New Orland Fire Protection District Board Divided on Hiring, Firing Employees

Orland Fire Protection District officials began a “new era” Thursday morning in contentious fashion, differing over the hiring, firing and suspending of a number of current and would-be district employees.

At the helm, Board President James Hickey began the first of two successive meetings by replacing the fire district’s current law firm, Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, with Del Gado Law Group and James Roche & Associates on an interim basis. Del Gado and Roche will provide general counsel to the board of trustees and board of fire commissioners, respectively, until the district goes out to bid for services.

The motion was approved 3-2 with the support of trustees Hickey, Blair Rhode and Christopher Evoy, and with opposition from trustees Martin McGill and Glenn Michalek. Just about every vote of the morning would follow that pattern, with McGill arguing he had “no prior knowledge of the motion."

During the second meeting, Rhode and Evoy made the following propositions to: 

• repeal district policy that says firefighters cannot serve on other district boards;
• move board meetings to the third and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 5 p.m.;
• promote Battalion Chief Ray Kay to interim deputy chief;
• appoint Martin McGuire to fill open seat on board of commissioners next month;
• fire Tom Dubelbeis as community relations consultant;
• hire former Chief Bob Buhs as a consultant;
• hire former board member Cynthia Katsenes as a consultant;
• fire Figel Public Relations;
• hire Urban Strategies Group, led by Ray Hanania, on an interim basis to handle public information;
• suspend until Rhode and Evoy can get caught up;
• table all non-essential expenditures until Rhode and Evoy can get caught up.

Each motion was endorsed and will go before the board of trustees next week for final approval. McGill and Michalek voted “present” on the interim promotion of Kay.

“Bottom line, we're the good guys,” Rhode said after the meeting, “and we're gonna do what the taxpayers want. They want the district cleaned up—no more patronage.”

Rhode said his motion to fire Bill Figel and his company was due to a comment Figel made in a local newspaper shortly after the election about the intelligence of voters. Figel said he preferred not to address it.

Hickey said he recently asked for the resignations of the district’s three fire commissioners—who help handle hiring, promotional testing and discipline of employees—because they're too closely connected to the local union and the firefighters they’re supposed to be watching. He likened it to giving a senior at Sandburg High School control over disciplinary rules and sports teams.

“If you’re not on the in-list," Hickey said, "you could be the top person and you’re not gonna get the job. I just think it’s unfair.”

Commissioners Thomas Lia and Mary Beth Casper reportedly have declined to step down. So has Commissioner Thomas Hayes, though his term ends June 1. His replacement, Martin McGuire, has no connection to the fire district and has worked for the township, Hickey said.

Hickey approved the hiring of 11 new firefighters last month, but also approved the suspension of those hires to give Rhode and Evoy time to look into the matter.

During a discussion of the treasurer’s report, Rhode prodded fire district staff for more information regarding the fire district’s monthly health insurance, wireless phones, medical and public relations costs.

“It's time someone sits there and asks those questions,” Rhode explained, though he also conceded that he “doesn’t know a lot about running a fire district” and has a lot to learn before he can make appropriate decisions. Evoy seconded the sentiment.

Yet McGill said he hadn’t seen any applications for the motions Hickey, Rhode and Evoy endorsed and questioned whether they had violated state law by talking policy in private. It's illegal for more than two trustees to discuss policy away from the board.

“I’ve never had a meeting with any given two trustees at a time,” Hickey said, noting that he had brought up these issues and more with up Rhode and Evoy separately before Thursday. “I’m trying to take district in a new direction … I’m trying to get away from the old politics and hopefully they want to save taxpayers money. That’s what I’m here to do and that’s my plan.”

Hickey said the new law firms could save the district more than $10,000 a year, if only on an interim basis. Employing Urban Strategies will save another $12,000, and Buhs has agreed to volunteer his time, he noted.

The old board, of which Hickey was a member, “did the best they could,” he added. “I thank them for their service, it’s just that my thinking is on a little different scale. I’d just like to go in a different direction.”

McGill saw the morning differently, believing that he and Michalek have been "left out of the loop" and dubbing it “politics at its best.”

Updated at 3:45 p.m. to show that a motion was made to move board meetings to the third and fourth Tuesdays of each month and add Katsenes' name.