Boyceville fire chief resigns, interim chief appointed
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — Following the resignation of Boyceville Fire Chief Cory Green, the Boyceville Community Fire District Board has appointed Matt Lunderville as interim fire chief.
Green’s resignation was effective as of December 31, 2022.
The fire board accepted Green’s resignation at the regular December 14 meeting and appointed Lunderville as interim chief at a special meeting January 4.
The fire board is anticipating making Lunderville’s appointment permanent at the March meeting.
The Tribune Press Reporter was unaware of the two special meetings, did receive notification of the regular meeting in December, and did not have a reporter there to cover any of the three meetings.
According to Peter Score, chair of the Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board, several EMTs had filed complaints about Green.
The Tribune Press Reporter made an open records request for the complaints and for Green’s letter of resignation.
Karen Adams, clerk-treasurer for the Boyceville fire district, said she had not been given copies of the complaints or Green’s letter of resignation, so she did not have them available to fill the newspaper’s request.
Adams suggested the Tribune Press Reporter contact Chuck Siler, representative for the Town of Tiffany and chair of the Boyceville fire board, or Lukas Montgomery, Boyceville village president and representative on the fire board for the village.
In a telephone conversation with the Tribune Press Reporter, Montgomery said he did not feel comfortable with providing the copies requested because he is not the chair of the fire board and is not the official record keeper for the fire district.
According to Wisconsin Statute 19.35(1)(a) regarding the legal custodian of records — An elective official is the legal custodian of his or her records and the records of his or her office, but the official may designate an employee of his or her staff to act as the legal custodian.
The custodian of the records is the person who must fill open records requests.
Montgomery said the nature of the complaints was included in the minutes for the fire board’s November 2, 2022, meeting.
When Siler was asked about the records requested, he replied in an e-mail message that he had saved the complaints on his computer, but that when he checked for them to fill the request, they had disappeared.
Complaints
The Boyceville Community Fire District Board held a special meeting in closed session at 7 p.m. November 2, 2022, specifically to discuss citizen complaints against fire district personnel.
According to the minutes from the November 2 meeting, at approximately 7:45 p.m., Matt Shepard, representative for the Town of Tiffany, appeared outside of the meeting room and requested that Chief Green and another person of the chief’s choosing appear before the board. Chief Green and Matt Lunderville were ushered into the closed session. Some time later, Chief Green and Matt Lunderville exited the meeting room.
At 8:37 p.m., Montgomery moved and Lisa Pederson, representative for the Town of New Haven, seconded to reconvene into open session, and the motion carried.
The minutes go on to say, that after waiting 90 minutes, the audience reassembled in the meeting room. Siler stated that Chief Green was given a set of sample policies, and it was suggested that the firefighters create a Code of Conduct Policy, a Complaint Procedure Policy, and a Disciplinary Policy for the fire district using the sample policies. Once created, the documents would be reviewed by a lawyer.
Pederson stated that the implementation of these policies would protect all volunteers.
An inquiry was made by one of the volunteer firefighters as to the nature of the citizen complaints. The chair responded that fire district personnel were reported to have made inappropriate gestures toward ambulance personnel.
Pederson stated that these complaints could not be substantiated, according to the minutes.
Chief Green then addressed the fire district board and read a prepared statement resigning his position as fire chief effective December 31 2022, and discussion followed.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 9 p.m.
December meeting
During a roll call vote at the December 14 meeting, the member municipalities present — the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Sherman, Stanton and Tiffany and the Village of Boyceville — voted to accept Green’s resignation, according to the minutes from the meeting.
The Village of Wheeler, which is a member of the fire district, was absent from the meeting, and in fact, has not sent a representative to the fire board meetings for about the last 10 years.
According to the minutes from the meeting, the member municipalities thanked Green for his service.
Fire board members suggested that the firefighters meet and discuss, who, from among their number, would make an acceptable replacement for the fire chief position.
The recommendation from the firefighters would then be brought back to the fire board at a special meeting in January, the minutes state.
January meeting
According to the minutes of the January 4, 2023, special meeting of the Boyceville fire board, Siler opened a sealed envelope containing the results of the December 19 meeting of the Boyceville firefighters concerning who should be the next fire chief.
The tally showed that Matt Lunderville had received 16 votes, and Tim Fasbender had received two votes.
Siler stated that in his opinion, the fire board would be wise to follow the recommendation of the firefighters, according to the minutes.
Montgomery asked if Lunderville would be willing to accept the position and whether he would be interested in the position short-term or long-term.
Lunderville said that before he accepted the position, he wanted to know who, among the fire board members, were in favor of combining EMS and fire under one chief because there were many rumors circulating.
The Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Sherman and Stanton affirmed their opinion that the two entities should remain separate, the minutes state.
A motion to appoint Lunderville as the interim chief and to make the position permanent at the next regularly scheduled fire board meeting carried on a voice vote.
The next meeting of the Boyceville Community Fire District Board is scheduled for March 8 at 7 p.m. at the Boyceville fire hall.
