There’s a fire going on in the Village of Chase, but it’s a blaze of complaints and accusations, rather than actual flames.
Joni Heinrich, chief administrative officer for the Village of Chase is hoping mediation will improve relations between the village and the Chase Fire Department. Several members of the fire department initiated a complaint with WorkSafeBC, accusing Mayor Rick Berrigan of bullying and harassment.
WorkSafeBC responded by sending an inspector to the village office on May 25.
“As detailed in the inspection report, a prevention officer visited the Village of Chase to determine if the employer had the required policy statement in place to deal with incidents and complaints of bullying and harassment, and to ensure that workers and supervisors are trained to understand and follow established procedures,” confirmed WorkSafeBC in a June 22 email. “The WorkSafeBC officer found the employer to be in compliance.”
In a June 19 press release, the village maintains that while complaints were first made public by the fire department, they were not initially conveyed to council.
As well, the village’s press release advises that no investigation by WorkSafeBC has taken place and that once the issues were made public, the village got agreement from members of the fire department to take the matter to internal mediation and engaged the services of a mediator.
Fire chief Brian Lauzon confirmed a meeting with Heinrich regarding mediation was arranged for late this week. He said he has been asked not to comment on the issues between the department and the village.
“Hopefully we get a positive result and solve our issues, and they can do their stuff and we can do our stuff,” he said, “It’s about interference and other underlying issues.”
Volunteer firefighter Cavelle Layes, says the fire department’s main complaint is an ongoing issue with the mayor, who was once the Chase fire chief.
“We feel he is taking a personal grudge and using his position as mayor to take out the grudge,” she said Monday, noting the number of volunteer firefighters has gone from six last year to 19 – something the fire chief attributes to hard work by members going into the community and advertising to get the word out.
“We’re trying to do something really good for the community and we want to do more than provide fire protection. We want to be out there to support the community that has been supporting us, but we’re hitting walls.”
Layes says Chase firefighters cover the second largest road rescue area in the province but can only provide two people at a time to cover either of two 12-hour shifts.
“We’d prefer to have four,” she says, noting that while membership has increased and all but the two newest recruits are trained for road rescue, volunteers have other commitments, which means filling the shifts difficult.That is why firefighters continue to recruit new members.
Layes says that while they have been able to meet with Village of Chase staff, requests for meetings with the mayor have been denied.
“We have tried to send information to the council through Joni and we have tried to keep it away from the public,” Layes says. “We wanted to address it with Rick, but it’s not going anywhere.”
Heinrich, meanwhile says one of the issues is budget cuts to the department, but notes every department had its budget reduced. Another issue addressed in the village’s press release is a denial of training funds.
“Council has never flatly denied additional training funds for the fire department,” reads the release. It notes the fire department can “make a case” to council. “And with reasonable rationale, the request will be considered on the basis of its merits.”
