An effort to recall Greg Heule, Falcon Fire Protection District board member, is under way. Resident Terry Reed said the paperwork submitted to Leon Gomes, the designated election official, has been accepted. In an email to The New Falcon Herald, Reed wrote that he will need to collect 300 valid signatures to get the recall measure on the May 6 election ballot. ìMy goal is not to cause any financial impact to the district but to force the recall in conjunction with the regular election on May 6.î In a separate interview, Reed said if the petition is submitted and approved within 90 days of the regular election, by law it has to go on the ballot.The recall effort is in response to Heuleís involvement with an investigation in March and April 2013 that targeted Trent Harwig, fire chief; Jeff Petersma, battalion chief; and Cory Galicia, battalion chief. The three were put on paid leave April 24. Mountain States Employers Council led the investigation, which cost the district $106,898.05, said Dick Stuart, former FFPD member. The investigation was completed in June, and on June 19 the board directors unanimously voted to reinstate Harwig and Petersma to their positions, with no disciplinary actions taken against them, according to the August 2013 issue of The New Falcon Herald.Galicia was demoted and decided to leave the FFPD, citing a $13,600 pay decrease, according to the article.Stuart said he supports the recall because there is evidence that Heule initiated the investigation on his own. ìBefore the April 24 meeting, thereís a bunch of email chatter between Mountain States Employers Council and Heule,î Stuart said. The emails, which are now in the hands of Stuart, indicate that Heule was seeking out Mountain Statesí services before the board direction to do so.Dated April 9, emails indicate communication between Mountain States and Heule. In the first one, Mountain States thanks Heule for contacting them; the second, time-stamped less than 15 minutes later, show Mountain States rates, report templates and a request for documentation. The third email is a thank you to Heule for utilizing Mountain States.ìIím not familiar with those emails,î Heule said. ìThereís no way they (Mountain States) would be willing to go ahead and initiate an investigation without the confirmation from the full board. I contacted them (Mountain States) on the advice from someone else who had used them for something like this. It was an information-gathering contact to see if it was something they could do and were willing to do for us. It would be impossible for me to do that (initiate an investigation unilaterally). If they accepted my single word without authorization from the board, they wouldnít be in business, and I did not do that.îStuart said there are other emails indicating that Heule had gathered all the pertinent information for Mountain States less than 24 hours after the decision was made to put the chiefs on leave. An email dated April 25 at 3:54 p.m. is from Mountain States to Heule and is a letter of understanding about the use of their services. The second, less than 10 minutes later, is from Heule to Mountain States and states that the information for the investigation is on its way to them.ìThere was not a lot of work done to gather information,î Heule said. ìI was presented with an anonymous package of information. Thatís the information that I presented to the board and then that was the information sent to Mountain States.î Heule said he could not speak to the package of information because itís personnel related. Stuart also said a list of people who agreed to interviews with Mountain States was compiled and circulated. The list included the names of 20 people that ìwillî interview and eight people that ìwonítî interview, Stuart said. At least one person hadnít been contacted about an interview, he said.Thirty-six people were interviewed, Stuart said.ìPeople heard about Mountain States interviewing people for the investigation and wanted to know why everyone (from the FFPD) wasnít being interviewed,î Reed said.In another email provided to the NFH, Mountain States investigator David Vogel writes to former FFPD member Glenn Levy: ìMy understanding is that Greg Heule has already contacted everyone and then prepared the list of people (who) are and are not willing to participate.îStuart said his goal in gathering the information is to force Heule to resign. Based on Heule allegedly initiating the investigation on his own, Stuart said, ìThis is starting to look like somebody wants to make sure the investigation substantiated the allegations (in the information anonymously given to Heule).î Since Heule has not resigned, Stuart said he feels the recall is the only option.ìI donít feel they have any ground for what theyíre trying to do,î Heule said. ìThe investigation would not have been initiated had there not been good cause to begin it. We wanted to find out if the allegations were valid or not and had an independent third party investigate them. We wanted to get an unvarnished report back.ìIím very disappointed that theyíve (Reed and Stuart) decided to drag this out and make this their mission in life, and itís not good for our organization and not in the best interest of the fire department.î
