[Canyon] From Fire Board to Fire District Residents

[Tom Fiddaman]

From: mike conn [mailto:mco...@gmail.com]

It is with regret that the board has accepted the resignation of Chief Dan
Astrom from the Bridger Canyon Rural Fire Department. We are accepting the
resignation as of noon, May 21, 2013. Dan has served the district with
distinction for many years, but during the past year became more and more at
odds with your board until the special Board meeting on the 20th. It is
apparent that the division is now beyond any possible reconciliation.

The board agreed to mediate the issues at the May 13th meeting, and
suggested subsequently that mediations should be conducted between the Chief
and a Board member, as well as between one or two representatives selected
by the firefighters, and the same number of board members. The board will
again reiterate its position with the firefighters, and encourage them to
join us in a mediation, which we believe can easily address the issues and
resolve them. We will press for the mediation to commence at the earliest
possible time.

In the interim, Dennis Guentzel, recently elected Board member and a very
well respected firefighter with more than 14 years of service to our fire
district, and a past interim Chief has agreed to assume the position of
Chief until a qualified replacement can be found. We do appreciate Denny's
willingness to once again "step up", and believe that he will immediately
start the healing process.

You certainly want to know how your emergency service calls will be handled
since Mr. Astrom and unknown others have resigned. Bridger Canyon Fire
District has mutual aid agreements with all other departments in our area,
including Ft. Ellis, Bozeman, Central Valley, Rae/Sourdough, Gallatin
Gateway, Amsterdam and Manhattan. You may rest assured that with the
remaining members of our department, plus the very capable and fast response
from our mutual aid partners, your emergency needs will be met in a timely
and professional manner.

We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time. Please do
not hesitate to contact any of your Board members with any questions of
comments.

Very truly yours,,

Bridger Canyon Rural Fire Department, Board of Trustees

Mike Conn Chair - 586-8511 - mco...@gamil.com
Colleen Carnine Vice Chair and Secretary - 582-8630 -
colleen...@yahoo.com
Dennis Guentzel - 582-1640 - dgue...@latmt.com
David McKee - 556-0118 - dmc...@zandur.com



_______________________________________________
Canyon mailing list
Can...@bcpoa.net

To change your address, subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage preferences, visit:
http://bcpoa.net/mailman/listinfo/canyon_bcpoa.net

Note: this list is moderated for announcements only; messages will not normally be accepted. For discussion, use:
http://groups.google.com/group/bridger-canyon-forum

[mmb...@gmail.com]

I am grateful that Denny is stepping up, however I believe this means that he cannot be a voting member of the Board of Trustees.  Since he seems to be the only sane person on that Board, that could be problematic.

 

Also, Mike Conn neglects to point out that the "remaining members of the department" number 3, one of whom apparently has not made it to enough training this year to be eligible to respond to calls; and one of whom is going on vacation in June.  That leaves one person to respond to calls.  Also, regarding mutual aid, I believe we have mutual aid coverage for structure fires.  But what about the majority of the calls the department responds to, which are medical and motor vehicle accidents. I don't know for certain, but I don't think they are covered by mutual aid.