Peyton eliminates fire chief's paycheck, woos ex-volunteers
After the apparent ouster of its embattled fire chief, the Peyton Fire Protection District’s Board of Directors wants to lure back volunteers who resigned in protest in early February.
Twelve firefighters walked off the job after complaining about their boss, Peyton Fire Chief Jack Rauer.
“For those firefighters, this departure is a welcome event,” said Leon Gomes, president of the district’s board.
Rauer did not immediately return a phone message left Saturday afternoon.
Gomes said the board voted 4-1 Friday night to eliminate the paid, full-time chief position and instead rely on a volunteer.
The action to dissolve the $42,000-a-year position will take effect June 1, or upon Rauer’s departure, should he resign earlier.
Peyton had a volunteer chief as recently as two years ago, when it decided to offer a salary and hired Rauer to fill the job.
Gomes denied that Friday night’s decision was punitive, but acknowledged that Rauer was placed on a “performance improvement plan” to improve his leadership after the board found merit in some of the firefighter’s complaints.
Other complaints, including concerns over patients being abandoned, were found to be without basis by an independent probe.
Gomes called the board’s vote a “strategic, financial decision.”
“The other action that we took was to schedule a meeting with the firefighters who resigned on or after Feb. 8, and the current firefighters, to talk about the future of the fire protection district and their place in it,” Gomes said.
Any volunteers who wish to return will be welcomed back, he said.
Joseph Cosgrove, one of the firefighters who resigned, said he will listen to the board’s pitch at the upcoming meeting.
But as far as he’s concerned, he said, the removal of Rauer resolves the concerns that caused him and others to leave the department.
Cosgrove said he was there on a day that Rauer ordered firefighters to drive over their hoses, a safety hazard, and that others had complained that Rauer had driven too fast on the way to emergencies.
“I want to serve my community — we all do,” he said. “We just weren’t willing to go to work and put our lives in danger because of the safety concerns we had.”
Rauer previously declined to comment on the allegations.
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