Electric City fire chief facing disciplinary action

Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne received a letter from the city regarding disciplinary action being considered against him for illegal burning practices.

Payne, who forwarded The Star the letter, believes the action is directly related to his role as a key critic of a planned intersection change for which the city has taken heat.

The Star was unable to reach Nordine for comment prior to deadline.

The April 26 letter signed by Mayor John Nordine puts Payne “on notice of proposed discipline up to and including removal as fire chief and termination of your volunteer position with the Electric City Fire Department which I intend to impose as the Mayor and chief supervising authority for City of Electric City employees and volunteers.”

“I am convinced that it is more likely than not that you violated state law in conducting an unauthorized fire training on April 19, 2019, on the Banks Lake Golf Course,” the letter continues, citing Washington state law prohibiting wildland fire fighting training without a permit, the requirement of a detailed training plan submitted to the Department of Ecology, and more.

“On April 25, 2019, you admitted that you did not have a permit for this training exercise,” the letter continues, “and that you only discussed plans for the exercise verbally in a fire department meeting. You also failed to notify me of the training exercise, as your direct supervisor … From our conversation, it also appears that you only received verbal permission from Mr. Keene with the Port District as owner of the Golf Course.”

The letter states that because of the dangerous nature of fire training exercises, and the lack of formal approval from the mayor, that Payne has “exposed the City to substantial liability due to your misconduct, incompetency, and absolute dereliction of duty.”

Payne told The Star Tuesday that the burnings described in the letter are something he has done “every year for years,” even before the city annexed the golf course into its borders.

The letter invites Payne to meet with Nordine at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, “to present whatever information or evidence you wish me to consider before I make my final decision regarding the level of discipline I will impose against you.”

The letter states that if someone accompanies Payne, they won’t be entitled to be an advocate for him, but Payne said he hopes people will attend the meeting in his support.

“At the conclusion of the hearing, I will consider all the facts and information I have been provided and make my final decision as to what discipline should be imposed against you as a result of the above violations. That discipline may include removal as fire chief and termination of your volunteer position with the Electric City Fire Department.”

Payne feels the disciplinary action being taken against him is directly due to his criticism of the city’s plan to remove a stretch of Western Avenue directly in front of City Hall, a stretch of road the fire department uses regularly. Payne argues the changes will add to firefighter response time.