Boyceville fire district administrator: “I’d hate to see this going south again.”
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — Although it seemed as if the Boyceville Community Fire District Board was making progress on calming down tensions in the fire department — but now maybe not.
The Boyceville fire board appointed Lee Kegan, representative for the Town of Tiffany, as chair of the fire board at the February 18 meeting.
Kegan was appointed as chair following the resignation of Karl Hackbarth, representative for the Town of Stanton.
Hackbarth was appointed by the fire board as chair at a special meeting October 17, 2024, following Steve Nielsen, who had served as the vice-chair but said he did not want the position of chair because the additional stress was beginning to affect his health.
Nielsen, as the vice-chair of the fire board, had chaired the meetings after Matt Shepard, representative for the Town of Tiffany, resigned as chair in September of 2024.
Shepard noted at the time he resigned that two Boyceville fire chiefs had resigned in the last two years and that there may be internal problems at work within the fire department.
Former Boyceville fire chief Cory Green resigned effective as of December 31, 2022.
The fire board accepted Green’s resignation at the regular December 14, 2022, meeting and appointed Matt Lunderville as interim chief at a special meeting January 4, 2023.
The fire board made Lunderville’s appointment permanent at the March of 2023 meeting.
Lunderville resigned as fire chief effective December 1, 2024.
Josh Pittman was appointed as interim fire chief in December of 2024 and was subsequently appointed by the Boyceville fire board as chief January 7 of this year.
Letters and complaints
The Tribune Press Reporter had attempted to obtain copies of Green’s resignation letter and complaints that were filed with the Boyceville fire district regarding fire department personnel.
Apparently there was a computer glitch, and former fire board chair Chuck Siler said he had lost the files stored on his computer and could not fill the open records request.
Green’s resignation letter has never been received by the Tribune Press Reporter, but last fall, on October 4, 2024, the Tribune received an envelope in the mail postmarked St. Paul two days earlier with no return address and the delivery address cut out of a typed sheet of paper and taped onto the envelope.
The envelope contained two letters of complaint written about the Boyceville fire department and signed and dated in October of 2022.
The letters described rude and unprofessional treatment from fire department personnel toward ambulance service personnel during a joint training session and documented several instances of “middle finger” hand gestures from fire department personnel toward ambulance service personnel.
January meeting
Hackbarth, as the chair of the fire board, announced at the January 7 meeting that the fire board had selected Josh Pittman as the new fire chief and that Greg Holden had been appointed as the fire district administrator.
Prior to announcing the board’s selections for fire chief and fire district administrator, the fire board approved creating the fire district administrator position and set a salary of $600 per month, which is the same salary as the district pays to the fire chief.
According to the addendum that was added to the fire district’s bylaws, the fire district administrator position is a pilot position created to assist the Boyceville fire department’s operations and is not intended to be a permanent position.
The Boyceville fire board interviewed four candidates for the position of fire chief: Donald Heldt, Greg Holden, Tim Fasbender and Josh Pittman.
Holden is a fire instructor at Northwood Technical College. He has been a firefighter in Glenwood City for nearly 37 years and is the Glenwood City fire chief.
Pittman is the patrolman in the Town of Tiffany and has served on the Boyceville fire department for a number of years.
More complaints
During the public comments portion of the February 18 Boyceville fire board meeting, Boyceville firefighter Tim Fasbender asked to address the board.
On the Boyceville fire board’s agendas, public comments are listed at the end of the meeting.
Fasbender said that he had asked to meet with fire board members and that he had been denied a meeting with the fire board.
Fasbender said he had decided to approach the board during public comments to talk about his complaints and that he then intended to go to the Dunn County District Attorney with his complaints.
In addition to being stripped of his rank as a lieutenant in the Boyceville fire department, Fasbender said he was more than qualified to be the fire district administrator.
The paid position of a fire district administrator was approved in a closed session of the Boyceville fire board and should have been approved in an open session, he said.
The public was not given an opportunity to ask questions or make comments about the fire district administrator’s position, Fasbender said.
Under Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, boards can discuss specific candidates for positions in closed sessions and can make decisions about hiring a particular person in closed session, although when the board reconvenes back into open session, the board must announce any decisions they have made in closed session.
When a board is discussing the creation of a new position or is discussing the general job duties and qualifications of a position, then the discussion should be held in open session so that the public can be aware of what the board has been discussing in terms of position, qualifications, job duties and pay for the position.
As far as the Tribune Press Reporter is aware, the Boyceville fire board did not advertise for applicants for the position of fire district administrator.
The Boyceville fire board approved the new position of fire district administrator in open session at the January 7 meeting, and then it was announced that Holden would fill the position.
The fire board had apparently discussed the position of fire district administrator prior to the January 7 meeting.
According to Fasbender, the discussion and creation of the fire district administrator occurred in closed session, along with selecting Holden as the fire district administrator.
Bylaws
Fasbender also complained that the fire board was operating outside of the bylaws that were adopted September 1, 2018.
He talked about a carbon monoxide meter that was not working as well, along with portable radios that need to be overhauled among other issues.
The Boyceville Community Fire District Board adopted updated and amended bylaws earlier at the February 18 meeting prior to the public comments.
Holden said that during the interviews for fire chief, he had offered to help the Boyceville fire department because he “wanted to make sure the department keeps going.”
The Glenwood City fire department calls on the Boyceville fire department for assistance from time to time, Holden said, adding that it is important for neighboring fire departments to be able to call each other for help.
The Boyceville fire department “has been a mess” and the objective is to “try to get the ball rolling to fix the mess,” Holden said.
“You are taking it out on the wrong people. We are trying to get our boat to float,” he said.
The Boyceville fire department must “get back to normal” so Glenwood City and Boyceville can work together, Holden said.
“I hate to see this going south again,” he said.
After additional back and forth with Fasbender, Kegan announced that Fasbender’s time for public comments was finished.
There were no other members of the public who wished to speak during public comments at the February 18 meeting.
Fasbender supplied printed copies of his complaints to the Boyceville fire board. He also provided a copy to the Tribune Press Reporter.
