The Peyton Fire Protection District’s board met Feb. 25 and decided to eliminate its $42,000-a-year paid fire chief position and reinstate it as a volunteer position.The decision is the latest in a series of events that have unfolded since the first of the year involving Jack Rauer, the district’s first paid fire chief.In January, the board placed Rauer on paid administrative leave for two weeks while the board investigated volunteer firefighters’ grievances that some of Rauer’s actions had jeopardized their safety.Their complaints against Rauer include driving district vehicles up to 100 mph with firefighters on board, leaving patients in the care of volunteers who were not trained emergency medical technicians and ordering firefighters to drive over hoses – something that could cause the hoses to burst and lose pressure during a structure fire.Former assistant fire chief Mike Deckard said he went to the board president months ago with concerns about some of the things Rauer had done, but nothing came of it.Deckard and 11 other volunteer firefighters resigned Feb. 8 when the board reinstated Rauer without explaining why. At the time, the board issued a press release stating that “Chief Rauer was returned to duty with the complete confidence of the board.”In an e-mail, Rauer said the complaints against him were “fabricated, misleading or exaggerated … the (former) assistant chief … is out for my job.””I do not want the job of fire chief of the Peyton Fire Protection District. I already have a job and a good one at that,” Deckard said.”After the firefighters came to me and expressed their concerns, I had an obligation to take it to the board.”Firefighters are trained to consider their personal safety first, the safety of their fellow firefighters, the safety of the public and then the safety of property, he said.At its Feb. 25 meeting, Peyton fire district board members were questioned about how they investigated the firefighters’ complaints.Their answers did not satisfy Peyton resident Lynn Van Sickler, who has been organizing community opposition to the board.Other than saying they talked to staff at Memorial Hospital about patient abandonment, they have not addressed any of the other issues, Van Sickler said. Leon Gomes, board president, offered to meet with the firefighters who resigned and discuss the board’s investigation of their complaints.The board also established the policy by which firefighters who resigned can be reinstated.They have one week after meeting with the board to decide if they want to rejoin the department without going through a probationary period. Whether they will be reinstated at any previously held rank was not decided.When people attending the meeting said one week was not enough time to decide, board member William Beary said, “If there’s a question whether or not they want to come back, I question where their commitment is.”Van Sickler said the 12 volunteers resigned because the board was negligent.”The taxpayers no longer trust the board to act on their behalf. Our community group continues to work toward a possible board recall,” she said.According to the district’s Web site, the terms of three board members – Gomes, Jim Fraas and Pat Palacol – end in May. The terms of two other board members – Beary and David Stoddard – end in May 2014.Van Sickler said it costs $255 to file a recall petition, and a petition will have to be filed for each board member the community wants to recall. The signatures of 335 Peyton residents will be required to recall an individual board member, she said.At least two board members, Fraas and Palacol, favor the idea of creating a paid administrative position to handle paper work.When a chief spends 90 percent of the time doing paper work, there’s not enough time to handle calls and staff, Palacol said.”We don’t support a paid administrator position,” Van Sickler said. “Our district doesn’t have sufficient funding for that.”The next board meeting is March 8.
