Members of the Austin Fire Department told the City Council Monday night they’d "had enough" and announced a vote of "no confidence" in the abilities of Dan Wilson as fire chief.

Tuesday, November 21, 2000

Members of the Austin Fire Department told the City Council Monday night they’d "had enough" and announced a vote of "no confidence" in the abilities of Dan Wilson as fire chief. Two statements, one from the full-time firefighters and one from the part-time members, were read during the citizens forum portion of the council meeting. Council members listened with impassive faces.

Reading from a prepared statement, Austin Fire Fighters Association Local 598 President Jim Mattice spoke of the firefighters’ work to make the transition to a combination full-time and part-time department a positive one over the past seven years, and of the roadblocks along the way that led to Monday night’s statement.

"Working in an extremely hostile work place, the lack of communications, direction and positive leadership have brought us here tonight, to the point where we have had enough," he said in closing. "We the members of Local 598 have voted unanimously "no confidence" in the abilities of Dan Wilson as the chief of the Austin Fire Department. We hope the City Council and the citizens of Austin will understand the gravity of our concerns."

Terry Hughes spoke for the part-time firefighters during the meeting, and cited the part-timers’ concern that the lack of leadership and the hostile work environment at the department directly affects their morale and safety.

Fire Chief Dan Wilson’s usual seat at the front of the Council Chambers was vacant for Monday’s meeting. Wilson declined to comment on the situation this morning.

Both council members-elect Wayne Goodnature and Pete Christopherson were in the audience at the council meeting. While Christopherson, a part-time firefighter himself, knew about the firefighters’ vote beforehand, Goodnature was caught by surprise.

"I’m stunned that it’s gone this far," the former Mower County sheriff-turned-businessman said.

Council members voted 4-3 to put the issue in the hands of the council’s fire committee as of the new year, when the new council members come onto the council. Dick Lang also included in his motion that the recommendation of the fire committee then go to the finance-personnel committee before coming to the full council. His motion was seconded by Jeanne Poppe, and passed with the votes of Dick Chaffee and Gloria Nordin. Roger Boughton, Mickey Jorgenson and Neil Fedson all voted against the motion.

Outside the council chambers after the citizens forum, Hughes said the goal of the vote of no-confidence wasn’t to get Wilson fired, only to make the council and the citizens of Austin aware of the problem – and to ensure that council members could no longer stick their head in the sand and do nothing about the conflicts within the Austin Fire Department.

"I hope that tonight’s statements will bring the council’s attention to the environment at the station and maybe change the attitude of the chief," Hughes said. "I don’t believe it has to go as far as finding a new chief; I think Dan could still turn it around. … He can be part of the solution."

Hughes said the vote by the part-timers was 17 in favor, one abstaining and 10 no-shows for the meeting.

While Hughes said it wasn’t Wilson’s technical skills that were a problem, rather his people skills, John Wallace, vice president of the Minnesota Professional Firefighters Union, did call Wilson’s abilities as chief into question in an interview after the meeting.

"I question a lot of his decision-making process in dealing with the safety of citizens and his firefighters," Wallace said. The union representative cited Wilson’s "temper and his overreacting to situations," adding that those two traits had fostered fears in the staff that the chief would "come after them" if they make a mistake.

"Intimidation alone will affect the judgment of people over time," Wallace said.

When asked whether the recent furor over staffing levels at the department were a reason for the vote of no-confidence, both Wallace and Mattice said that was part of the background leading up to the vote, but by no means a primary reason.

"The harassment has to stop," Wallace said, after telling reporters that he had a "drawer full" of paper work relating to personnel problems within the Austin Fire Department, including at least a dozen grievances, two of them still under negotiation.

"I’ve been working with these gentlemen for years and the same issues, the same problems, the same grievances keep coming up and keep being ignored by the city administration."

Mattice said he thought the vote represented the first time in the history of organized labor at the Austin Fire Department that firefighters have taken a vote of "no confidence" in a chief.

"It’s a sad day in the Fire Department that we’ve had to do this," Mattice said. "It’s not like we’re talking about a bad day – it’s been a long process. You can’t imagine what it’s taken for us to get up and say this needs to be worked out. Now it’s up to the City Council to decide what to do."