The Haines Borough decided last week it will not continue Jenn Walsh’s employment as the Haines Volunteer Fire Department’s firefighter/training officer.
The abrupt nature of the Feb. 5 decision and the municipality’s refusal to provide any public explanation this week provoked shock and anger from some members of the fire and ambulance crews.
The municipality apparently also provided little explanation to Walsh herself.
“Although no specifics were given for my termination, I was told it wasn’t a good fit. As I continue to work with Local 71 (the borough workers’ union) to resolve this issue, my employee status does not affect my membership in the Haines Volunteer Fire Department, and I look forward to continuing to serve our community. I have no further comment at this time,” Walsh said in a prepared statement to the CVN.
Manager Brad Ryan sent out a brief press release Friday. “We have chosen not to extend Jenn Walsh’s employment as training officer beyond her probationary period with the Haines Borough,” he wrote. “The probationary period is used to determine if continued employment is beneficial to both the employee and borough and we have chosen not (to) continue her employment at this time.”
Walsh was hired in August to replace longtime firefighter and training officer Al Badgley. Her six-month probationary period was set to expire Feb. 24. Before she replaced Badgley, Walsh worked as the department’s emergency medical technician/firefighter for nearly four years.
Ryan this week would only say that the matter involves personnel and is confidential.
Borough attorney Brooks Chandler said the borough’s agreement with the employees’ union, of which Walsh is a member, also stipulates that personnel matters are confidential.
“Personnel matters are supposed to be confidential. That’s all there is to it,” Chandler said. “All I’m telling you is personnel matters are confidential. And confidential means confidential.”
Suzanne Vuillet-Smith, an ambulance crew volunteer for six years, called the decision to let Walsh go “pretty devastating to our team.”
“I understand a lot of things come into these decisions, but the suddenness of it was unnecessary and, in my opinion, quite shabby,” she added.
Roy Josephson, who has been volunteering at the department for close to 25 years, said the borough’s decision “seemed out of the blue.”
“My first thought was, ‘Couldn’t you give her a notice as to what she is doing wrong and extend that probation period rather than making that decision?’ But I wasn’t party to any of it,” he said.
Fire chief Greg Palmieri said he was part of the “process” that relieved Walsh, but wouldn’t elaborate on the extent of his involvement. At a meeting of the fire and ambulance crews Monday, Palmieri told volunteers the same thing.
“The process isn’t something I can get into. The borough could. I’d like to be able to speak in more detail about the process because my membership wants that,” Palmieri said. “I feel like I have an obligation to say something to my membership.”
Members at the department meeting on Monday expressed interest in issuing a public statement, Palmieri said, but by Wednesday some members had stepped up with questions about the process of doing so. “They want a fair representation in this statement,” he said.
Volunteer Meghan Elliott, who has been with the department since 2013, said she has not been told anything and has “no answers.”
“The most upsetting issue is the secrecy of why she was let go,” Elliott said. “Everyone wants an answer, because we are a community at HVFD. We are a family and out of nowhere we lost our leader.”
Elliott said Walsh has been an inspiration and catalyst for younger residents to join the department, and that she was an excellent leader and resource. “As far as a medic leader and a patient care provider, she is what we are all trying to amount to, so this is a complete shock for us.”
Members of the department spoke out at Tuesday’s assembly meeting, asking for answers they did not receive. Volunteer Tracy Wirak told the assembly she was “deeply disappointed” and “confused” about the borough’s decision to let Walsh go.
“This makes me and many others feel uncertain of wanting to continue volunteering,” Wirak said.
Walsh was “clear, efficient and thorough” in her job, Wirak said, and was a “leader, role model, and inspiration.” Wirak chastised the borough for not consulting the volunteers before making such a “risky and rash” decision.
“I sincerely hope that the borough will reconsider their decision and apologize to (Walsh) and the department for the undue stress and burden they have created,” Wirak said.
Assembly member Ron Jackson attempted to convene a closed-door session of the Personnel Committee to discuss Walsh’s termination, but he was shut down.
“I’m wondering if it’s appropriate for the Personnel Committee to get together in executive session and review the circumstances around this. From what I’m hearing from the community, there’s pretty good performance and it didn’t seem to be a performance issue. So…can someone advise me if I can make a motion to do that?”
Mayor Jan Hill responded, “I don’t know that you can,” and Jackson asked whether Personnel Committee chair Mike Case could do so.
“It would be my opinion – and it certainly could be wrong – that you can make a motion to do almost anything you want,” Case said. “But there may be instances where it’s not appropriate, and I think this is probably one of them.”
His comment ended assembly discussion.
Volunteer Vuillet-Smith said beyond being disappointed in how the borough went about dismissing Walsh, she is concerned about where this leaves the Chilkat Valley in terms of emergency response coverage.
“I was equally disturbed that without (Walsh) there, without a training officer, Kyle Fossman is in her former position as firefighter and he has no certifications yet, so he cannot be in the ambulance by himself,” Vuillet-Smith said.
Without a training officer and with Fossman’s restrictions due to his current lack of certification, volunteers will be relied on to respond to calls. During the day, most volunteers are working and have a hard time getting away from their jobs, which is why the department employs two staffers.
“It leaves the Chilkat Valley without paid responders during business hours, which is a very high-risk situation,” Vuillet-Smith said.
Manager Ryan said the borough has an “emergency hire lined up to fill the slot until we come up with a long-term strategy.”