By Mark Shenefelt
Standard-Examiner
SOUTH WEBER, Utah — Thomas Graydon says he must have fought back for his firefighters one too many times.
The South Weber fire chief was forced out Monday night by Mayor Tammy Long after a conflict between Graydon and City Manager Tom Smith over the handling of a firefighter disciplinary case.
In an interview Wednesday evening, Graydon unleashed a series of complaints about Long, Smith and city council member Marlene Poore and described the South Weber City work environment as “toxic” under its current leadership.
He said Smith was deceitful during their discussions about what to do with Deputy Chief Frank Patrick, who was found to have doctored call sheets, and he said Long turned a deaf ear to his entreaties for an opportunity to thoroughly discuss the situation.
Poore, Graydon said, “has openly asked why we even need a fire department, which is one of the most ridiculous questions under the sun.”
Poore declined to comment. Efforts to reach Long and Smith Thursday were unsuccessful. Long had said Tuesday, “I’m sorry this has come about. I hope the city can pull together instead of fighting about it.”
Graydon recalled a conflict over buying firefighter radios during the last budget cycle and wonders if it foreshadowed his fate.
“I am someone who pushes back on them and have argued for things,” said Graydon, who was a South Weber firefighter for 25 years, the last seven as chief.
The city council cut a request for radios from the department’s 2016-17 budget, Graydon said. So he asked Smith if he could use money still available in the 2015-16 budget to get the radios.
He said Smith told him to prepare a purchase order and Smith signed it. But before Graydon could follow through with the purchase, it was shot down. The council questioned the purchase.
“They questioned my integrity, saying I was in violation of purchasing policy,” Graydon said. “But the money was in the budget and Tom signed the purchase order.”
In the call sheet matter, Smith went to Long, saying Graydon was shirking his responsibilities as a department head by not firing Patrick.
Graydon called that characterization unfair and defended his work on the Patrick investigation.
He said he told Smith in September he was investigating Patrick. Smith, he said, “very clearly told me ‘It’s your department. Take care of it and I will support your decision.’”
Graydon called in Patrick, who admitted falsifying the call sheets. “I suspended him and took his keys and credentials.” He informed the city office, but Smith was not available at the time, he said.
He then met with the department’s captains to get their input on what should be done with Patrick.
Graydon said he concluded “there’s no way he can be an officer on the fire department now … I can’t trust him. If this got out, people would question the integrity of the department.”
He said he considered Patrick’s 20-plus years of service. “He falsified some reports, but never got paid for those, never actually stole the money. There was intent, the dollar amount was small, it might have been a misdemeanor. Yet he can still contribute — he’s a certified firefighter.”
Graydon said he and the captains agreed on a suspension for a certain period, after which Patrick would be brought back on a one-year probationary period as a rank-and-file firefighter.
Graydon said he carefully thought through the matter “because whatever we do dictates what we would do in the future on other cases … we have never had anything like this happen before.”
“Frank didn’t actually even steal anything because of the policies and procedures we have in place,” Graydon said.
Smith “completely freaked out” when he told him about the suspension plan, Graydon said. “I told him, ‘I thought you would back my decision — you clearly said that.’ He said, “No, I didn’t.’ ”
So Graydon called the captains and they agreed it would be better to let Patrick go rather than “tear up the fire department with an argument between me and the city manager.”
Graydon then told Smith “‘It’s clear it is not my decision, so I relinquish that decision to you.’ Immediately he went to the mayor and the city attorney, saying I was shirking my responsibilities.”
Long shut him down when he tried to meet with her to air out the situation, he said. Then he was fired.
“This feels very much like the last time (about the radios),” Graydon said. “I fight for the firefighters and they want me gone and it kind of looks like they have achieved it.”
He said some of the elected officials “have done nothing but drive employees away. It’s a toxic work environment where everyone has to keep their heads down.”
Scott Casas, a city council member, said Thursday he’s happy with how things are going in the city.
“There was some reason why Patrick was let go,” he said. “It was something that was illegal and we felt as a mayor, council and administrative staff that this had to be rectified, and that’s how this came about.”
“As volunteer firefighters, we have no rights,” Graydon said. “We are at-will employees … they can do this to everyone they want to. Everyone should have some sort of due process.
“These firefighters give up their time and their own money to do a lot of this, and leave their jobs to do it, and the thanks that the city shows is this kind of thing.”
Graydon, a retired Air Force first sergeant, works full time as academic services and research director for a major health-care company in Salt Lake City.
He said he appreciates the community support he has received.
“Being chief is the worst job in the fire department because you have to deal with the politicians and spend a lot of time teaching the city council and mayors and city managers about all the things you put in place, like a vehicle replacement plan,” he said.
“It’s not nearly as much fun as going out to help people in the time of the greatest need they may ever have in their lives and making a difference. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not about money, and they (city leaders) don’t get it.”
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