OAK BLUFFS, Mass. — A state ethics commission has determined that a fire chief violated the conflict of interest law when he hired four members of his immediate family. The commission did not impose any penalty on the chief.
MVTimes.com reported that Oak Bluffs Fire Chief John Rose hired the family members between 2009 and 2013 without making the appropriate notifications.
“Your participation as ambulance chief and fire chief in the hiring and supervision of your immediate family members as ambulance department and Fire-EMS department employees created a conflict of interest between your public duties and your private family relationships,” executive director Karen Norber said.
While the commission could have fined Chief Rose for each violation, it opted instead to address the matter in a public education letter.
“The Commission expects that by resolving the matter through a public education letter, you and other public employees in similar positions and circumstances will have a clearer understanding of, and ability to comply with, the conflict of interest law,” Norber said.
Chief Rose said he was told the investigation started around the time the fire chief position became available in 2013.
“There were procedural things that I could have done better, but under the circumstances that I was in, they understood,” Chief Rose said. “I wasn’t really worried about this. I try to be as honest as I possibly can. When they started the investigation I was forthcoming with everything they asked for, because I didn’t have anything to hide.”
Lack of clarity on the law was also cited in the commission’s ruling.
Chief Rose came into full compliance in 2013, when the full board of selectmen signed off on his written disclosure regarding his involvement in the hiring and supervision of his daughter, two sisters and brother, according to the report.
The selectmen qualified their decision, saying Chief Rose could not take place in promotion or disciplinary procedures of his immediate family members.
The nepotism issue was previously addressed in a Jan. 2014 meeting, when town officials took extra steps to mitigate possible conflict of interest issues in filling the assistant fire chief and deputy fire chief positions.
“We’re very aware of the number of Roses in the department,” town administrator Robert Whritenour said. “On the one hand, it’s an admirable trait to have a family that’s devoted to public service and that do it very well. But it also presents potential problems and pitfalls. We developed a system that works to evaluate candidates on professional merit without blackballing an entire family from public service.”
In its final ruling, the ethics commission agreed with Whritenour.
“We note that within certain areas of public service, such as fire and police departments, there is a strong family tradition in which many members of the same family pursue the same type of employment and frequently work together,” the commission letter said.
“Anywhere you go, there’s generation after generation of firefighters in one family,” Chief Rose said. “It’s always been that way.”
Chief Rose said that as a result of the investigation, the town has developed procedures to follow moving forward.
“Now we have a clearer path of how to deal with certain issues when they arise within the department, and we all feel a lot more comfortable now that we have that guidance,” Chief Rose said. “At the end of the day, we want to do it right. I want to be transparent. The most important thing is serving the department and the people of this town.”