By Tom Bell
Portland Press Herald (Maine)
WESTBROOK, Maine — Westbrook’s new fire chief says he wants to create a better work environment within the department, where complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination have led to discipline against several firefighters and their supervisors.
“One thing we are looking to do is to have members focus on their jobs and what they can do for the city, and that would help bring them together as a team,” said Daniel Brock, who started work on Tuesday.
On Monday, the City Council unanimously confirmed Mayor Bruce Chuluda’s selection of Brock to run the fire department. Brock replaces Gary Littlefield, who was put on leave in October, a month before his retirement.
Littlefield left while the city was investigating complaints made by two female firefighters that the department was a hostile workplace for women.
As a result of the investigation, Westbrook officials disciplined seven firefighters last month for inappropriate actions and language in the workplace, or for failure to properly deal with complaints that contributed to a hostile work environment, according to letters that Chuluda sent to the firefighters.
Deputy Chief Thaddeus Soltys was suspended without pay for two weeks; Donald Trafford was demoted from lieutenant to firefighter and suspended without pay for one week; firefighter Matt Lamontagne was suspended without pay for 60 days; and Capt. Peter Mullin received a letter of reprimand.
Part-time firefighters Meagan Breau, James Harbaugh and Ron Giroux were suspended without pay for two weeks.
The two female firefighters who made the complaints, Kathy Rogers and Lisa Theberge, have been on paid administrative leave, at their request, since September.
Rogers, one of the city’s three full-time female firefighters, prevailed in cases before the Maine Human Rights Commission and agreed to settlements with the city in 1994 and again in 2003. The 2003 settlement was for $76,000 plus attorney’s fees.
The latter case alleged a hostile workplace in which other firefighters called Rogers lewd names.
One of the complaints was an allegation that a firefighter was selling pornography from the fire station in 2001. That firefighter is no longer with the department.
Last summer, the city revised its policy to expressly forbid viewing pornography at work and posted the policy at the fire station.
Howard Reben, an attorney for Teamsters Local 340, which represents three of the disciplined firefighters, said that the current charges against the firefighters are confidential until the cases are closed.
“From the union’s perspective, until there is a full hearing on the merits of the case, no one should draw any conclusions,” he said. “That isn’t fair.”
The union filed a grievance on Dec. 31 to protest Trafford’s demotion. Reben said the city failed to give Trafford a clear statement of charges against him. In addition, he said that the punishment is too harsh and that the union is considering suing the city to challenge the severity of the discipline.
Neither of the two other union members, Lamontagne and Mullin, has filed a grievance.
As for the department’s new chief, Chuluda said Brock has the leadership skills and technical knowledge to take charge.
“We need a chief to come and be the leader of this group of men and women,” Chuluda said. “He can come in and get everybody on the right track and refocus and move past the issues.”
Brock left the Kennebunkport Fire Department last February, after his three-year contract expired. He had served previously as the fire chief in Cohasset and Wrentham, Mass.
Brock left the Kennebunkport department because his successful effort to unite the town’s fire districts created hard feelings and cost him political support among some of the “old-timers” in the community, said Westbrook Police Chief William Baker, who was on the panel that interviewed the finalists for the Westbrook fire chief’s job.
Baker, who filled in as Westbrook’s acting fire chief, said the two town managers who had supervised Brock praised him.
“He’s a consummate professional and a very good fire chief,” Baker said.
Brock began his career as a firefighter in Southborough, Mass., his hometown. There, he rose to the rank of captain before accepting the chief’s job in Cohasset. He also was an instructor at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy.
Brock earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and he has an associate’s degree in fire science from Quinsigamond Community College.
Brock, who lives in Kennebunkport, said he plans to move to Westbrook. His new job comes with an annual salary of $73,931. He declined to give his age.
The Westbrook Fire Department has 33 full-time firefighters/paramedics, 20 part-time firefighters and 30 volunteers.
It has many talented people, Baker said. The question of whether it can be turned around is up to the men and women who work there, he said.
“In my opinion, the test is not what the new fire chief can do. It is what the people in the department want to do to heal themselves,” he said. “They need to come through for him, not the other way around.”
Rebecca Webber, the attorney for the two female firefighters, said she hopes Brock can improve working conditions in the department and make it possible for women to work as firefighters in a “safe and respectful environment free of gender bias.”
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