Fire chief resigns in Glenburn after tiff with councilor Personnel issues factor in departure

GLENBURN – At odds with the chairman of the Town Council, Glenburn’s fire chief has resigned, although the issues that led to his resignation likely will linger.

Chief Mike Dickey confirmed that he resigned last week. He told a Sunday night gathering of officers and firefighters in the volunteer department that he and Town Council Chairman Kevin Paschal had had disagreements.

“What I did was for the best of the Fire Department,” Dickey told the meeting of 21 department personnel – a meeting that was closed to Paschal when he showed up partway through.

Dickey said he did not want to become a lightning rod, but that in recent weeks the two have squared off on policy matters, questions about public access and privacy, as well as personnel issues, including Dickey’s decision to demote two officers in the department.

Paschal acknowledged in an interview, “There is an inherent problem between former Chief Dickey and me.”

Dickey has worked for the department for 16 years. He said he plans to remain with the Fire Department and continue to press his concerns.

Dickey said the differences came to a head when the two met Sept. 3 in what both agreed was a heated discussion in which civility may have fallen by the wayside, with Dickey claiming Paschal threatened to bring in the police if the Fire Department restricted his access, while Paschal said Dickey became “verbally aggressive.”

A councilman for three years and a former Glenburn firefighter, Paschal has wanted assurances from Dickey that there will be room for the volunteer G&H Ambulance service in the department as well as public access to the Glenburn fire station and Fire Department meetings, except those precluded by law such as executive sessions or staff meetings where personnel matters are discussed.

He said that it wasn’t clear whether Sunday’s meeting should have been considered closed-door, particularly since a Bangor Daily News reporter had been allowed in and Paschal had been asked politely to leave.

“I believe this is a closed-door meeting for us to get our stuff straightened out and then a report will be given back,” an officer told Paschal, who arrived and stood at the door.

“I will honor that request,” Paschal responded, although early last week he had told Dickey that the sheriff’s department might have to become involved if he were prevented from attending a public meeting.

Use of a bunkroom at the fire station has been a contentious issue as well. For about six months the sleeping quarters has been restricted to one person at a time, regardless of gender, by decision of the town attorney and town manager. But Dickey said a Bangor couple who work for G&H Ambulance slept in the bunkroom during their overnight shifts.

Paschal said the couple haven’t slept there jointly, but switch off, with one sleeping in a motor vehicle in the parking lot while the other sleeps in the bunkroom. This allows a quicker response time as the two would not have to travel to the station from Bangor when there is an emergency, he said.

After Dickey disciplined two officers, removing their rank, Paschal bypassed normal procedures and listed the issue along with the bunkroom matter on a Glenburn Town Council agenda last week, the former chief said.

Paschal responded that while as chairman he can place items on the council agenda, it was to other council members that a disgruntled former officer had turned and that he incorporated that matter onto the agenda. As for bypassing Dickey, Paschal said, he has tried to bring matters to his attention but that it’s like “talking to a brick wall.”

Despite the men’s differences, one thing they agreed on is the need for the Fire Department to move on and prosper. Support for Dickey at Sunday’s meeting was obvious, including some who sought to nominate him to the committee overseeing the search for a new fire chief. But many at the meeting also recognized that cooperation is what is needed.

Acting Fire Chief Kevin Chase was urging restraint.

“I know that there’s a lot in the air,” Chase said. “It’s easy to start spouting off. But we still have to work with” the council, Chase said.