local fire districts.
The Seal Rock Fire District has an agreement to share staff and equipment with Central Oregon Coast, but a new board majority recently terminated its chief, hired a controversial consultant and is looking at district operations. The Yachats Rural Fire Protection District, which has a mutual aid agreement with COCF&R and Seal Rock, is in financial trouble and is seeking a new, large tax levy from voters Nov. 2.
Rats in Five Rivers
The three members took after Mason and maintenance officer Erich Knudson in September over the condition of a remote, unmanned station in Five Rivers. The week before the meeting Holt and Menefee found it overgrown with weeds, infested with rats and with an unsecured door.
The manner of their complaints erupted into a hour-long shouting match and arguments at the board’s September meeting that spilled over into other topics. That drew widespread community outrage and formal statements of rebuke from the firefighter’s union and volunteer association after stories in YachatsNews and when a recording of the meeting was broadcast on Information Station, which is owned by Erich and Wendy Knudson, who is also the district’s administrative assistant.
The outpouring of support for Mason and district operations was enough that later in Thursday night’s meeting Pankey called off Menefee’s request for an executive session to discuss Mason and Erich Knudson performances.
In an email to the board Tuesday, Menefee said she wanted to discuss Knudsen’s performance as maintenance officer based on a complaint by a firefighter and that Mason “has been derelict in his duty” about maintaining facilities and was “sexist and discriminatory … based on the way he spoke to me at our last meeting (but not to the male members of our board who were expressing similar concerns).”
Firefighter disputes conversation
During public comment, COCF&R firefighter Cody Johnson read a statement from firefighter John Townley, saying that he was the one Menefee was referring to in her executive session request — and that she had completely misrepresented a conversation with him about district maintenance.
“The three of you are trying your best to divide us,” Johnson said after reading Townley’s statement. “We support our chief and our staff. All of this drama you guys are creating are taking us back.”
Firefighter Jo Bartling said while he had endorsed the three new members before the election he no longer felt “comfortable working with this board.”
“I want the best for this district,” said Bartling, who was one of the firefighters who filed a formal complaint against Woodson last year. “I’m tired of this drama. I back Chief Mason 100 percent. He has lifted us up.”
Erich Knudson also addressed the board, asking Holt and Menefee why they didn’t go further in getting ahold of he or Mason or even sheriff’s deputies and misrepresenting their efforts when they found the Five Rivers station unsecured on a Friday afternoon in September. He became so mad at one point he pointed his finger at the two and asked them if they were lying about their actions that weekend. The two denied anything inappropriate.
Rick Booth, who serves as district chaplain and is also a member of the Waldport City Council, chided the entire board. Booth said longtime board members Reda Eckerman and Kevin Battles should have done more to stop last month’s meeting from spiraling out of control. But he said the three new members appear to be working together behind the scenes to undermine staff.
“I want to know tonight how we’re gong to be better,” Booth said. “Are we going to work together or stab each other in the back?”
Several times during public comments Pankey and Menefee apologized for their actions and tone during September’s meeting.
“I acted out of line,” Pankey said at one point. “I guess when I saw a facility like that I got upset. I’m sorry my tone got out of hand.”
Menefee, whose husband Nestor Alves has a $1.1 million wrongful lawsuit against Woodson and the district for retaliation and discrimination over his 2018 firing pending in federal court, said she was still trying to learn about district operations and meeting procedures.
“Chief Mason has inherited a big ball of stuff,” she said, while admitting that September’s meeting “could have been done better.”
“But how do we prevent that by not asking questions about facilities and operations,” Menefee said. “All of us are learning.”
Holt, who remained quiet through all of the comment period, apologized for “his tone of voice” during September’s meeting after being asked to do so directly by audience member Linda Carskadon.
Chief responds as well
Mason also did not hold back.
He said while there have been no calls from the Five River station in 1½ years and there are no volunteers in the area, its poor condition was his responsibility.
Since the three complained about the station’s condition, he, Knudson and others have cleaned it up and are making repairs, got rid of the rats and proposed a contract – which the board approved later – to have regular pest control and inspections.
“It feels like the is a targeting of employees in this district. I don’t know why,” Mason said. “We’re all trying to make this place better. … I’m trying day in and day out to make this place better. But I’m mystified as to why there’s this animosity.”
Mason also told the board that he has cleaned up three issues concerning the Knudson’s that the three new members brought up in September’s contentious meeting. Mason said he has:
- Removed a printing machine from the office owned by Information Station that the fire district was using. The district is now using a machine from Pacific Office Automation.
- Developed new guidelines for work governing what employees who own an outside business can or can’t do when on the district’s clock. The Knudsons no longer do work for their Information Station if they are in the office, he said.
- And, board meetings are no longer broadcast live on Information Station, but instead sponsored by the volunteer association and put on YouTube. The board agreed to put money in next year’s budget to purchase its own cameras and sound system, rather than use Information Station’s.
“There’s not one thing his board has asked that hasn’t been done. It may not be done immediately, but it gets done,” Mason said. “If you come into my office to ask, then things get done – but you’ve got to come in to ask.”