A lot was said, but little was accomplished at the Northwest Fire Protection District Board of Directors meeting Thursday, Sept. 25.
Starting early on with the Chief’s Report, most of the evening was spent in argument — between board members, citizens and the board. Approximately 25 residents of the district, including a few volunteer firefighters, attended the meeting.
After reporting that the department responded to 13 calls last month and detailing some of the repairs that had been made to trucks, volunteer Chief Red Adair — appointed a couple of months ago — asked the board about personnel records and files being left out on his desk for him instead of being given to him in person.
Chair Bob Spruell almost instantly took offense to this, saying it was because he could never find Adair to give him anything.
Firefighter Larry McLallen jumped in to defend Adair. He and Spruell then got into a heated exchange, with Spruell threatening to have him thrown out, then threatening to close the meeting.
None of which happened.
Getting back to the Chief’s Report, Adair asked the board about a letter that had come to the district for the chief which was reportedly opened by someone else.
Spruell said he opened it, but that it was okay because “...he wasn’t going to steal anything.”
Moving on, Adair said the letter was a request for the personnel records of Chris and Renee Krise from Coffman Bend Fire Department. Chris Krise was removed as chief of Northwest in May. His wife Renee was also a volunteer with the district. She resigned. They have applied to volunteer with Coffman Bend.
Spruell said there were no records for the Krises.
Spruell then argued more with Adair over the letter and what contact had been made with Coffman Bend. Ultimately, nothing was resolved.
More confusion was evident over background checks of the new firefighter applicants that were sent to the Missouri Highway Patrol — apparently on the wrong forms. Some had been turned in before Adair and some after.
Spruell said, “I mailed them in as soon as possible. I’m not on the payroll.”
In any case, Adair said he had talked to the Highway Patrol about expediting the background checks because of the district’s low roster numbers. The district is now waiting on these checks to be done for about 15 new volunteers to start.
The vehicle inventory list, which appointed board member Theresa Townsend previously requested, was still not settled to her satisfaction.
Adair had given her the list. She said it was not accurate, nor was the volunteer roster.
Both agreed that they had set up a time to meet for Adair to go with her to the district’s five stations for her to do the inventory herself. Townsend did not show up because she said she was sick.
She complained that an inventory list and roster should be an easy compilation that could be done in a week.
Townsend said she is trying to straighten out the paperwork on the apparatus — what they own and what they owe.
“And I’ve met with nothing but resistance,” she said.
Adair then questioned her about emptying out the chief’s desk and reorganizing the main office.
She said she cleaned out the desk in preparation for the new chief and cleaned the office because it was filthy, with parts and radios everywhere.
“It was not [Adair’s] desk at that time,” Townsend said.
Station 1 Captain, Education officer and insurance liaison Jennifer Walker — who was interim chief between Krise and Adair — also joined the fray over her stuff that was in the office. Walker said she could not find her stuff either.
Newly-appointed board member John Shireman asked if the board had voted for her to clean out the office.
“I don’t need it,” she said.
He said, “Cleaning is one thing, and emptying the chief’s desk is another.”
Adair brought them back to the point, explaining that he could not find a field report for someone’s insurance claim from a house fire that occurred June 8 — after Krise was ousted and before Adair was appointed.
Townsend said there were lots of old papers in the desk, some dating back to 2003, but that that particular report had not been in the desk.
She said she went through everything in the office except for the personnel and bill file cabinets.
A seemingly confused Spruell kept saying during this time that he would fax the reports in, if Adair would get them to him. Adair tried to explain that he would if he could find the report, but he was not chief when the fire happened.
Gaining the floor, another newly-appointed board member, Wendell Parrish, commented, “The way these meetings are conducted, it’s such a — it seems like it’s just a joke. I’ve never seen a business meeting run like this in my life. You can’t get things done this way. If someone has the floor, they should have the floor until they’re done.”
Spruell blamed it on people arguing with him.
Shireman finally suggested that in the future to avoid confusion with the chief that the board vote on what they want him to do, so Adair has a clear idea of what is wanted.
“The five of us can’t be running to him all the time,” he said.
Walker added that the board members also need to give Adair time to get past issues cleared up before pushing other stuff on him.
Spruell said it was the chief’s responsibility to call and ask what should be done.
“We had the same problem with Krise and [Linda] Clemons (former chair of the board),” Spruell said.
After a slight digression, taxpayer Don Henlo, a resident in the Lake Road 7-13 area, stood and asked for Townsend to be replaced and for Spruell to step down as chair.
Parrish also asked to put reorganization of the board on the agenda for next month.
Spruell then held up a two-page petition signed by district residents calling for Townsend to be removed from the board and for a new chair.
Spruell admitted that he had written out a letter of resignation but had changed his mind.
“I’ll fight you ‘til the end,” he said, looking out at the audience.
Townsend also said that the only way to get her off the board was with a recall petition. Shireman disagreed saying that there were other ways to remove her from the board.
A firefighter in the audience then said it was no wonder they didn’t have volunteers when all he heard was griping.
McLallen said it was a wonder that Adair didn’t quit because Spruell talked to him “... like he was a dog.”
“I’ve put in as many years in this district as [Adair] has, and I never acted like he does.”
Spruell did not explain what Adair did wrong.
Earlier in the meeting, however, during an exchange with Adair, who said Spruell was trying to do the chief’s job, Spruell said, “I can do your job.”
In one of the few things accomplished, Shireman made a motion, which was approved, that the board follow Robert’s Rules of Order and offered the book for all the board members to read.
He then made a motion to make a special addendum to Robert’s Rules for the chair to vote and make motions because they had a small board and sometimes people couldn’t make it to the meetings.
Townsend then said that obviously the chair could participate because Spruell had done just that to appoint Shireman. There was an argument about that after the previous meeting when Shireman was appointed. Spruell seconded the motion and voted in favor of Shireman.
In a more heated argument from citizen Gertrude Beede over whether Shireman, himself, followed Robert’s Rules, he ended up literally throwing the book at her. Beede has run for the board before and lost. She also applied to be appointed at the last meeting, but was not. Instead, Shireman was appointed.
He then explained that the procedures for appointing board members and electing officers was different from regular business.
“In that case, there should just be nominations and votes — not motions,” he said.
The board approved the addendum.
Going to the next agenda item, Standard Operating Guidelines, the board decided to table this issue brought up by firefighter James Richards.
McLallen told them they needed to do it that night.
As it was getting late, after 8 p.m., Spruell said that he had other things in his life besides the fire district and the board still needed to hear a presentation on insurance.
After this was done and tabled to next month, the board adjourned about 9 p.m.