By Elizabeth Piazza
The Farmington Daily Times
FARMINGTON, N.M. — Farmington Fire Department Chief Troy Brown voluntarily accepted a demotion Tuesday morning after an internal affairs investigation looking into allegations of employee misconduct and cover-up found him negligent in the performance of duty.
Brown, while deputy chief, neglected to thoroughly investigate allegations that former Farmington Fire Chief Robert Martin was embezzling from the department during 2004 to 2008, according to findings.
“The sustained assertion of negligence of duty while deputy chief, creates a question in the public’s confidence to serve as the single highest official of the fire department,” City Manager Rob Mayes said in a statement.
Brown will be reassigned to one of three Fire Shift Battalion positions, a three-level demotion, and he will lose $20,000 a year in pay.
The internal affairs investigation came on the heels of the arrest of former chief Martin, who was charged with five counts of felony embezzlement, four counts of misdemeanor embezzlement and two counts of disposing of stolen property.
He is accused of using city funds to buy more than $6,500 of property for personal use.
Mayes did not defend Brown’s inaction during the alleged theft, but commended his decision to step down, saying it was made with the department’s and city’s best interest in mind.
“The easy decision would be to fire him, but I was convinced that was not the best thing for the department or city,” Mayes said.
It was clear to both Mayes and Brown that Brown could not continue as fire chief as the department undergoes a complete review of all written and unwritten existing policies and practices, personnel procedures, and external accountability and accreditation process, Mayes said.
Farmington Mayor Bill Standley called Brown’s demotion “unequivocally appropriate.”
“There was no wrongdoing on his part,” Standley said. “His judgment failed and he received a level of punishment that far exceeds what the accused might receive.”
Not everyone agreed.
“I don’t know that Chief Brown should have maintained any level of leadership at all and I am concerned about the message that gets spread,” said City Counsilor Jason Sandel.
He agrees with the resignation of Brown as chief but believes overall the investigation and response from the city sugar-coated some serious concerns.
“This situation really called for a sobering look at the operation of the fire department and some honesty about what needed to be done and where we are headed, and I didn’t get the that sense from (Mayes’s) statement,” Sandel said.
One of the findings of the internal affairs investigation determined that several other employees had knowledge or were suspicious of inappropriate activity with department property.
“Having reported these activities offers some relief to these employees from the charge of negligence because the fire department lacked a clear policy requiring employees to go above their immediate supervisor when a matter was left unresolved,” according to the internal affairs executive summary.
Merely handing information off to a supervisor isn’t enough, and employees should be required to follow through until adequate solutions are implemented, Sandel said.
“What you are willing to accept for one person is typical of the culture for the entire organization,” Sandel said.
Sandel believes the investigative team did an adequate job that highlighted problems inside the department and agrees appropriate corrective actions will result from the investigation.
The department will undergo a restructuring to address what Mayes referred to as “systemic structural problems” in the department.
A new chief will be hired from outside the agency and a new position of administrative deputy chief, also filled from outside the agency, will be created through agency restructuring, Mayes said.
The department also will pursue a national accreditation from the Center for Public Safety’s Commission of Fire Accreditation to ensure the appropriate structural and policy corrections are made within the department to prevent future misconduct and to provide accountability and credibility.
Allegations of employee demotions for some that supported an investigation of Martin were found to be unsubstantiated, according to the executive summary findings.
“In terms of an administrative investigation, we have been just as judicial in tracking down rumors and none of them have been substantiated,” Mayes said referring to rumors of cover-up and retribution.
Mayes is confident the policy, command structure and organizational changes will ensure accountability and professionalism in the department.
Officials recognize that the actions of a few tainted the reputation of other good employees and hope the actions will restore public trust and credibility to the department.
“There isn’t any reason the public shouldn’t trust our firefighters,” Standley said.
No other wrongdoing involving department employees was discovered and appropriate actions were taken, he said.
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