Chelsea fire board takes authority away from chief
The Chelsea Area Fire Authority Board will now be in charge of personnel matters after taking away hiring and firing authority from Chief Jim Payeur, according to a report in Chelsea Update.
The report states the board voted 2-1 with two abstentions Tuesday morning to pass a resolution stating the board “has the authority over final approval of the hiring and firing, promoting and demoting of all CAFA personnel.” Previously, Payeur had these duties.
Board chairman Rod Anderson voted against the resolution and board members Jamie Bollinger and John Francis voted in favor, according to the report.
“The action this board has taken will be catastrophic,” Anderson told Chelsea Update.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Jeff Frank
Sat, Apr 20, 2013 : 8:28 p.m.
Fully 50% of the comments to this article, including mine, have been deleted as violating the conversation "guidelines" (more appropriately called "rules" since seeming violations, as determined by "moderators" without notice to the person posting, of the guidelines get your post removed). I've reviewed the "guidelines" and don't recall violating any of them. The closest I could find was using asterisks in place of a swear word... a technique that can regularly be found in the Sunday comics section of the print edition. The moderation of these boards seems to be on the heavy-handed side. Either rules that are more definitive in determining violations or moderators with a lighter hand seem to be in order.
Concerned
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 : 5:01 p.m.
Article for the unionization push http://www.annarbor.com/news/chelsea/paperwork-filed-to-unionize-the-chelsea-area-fire-authority/ Federal Lawsuit article, if I am correct this is still in process and has not yet been resolved. I have not seen any updates on this. http://www.annarbor.com/news/chelsea/whistleblower-lawsuit-filed-against-chelsea-area-fire-authority/ A2.com you might want to add these links to your initial story, it give a little back information for the department.
Big Dog
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 : 11:42 a.m.
Maybe it's time for the fire fighters to consider organizing and work on a collective bargaining agreement that protects their interests and establish "rules of engagement" with the Board. Many POC fire departments are going with MAFF.
Paula Gardner
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 : 11:16 a.m.
We are following up this story, and outlined a plan to do this as we published this initial version. Hopefully more information will be available soon.
BenWoodruff
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 : 3:22 a.m.
Kyle, I read the "removed comments", before they were yanked off the site. While I don't think anyone knows about the truth of the allegations, I believe that you have a responsibility to follow up on those "leads" and report any findings. Isn't that what journalists are supposed to do?
PineyWoodsGuy
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 : 4:02 a.m.
Kyle. I Agree with BenWoodruff. In my experience with Jim Payeur, he is a Very Righteous dude. Am wondering why Chelsea folks are ruffling their feathers over an Experienced Firefighter's command decisions? Remember that as a Commander: You can either acquiesce in mediocre performance, or you can Require Impeccable Performance of Duty!
jcj
Wed, Apr 17, 2013 : 10:35 p.m.
Kind of redefines the word "chief".