The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Scio management removes fire official from his command
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 17, 2008
Multiple sources within Scio Township government last week revealed that Scio Township Fire Lt. Tim Andrews has either been terminated or suspended pending the resolution of a union grievance.
Advertisement
In any case, he is not currently active within the department.
Andrews, who was one of three full-time shift commanders, has been extremely vocal in criticizing fire department management policies since July of last year.
Township officials say that the decision to remove him from his post was related to "a job qualification discrepancy."
The issue came to a head publicly during the April 8 township board meeting, on the heels of a Scio Township Public Safety Study Committee's special meeting
The committee recommended steps needed to address the lack of public safety coverage in the township.
Scio Fire Lt. Doug Armstrong commented on Andrews' dismissal during the regular meeting.
"It's a sad time for the fire department that we've incurred another tremendous loss in our department," he said.
When Armstrong began referencing Andrews in his next sentence, Township Supervisor Charles Nielsen interrupted him with a warning.
"Don't go there," Nielsen said. 'I think you're going to go there."
Armstrong responded, "I'm not going to go there," then continued his statement on Andrews.
"He has made contributions to the department - Tim has worked tirelessly to represent the department at meetings, (and he has) volunteered countless hours that have been unpaid."
Andrews had previously worked for Huron Valley Ambulance before coming to Scio's fire department eight years ago.
A history of dissent
This is not the first high-level casualty within the department, and not the first to be muddled by township officials.
Former Assistant Fire Chief John Zahn tendered his resignation in late August, initially citing his intention to retire, but later indicating that management issues within the department also played a role.
Zahn was a veteran of three decades with the Ann Arbor Fire Department. He was also a charter member of the Scio fire department.
At the time, Andrews referred to the loss of Zahn as the "last shred of professionalism in the department."
Zahn had been honored as Firefighter of the Year 2006, at which time Fire Chief Carl Ferch said he "wanted him to come back here," regarding Zahn's earlier retirement move.
At the time, Andrews and Ferch were on the same page regarding Zahn, but after a summer of bitter public debate of issues in the department alleged by not only Andrews and Armstrong, but also Assistant Fire Marshall Jack Germain and other staff members.
Zahn had also spoken out at a public meeting a month before he left Scio.
According to Zahn, Ferch skipped a scheduled meeting with him prior to Zahn finishing out the month and heading into retirement.
The public outcry over the department's issues, which Andrews and others alleged went beyond mere funding deficiencies, began last July at a special meeting.
At the time Andrews said he was "ready to resign" if the situation was not remedied.
Andrews said he had worked through the department's chain of command until the public airing of complaints regarding the fire operation's management.
According to Andrews and other fire officials who spoke at the July meeting, Ferch had poor attendance at meetings and training, poor communication skills and was slow or negligent in implementation of standard procedures.
"This did not start out as an inquisition," Andrews said at the time. But he said that the safety factor of how the department was operating was putting lives in danger.
"This may be my full-time job, but I have no intentions of dying for this township, and that's what I expect to happen over the next couple of years," Andrews was quoted.
Ferch did not appear before the council to respond to the comments of his staff until he had sought legal counsel the following month, and then appeared only in closed session.
Andrews has continued to talk about how he has had to routinely respond to calls alone or, at best, inadequately supported by fellow firefighters.
The Public Safety Study Committee recommended that the department activate Automatic Mutual Aid, and the Scio Township Board of Trustees passed a resolution to require that Ferch activate it, which has since allowed the Dexter Area Fire Authority and other neighboring departments to respond to calls.
Committee members called the decision to remain out of AMA "silly," citing Ferch's explanation that having other departments' fire trucks coming into Scio would be a public safety hazard.
Last year the Scio department was left out of calls to major fire incidents in Lima Township and elsewhere, although other area fire chiefs would not confirm the reason.
As recently as last week the study committee discussed the concept of regionalization, but indicated that response from other area public safety organizations was that the township needed to get its public safety operations in order before anyone would consider any sort of partnership.
Andrews had also been given the task of inspecting area businesses to inventory hazardous materials.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration had previously fined the department, but did not send in abatements and are facing the reinstatement of $13,000 in fines.
Andrews was given the duty to be completed last month, according to Ferch. But Andrews said that the duty was "dropped in (his) lap" in late December.
"I was assigned this in December to conduct potentially almost 100 inspections," Andrews said in February.
Andrews was quiet in the hallway outside the township board's chambers last Tuesday after the regular meeting, only acknowledging the matter of his employment situation non-verbally and referring to the matter as "embarrassing."
While Andrews had begun a series of public outcries over the department's alleged management woes, he has also been a positive public speaker on the department's behalf in the past, particularly when a co-worker or the department as a whole won an award or earned a grant.
It wasn't until last summer that his praise-singing had turned to whistle-blowing.
"His intentions have always been to position the fire department for the best quality to township residents," Armstrong said last week before the board.
"Filling his position with a firefighter will not be difficult, but replacing his experience and knowledge that he vested in the department will be impossible."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
