Fire chief absolved at special investigation meeting
An informal investigation involving a local fire chief and allegations made against him by an employee of the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District yielded no wrong doing regarding the violation of district policies such as work place violence or harassment, according to Attorney Bradley Rothman of Weldon & Rothman, PL in Naples. Rothman’s summarized report was presented to the FMB Board of Fire Commissioners who, in turn, unanimously approved to close the investigation case during a special public meeting at Fire Station #31 Tuesday.
FMB Fire Chief Mike Becker, who was not suspended or placed on administrative leave during the investigation, said he felt “at ease” after the findings and vowed not to pursue retaliatory action against fire fighter Jen Gordon. This is the second time in 14 months the local fire board has called for an investigation on Becker.
“Absolutely not,” said Becker about retaliation. “There is an understanding in this position as chief that I’m involved with many problems within the district.”
Rothman, who specializes in many employee-related matters, chronologically detailed his interviews with key witnesses including Deputy Chief Tom Edge, union representative and fire fighter Troy Messick and Dr. Joseph Lemons as well as Becker and Gordon. The investigation stemmed from an unresolved communication problem between management and an employee who did not want to be a paramedic anymore.
“The whole complaint started around Sept. 24, when there was a quality insurance incident involving fire fighter Gordon,” said Rothman. “There are provisions in the collective bargaining agreement that is for the board’s council. But, that clearly was an underlying issue that was kind of driving this thing. I didn’t see any evidence of a substantial threat or a threatening behavior or something that would implicate your work place violence policy.”
During the investigation, Rothman believed the chief’s statements “were fairly accurate,” and said the harassment issue which falls under the discrimination policy was not an involving element. He inferred that a meeting between Becker, Gordon and Lemons could have solved the matter.
“There are some unresolved issues here. I was kind of struck that this got to this level, and that there was no attempt to reconcile this with the chief before the informal investigation,” said Rothman. “It seemed like the communication was really poor. There could have been an attempted resolution because, something like this, seems like it should have been resolved short of this.
“There should be some investigation as to why there is not a policy in place to deal with these types of complaints. I was struck by the swiftness of the complaint without any intermediary steps. This could be a cost saver in the future if there was some attempt internally to fix the problem and placate the complaining party or at least do some investigation before you go outside.”
Commissioner David Brower said it was unfortunate the Florida Sunshine Law disabled the process.
“Imagine if where you work the boss wanted to tell you something and called you in front of the general public and berated you. That would be a law suit in the making,” said Fire Commissioner David Brower. “Unfortunately, being a government entity, we are constricted in what we can do.”
Fire Board Chairperson Carol Morris agreed with her fellow board member’s observations.
“If we can put a policy together that says when something like this comes up, we can nominate one member of the board to be the person to go around privately and speak with the chief or Dr. Lemons or whoever,” she said. “Maybe that is a way we can avoid some of this in the future. I think this is unfortunate that this keeps happening. We need to find some way to stop it by either changing policy or changing management rules.”
At the Nov. 16 monthly meeting of the newly arranged fire board, Becker was placed under an informal investigation after it was learned an emailed complaint (dated Nov. 5) by fire fighter Jen Gordon accused him of violating district policies. According to Gordon’s email to Capt. Ivan Bestrom (her shift commander at the time of the incident), she stated that Becker had made statements which led her to believe that Dr. Lemons would have her state paramedic license removed if she did not go through a re-credential process, and her continued employment within the district would be in jeopardy if she didn’t cooperate. After speaking with Lemons, Gordon stated she learned Becker’s statements were untrue, felt threatened and intimidated by Becker concerning her status as a district employee and believed the fire chief had violated policies concerning harassment and violence in the workplace.
On Oct. 20, 2009, Becker was placed on immediate administrative leave with pay at the board’s monthly meeting due to allegations relating to prescription drug abuse and an intimate relationship with a district employee. More than a month later, he was back on duty after the findings of an investigation by court certified mediator Roger Benson determined no wrongdoing. Benson’s concluding remarks stated Becker’s addiction to pain prescription medicine “should not be dealt with after the fact as misconduct.” The board determined not to pursue any further investigation, and two examinations cleared Becker to be fit for duty.
Fire chief absolved at special investigation meeting
An informal investigation involving a local fire chief and allegations made against him by an employee of the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District yielded no wrong doing regarding the violation of district policies such as work place violence or harassment, according to Attorney Bradley Rothman of Weldon & Rothman, PL in Naples. Rothman’s summarized report was presented to the FMB Board of Fire Commissioners who, in turn, unanimously approved to close the investigation case during a special public meeting at Fire Station #31 Tuesday.
FMB Fire Chief Mike Becker, who was not suspended or placed on administrative leave during the investigation, said he felt “at ease” after the findings and vowed not to pursue retaliatory action against fire fighter Jen Gordon. This is the second time in 14 months the local fire board has called for an investigation on Becker.
“Absolutely not,” said Becker about retaliation. “There is an understanding in this position as chief that I’m involved with many problems within the district.”
Rothman, who specializes in many employee-related matters, chronologically detailed his interviews with key witnesses including Deputy Chief Tom Edge, union representative and fire fighter Troy Messick and Dr. Joseph Lemons as well as Becker and Gordon. The investigation stemmed from an unresolved communication problem between management and an employee who did not want to be a paramedic anymore.
“The whole complaint started around Sept. 24, when there was a quality insurance incident involving fire fighter Gordon,” said Rothman. “There are provisions in the collective bargaining agreement that is for the board’s council. But, that clearly was an underlying issue that was kind of driving this thing. I didn’t see any evidence of a substantial threat or a threatening behavior or something that would implicate your work place violence policy.”
During the investigation, Rothman believed the chief’s statements “were fairly accurate,” and said the harassment issue which falls under the discrimination policy was not an involving element. He inferred that a meeting between Becker, Gordon and Lemons could have solved the matter.
“There are some unresolved issues here. I was kind of struck that this got to this level, and that there was no attempt to reconcile this with the chief before the informal investigation,” said Rothman. “It seemed like the communication was really poor. There could have been an attempted resolution because, something like this, seems like it should have been resolved short of this.
“There should be some investigation as to why there is not a policy in place to deal with these types of complaints. I was struck by the swiftness of the complaint without any intermediary steps. This could be a cost saver in the future if there was some attempt internally to fix the problem and placate the complaining party or at least do some investigation before you go outside.”
Commissioner David Brower said it was unfortunate the Florida Sunshine Law disabled the process.
“Imagine if where you work the boss wanted to tell you something and called you in front of the general public and berated you. That would be a law suit in the making,” said Fire Commissioner David Brower. “Unfortunately, being a government entity, we are constricted in what we can do.”
Fire Board Chairperson Carol Morris agreed with her fellow board member’s observations.
“If we can put a policy together that says when something like this comes up, we can nominate one member of the board to be the person to go around privately and speak with the chief or Dr. Lemons or whoever,” she said. “Maybe that is a way we can avoid some of this in the future. I think this is unfortunate that this keeps happening. We need to find some way to stop it by either changing policy or changing management rules.”
At the Nov. 16 monthly meeting of the newly arranged fire board, Becker was placed under an informal investigation after it was learned an emailed complaint (dated Nov. 5) by fire fighter Jen Gordon accused him of violating district policies. According to Gordon’s email to Capt. Ivan Bestrom (her shift commander at the time of the incident), she stated that Becker had made statements which led her to believe that Dr. Lemons would have her state paramedic license removed if she did not go through a re-credential process, and her continued employment within the district would be in jeopardy if she didn’t cooperate. After speaking with Lemons, Gordon stated she learned Becker’s statements were untrue, felt threatened and intimidated by Becker concerning her status as a district employee and believed the fire chief had violated policies concerning harassment and violence in the workplace.
On Oct. 20, 2009, Becker was placed on immediate administrative leave with pay at the board’s monthly meeting due to allegations relating to prescription drug abuse and an intimate relationship with a district employee. More than a month later, he was back on duty after the findings of an investigation by court certified mediator Roger Benson determined no wrongdoing. Benson’s concluding remarks stated Becker’s addiction to pain prescription medicine “should not be dealt with after the fact as misconduct.” The board determined not to pursue any further investigation, and two examinations cleared Becker to be fit for duty.