Firehouse coup?

Fire District 4 board elects new chair, places chief on leave

DALKENA – Dramatic changes were made at Fire District 4’s first meeting of 2026. The chair was changed, the fire chief placed on administrative leave and the board heard about back bills, among other things, during meeting Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The meeting started with interim board clerk/ secretary Nickey Bye giving commissioners updates on overdue bills she had been paying for the district, including an $1,800 Ziply fiber account bill that had not been fully paid since April of 2021.

Bye has been acting secretary clerk for Fire District 4 since November, when former clerk Star Dixon left. Bye is also the executive administrative assistant and clerk of the board for Fire District 2, of which her husband Chris Haynes is fire chief.

Fire District 4 Chief Robert Webber then gave an update on vehicles that needed windshield repairs and welcomed the newest commissioner, Alan Thompson, to the board, as well as reporting on 39 unfilled shifts in December and two mutual aid calls in which no volunteers showed up.

But before the meeting ended, the board had a new chairman and Webber was placed on paid administrative leave, asked to turn over his vehicle, computers and keys and was looking for a ride home.

Commissioners Alan Thompson and Charlie Slocum voted to put Webber on paid administrative leave and commissioner Gary Frisque voted no.

Before that vote, which occurred after an executive session, Thompson, who was elected commissioner in November, brought up the board chair change. He said the previous board erred when they elected Frisque chairman the previous month, before Thompson was on the board.

“Under Title 52, it says fire commissioners shall elect a chair from their number, meaning the three of us, not (the) previous (board),” Thompson said.

“So, I’d like to reopen that for chairperson.”

Thompson was referring to RCW Title 52.24.080. Thompson said the old board, which included outgoing commissioner Steve Brown and current commissioners Slocum and Frisque, shouldn’t elect the chair of the current board. That current board is made up of Thompson, Frisque and Slocum.

Slocum agreed and motioned that the commission formally elect a commission chairman. Thompson called for a nomination and Slocum asked him if he wanted to do be chair.

“Sure,” Thompson said. Slocum then made a motion to elect Thompson as chairman. Thompson seconded it.

“I’m okay with it,” Frisque said after asking if there was a reason they didn’t want him and being told it was nothing personal.

The meeting moved on to discussing the election to merge Fire District 4 into Fire District 2. (see related story) Haynes, fire chief from Fire District 2, provided an update. After about 25 minutes of discussion of the merger, Thompson called for a 10-minute executive session to evaluate the performance of a public employee and consider potential termination.

When the board emerged from executive session, after voting to maintain the 3 p.m. meeting time for fire district commission meetings, Slocum made a motion to put Webber on paid administrative leave, with Thompson seconding the motion and Frisque not in favor. That amounted to the vote and Webber was placed on non-disciplinary leave, effective that day.

“So Chief Webber, the board has voted by majority to place you on administrative leave, as a non-disciplinary measure to allow the board to complete its review and to ensure continuity of operations, financial controls and preservation of the district records during that process,” Thompson said. “This is not a final employment action.

“To protect the district, Chief Webber will make available to the board representatives or its representative, all district issued keys, fobs, log-in passwords, computers, tablets, credit cards and district vehicle, effective immediately.”

Bye asked for a copy of the paper from which Thompson was reading for the minutes.

“Are you going to give me anything to be able to defend myself?” Webber asked. “Because I have no idea of what you’re doing.”

Thompson said it was going to be a review of finances and operations.

“That’s pretty much it,” Thompson said. “And it’s non-disciplinary.”

“And a suspension is required for that?” Webber asked.

He was told it was not a suspension, that it was paid administrative leave.

After Webber, who has been District 4 fire chief since 2021, left the meeting, the commissioners voted to suspend all non-emergency spending of more than $500 that doesn’t have at least two commissioners’ approval and spending of more than $1,000 would require three quotes.

The commissioners appointed Erik Gallanger interim Fire Chief. Gallanger had served as interim chief while Webber was on medical leave for knee surgery.

Thompson spoke before the public comment part of the meeting, called the open session. He said he had been looking over the district’s finances.

“All we’re trying to do is just get a handle on our finances and get them back to what they need to be,” he said. “And we need to find out where things are going with a complete open mind. No biased opinions about what we’ve done in the past, things like that.”

Thompson said with the 39 uncovered shifts, commissioners needed to look at operations. He said Webber was placed on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave until the review is completed. Thompson said he intends that to be complete by Feb. 4.

During the open session portion, The Miner asked if any of the commissioners met or spoke on the phone ahead of time regarding the actions that took place in the meeting. The commissioners said no they hadn’t.

Thompson said that he had been looking through finances and speaking with constituents after he got elected.

“Speaking with constituents, people have a lot of questions,” Thompson said. “I’m not the kind of guy to keep going down the same road if it’s failing. So this is what I came up with.”