Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
ANNE LINDBERGThe division in the district deepens, with a suggestion that one board member shape up or resign.
LEALMAN - Fire commissioners snarled through a workshop Monday, with Linda Campbell ultimately suggesting that John Frank should resign from the board.
Campbell said Frank had "embarrassed" her last month when he said that Mike Brophy should step down as chairman of the Lealman Fire Commission because of an e-mail he had sent to the county without commission approval.
"I was shocked. I was appalled. I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Campbell said Monday. Later, she said Frank needed to get his act together or "you need to resign."
"You are not a team player here. You are not a team player," Campbell said.
Frank said he was offended by Campbell's comments.
"Good!" Campbell replied.
The argument was the flashpoint of a contentious meeting.
Campbell and Brophy first took on Frank and Commissioner Bill Adams when they questioned the proposed purchase of a sport utility vehicle.
Frank and Adams also questioned how Deputy Chief David Brown obtained the price of about $30,000.
Brown and Chief Rick Graham have said the SUV would replace a car driven by fire marshal Bob Christy. But after Frank and Adams repeatedly asked why Christy would need an expensive vehicle with a towing package and leather seats, the chiefs conceded that the truck would go to Brown. Christy would get the car that Brown currently drives.
Frank and Adams said the chiefs misrepresented facts, but Brophy and Campbell were not concerned. Brophy said it's Graham's prerogative to assign vehicles. And Campbell said the expensive truck is justified because of the number of calls the Lealman department runs.
Frank wondered how many times Brown, an administrative officer, goes to scenes.
If it's just one time, it's enough, Brophy said.
"So one time is worth $31,000?" Frank asked.
Campbell accused Frank of twisting things. And Brophy said, "You're taking things out of context. . . . You have to use common sense."
Adams questioned the bidding process. Brown said he had called a few dealers and gotten quotes. Some dealers didn't want to give quotes, he said.
But Adams said the proper way was to set specifications and advertise for bids. He said he had gotten two lower bids just by calling other dealerships.
"A phone call is not putting it out for bids," he said.
Campbell said bidding would take too long.
And Brown, the deputy chief, said Christy's car could blow up while waiting for bids. In that case, Brown said, his car would go to Christy. Graham would have to pick up Brown or he would have to use cabs, Brown said.
Brophy said, "This is the fourth time this has been on the agenda."
Campbell said the item needs to go on the next meeting agenda "for a vote . . . with no discussion. . . . I'm just tired of beating this dead horse."
Finally, they agreed to set specifications and ask for prices. Adams was given the job of doing so and bringing the bids back to the commission.
"What information do you want?" Adams asked.
Brophy's voice got louder: "I don't want. You want. . . . Why did this issue become so complicated?"
Adams: "Because we're talking about spending 30,000 of taxpayers' dollars."
Later, Lealman resident Julie Adams, who is no relation to the commissioner, told the panel she was "disappointed" in what she'd seen during the past few meetings.
The board has "for lack of a better word, gotten spoiled by the lack of attendance at public meetings," Ms. Adams said. She said she was not sure if the board members were worried about what their constituents think and suggested that their priorities need to change.
Campbell tried to ask her for details, but Brophy prevented it, saying interchanges with citizens were not allowed.
Campbell persisted, saying they needed to find out what Ms. Adams was talking about.
Ms. Adams said she couldn't specify because commission rules forbid taxpayers from discussing anything that is on the agenda or that has been voted on.
"It's supposed to be just a comment and go on from there," Brophy said. "If you start changing the rules in midstream, you open up a bag of worms. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't."
But Brophy has waived the rules in the past for people who have spoken favorably of his or the board's stances. Ms. Adams, he said, could write a letter explaining her complaints.
Frank later said he wanted to make sure his call for Brophy's resignation as chairman be placed on the next meeting agenda.
Brophy refused, saying he sets the agenda. If Frank or other board members want something on the agenda, the board must vote.
Frank expressed his amazement. And Campbell jumped in, saying Frank had embarrassed her last month when he first raised the issue and "attacked" Brophy.
"We had to sit here and listen to you berate the chair," she said. She criticized Frank because he "hovered over" a pile of the copies of an e-mail Brophy had sent to county Commissioner Ken Welch and copied to other county officials. The e-mail had asked for the county to give the fire district up to half the Lealman Park for a new fire station.
Frank said Brophy had sent the e-mails in violation of a decision by the group that he would pass all correspondence about the park in front of the board before sending it.
Brophy said the e-mail was sent not as a representative of the commission: "It was a personal e-mail with my opinion."
But a copy of the mail shows Brophy signed it: Michael Brophy, Commissioner, Lealman Special Fire Control District.