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Don Gronning
District money woes lead to termination
DALKENA — Fire District 4 Fire Chief Robert Webber was fired on a 2-1 vote, following a month-long review of district finances and an executive session during the commission meeting Wednesday, Feb. 4.
“There’s a lot of things that fell through the cracks, according to the findings,” said commissioner Gary Frisque, referring to the financial review conducted by commissioners. Frique spoke in the second part of a two-part video of the meeting posted to YouTube by the Selkirk Sun newspaper. “But they don’t constitute firing him since he does really great at command and control on fires.”
Frisque voted against the firing. Thompson said he agreed that Webber worked well in firefighting.
“However, at the end of the day, everything lands on the fire chief,” Thompson said in that second Selkirk Sun video. “With the things we’ve discussed today, I think Fire District 4 is in serious, serious trouble.”
Commissioner Charlie Slocum and commission chair Alan Thompson voted to fire Webber.
Before the commissioners went into executive session, Thompson asked Webber if he had anything to add.
“I have plenty to add but I’ll keep my mouth shut for now,” Webber said in part one of the Selkirk Sun’s You-Tube videos of the Feb. 4 meeting.
After Thompson and Slocum voted to fire him, Webber asked if he could ask some questions. Thompson said he didn’t know if they would respond but allowed Webber to speak.
“The problem is there has been literally no due process for me in this,” Webber said in the second video. He said he didn’t know what the commissioners were looking at, other than the notes from the previous meeting. “No one has addressed me, no one’s interviewed me. Everything you guys have been talking about had answers.”
Webber, who has worked for Fire District 4 since 2021, said it appeared that Thompson and Slocum had a goal to fire him.
“It’s a travesty that I wasn’t given the opportunity to answer to any of that, except for right before you went into executive session today, which would have been completely inappropriate,” Webber said in the video of the Feb. 4 meeting.
Thompson was elected commissioner in November and elected chair at the Jan. 7 meeting. Webber was placed on paid administrative leave while the board reviewed finances at that meeting.
In the Jan. 21 Fire District 4 commissioner meeting, interim board clerk/secretary Nickey Bye updated commissioners on District 4 finances.
Bye said the district owed Zoll Medical Equipment for heart monitors that were on lease and one that had been purchased by the district in error. Zoll let the district out of a 10-year contract and asked the monitors to be returned. At the Jan. 21 meeting, Bye said equipment valued at somewhere between $220,000 and $260,000 was still in the district’s possession. Pend Oreille County Director of Finance Jill Shacklett said Fire District 4 bought a heart monitor for $64,228 from Zoll last year.
Bye received permission from the commissioners to return the leased equipment.
Shacklett said fire districts are their own entity, with the elected fire district commissioners being the highest legal authority in the district.
“We just pay their bills,” Shacklett said, using the fire district’s money. The county Auditor’s Office has been aware of Fire District 4 for a couple years, she said, as sometimes the district looked like it might not have enough money to pay its bills.
In August 2023, the district’s cash flow was close, but a grant was received. In January 2024, cash flow also got low, as it did in September 2025.
Fire District 4 didn’t pay volunteer stipends in the first quarter of 2025, although they started again in April, she said.
Fire Districts get property tax money in April and October each year.
Shacklett said commissioner Slocum met with her about the district’s finances.
“Charlie would come in and ask questions,” she said.
Shacklett said she didn’t think Fire District 4 officials were doing anything illegal.
“I just saw mistakes because of lack of knowledge,” she said.
Fire District 4 passed a 2026 budget to spend $789,000, Shacklett said. In 2025 the district spent $611,726, with revenues of $640,672.
Fire District 5, the county’s smallest district, has a budget of $79,000 in expenses and $180,000 in revenue.
Other fire districts are much larger.
Fire District 2 spent $3.59 million in 2025 with revenues of $$3.86 million, Shacklett said. South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue spent $2.63 million in 2025, with revenues of $2.91 million.
Erik Gallanger is interim fire chief for Fire District 4. Besides Bye, who receives $40 an hour for her work as interim board clerk/secretary for District 4, he is the district’s only paid employee. Bye was hired after Star Dixon left in November. Both Gallanger and Bye also work for Fire District 2. Captain Adam Micone left Fire District 4 to take a job with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.
Fire District 2 is seeking permission to absorb Fire District 4. The voters in Fire District 4 voted whether to do so. See related election story page one.
