By Leslie Dixon
Sun Journal
OXFORD, Maine — After receiving a pointed letter of no confidence from members of his department Monday, Oxford Fire Chief Wayne Jones announced his resignation Tuesday afternoon.
In a one-sentence email sent to all department members, Jones announced his resignation effective Dec. 31.
At the fire department’s monthly meeting Monday evening, all of the ranking officers and an undisclosed number of department members issued a two-page “Letter of No Confidence” to Jones, requesting his instant resignation.
The officer who spearheaded the ouster, and who emerged as the department’s spokesman on Tuesday morning, said Jones “needs to resign. As of last night, we have no fire chief,” Lt. Mark Blaquiere said.
Working closely with Blaquiere on the effort was Capt. Shawn Cordwell.
On Tuesday morning, Blaquiere said officers and others in the department will refuse to take any further orders from Jones.
The chief was not available for comment.
Interim Town Manager Rebecca Lippincott, who was appointed last week to fill the vacancy created by the unexpected resignation of Town Manager Derik Goodine last month, had no comment on the issue. She was at the monthly department meeting Monday night to introduce herself as interim town manager and was also handed a copy of the letter, Blaquiere said.
According to the letter dated Dec. 5, the officers and members of the Oxford Fire/Rescue Department have no confidence in the ability of Jones to lead the department. Blaquiere declined to say how many members supported the letter.
“Since your arrival, you have demonstrated a lack of local knowledge and demonstrated poor communication skills with the officers and members of this department,” according to the letter. “Chief Jones, you have failed to demonstrate the ability to work within a call company department.”
Blaquiere said there are 30 members of the department and, though no formal vote was taken, the feeling has been shared since the chief was hired in June 2015, moving to the Oxford department from Westbrook, where he served as deputy chief and was a longtime firefighter.
He still resides in Westbrook, Blaquiere said.
According to Bill St. Michel, fire chief in Durham and two-time past president of the Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association, there is no protocol to handle a situation in which officers and department members refuse to recognize a chief’s authority.
He’s not aware of any similar situation ever happening in Maine.
The situation, he said, “could be very awkward in an emergency situation” because state law establishes that the fire chief is ultimately responsible for every fire scene. And employment law sets authority of the chief and of the department’s operation with the city manager.
“I would assume, and I would definitely hope, that everyone would act in the best interest of the citizens involved in an emergency situation,” St. Michel said, despite their differences over leadership.
Members of the department must work together when responding to an emergency, and best “address the issues after that,” he said.
In 2015, the Oxford Fire Department responded to 725 calls, including 209 for fires. Thirty of those were structure fires.
“Ultimately, the responsibility to take action — corrective action or protective action — would lie with the manager or the selectmen because the chief is an employee of the town,” St. Michel said.
“It really sounds to me like the situation between the officers and the chief is not going to be resolved, so municipal leadership needs to take action and resolve it before it escalates any further than it has” in the interest of public safety, he said.
On Tuesday, Scott Owens, chairman of the Oxford Board of Selectmen, said he was unaware of the specifics of the situation.
“We’ll have to get involved as we get our facts. We can’t allow this to go on,” he said.
Owens said the town manager — not selectmen — has the ability to fire members of the department.
This was the second attempt in a year to remove the fire chief.
Members of the department issued an initial “Letter of No Confidence” signed by seven officers and given to Jones in January. That letter cited a lack of local knowledge, poor communication and accused him of putting the firefighters in danger because he takes too long to make decisions.
It was written after firefighters expressed concern that their former chief, Selectman Scott Hunter, was not hired by then-Town Manager Michael Chammings. Instead, Chammings hired Jones.
According to Blaquiere, the January letter was hand-delivered to each selectman’s mailbox, but at that time none of the selectmen said they received it. No action was ever taken on that letter.
Blaquiere said one of the major issues is that there is no communication between the chief and others in the department. On Tuesday, Blaquiere said Jones leaves memos on the memo board rather than talking to department personnel, refuses to help drive the equipment which he should do as a “working” fire chief, and refuses to address safety issues, among other things.
“We can do the job without him. He’s not our chief,” Blaquiere said.
Blaquiere said the department will be run by senior members starting with the lieutenant, captain and deputy chief.
“We are not taking orders from him anymore. We don’t care if he sits in his office,” Blaquiere said.
Tuesday evening, Capt. Patty Hesse said that she and Cordwell and fellow Capt. Paul Hewey will meet Wednesday to discuss next steps. The town manager had not yet reached out to the department, Hesse said, as to what she expects. “Until we meet with her to see what the parameters are, we will just see (Jones) occasionally throughout the month as he’s wrapping up some issues. There are some things he needs to take care of in the community.”
“Until (interim manager Lippincott) gives us some direction, I don’t know what’s going on.”
Hesse said Jones’ office is already cleaned out, which department members interpret as a sign he won’t be in the office very much in the weeks leading up to his resignation date.
“As far as us following orders, probably depending on what it is,” Hesse said members will have to decide.
“Unfortunately we had to make a point because of the year and a half of what’s been going on. It needed to be done in order to make our point,” she said of the move to push Jones out.
“Us three captains are now working together and are going to try to see what we can do to bring the department back together again. Get the brotherhood and sisterhood back in the department, hopefully. Because that’s really faltered, unfortunately,” Hesse said.
Copyright 2016 the Sun Journal