By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
The city of Whittier has been hit with a rash of resignations. First the city manager resigned in December and a week later the city administrator stepped down. Last month, the fire chief resigned or was terminated—circumstances are conflicting.
Amidst the turmoil of the job vacancies, the city took a positive step donating $10,000 to the Girdwood Fire Department for services provided last year. The donation came from money acquired from the cruse ship tax. It is considered a one-time donation.
In the meantime, the city manager position should be filled by the end of this week, and the interim manager, Ed Barrett, will be able to return to his full-time position as Harbor Master.
Barrett said one of the candidates for the city manager position is living in-state and the other is out of state.
A hiring committee at the city council will likely make a final decision by the end of this week, he said.
As for the city administrator position, the council directed Barrett to issue a request for proposals for a contractor specializing in grant administration.
The fire chief position is currently being filled by the Chief of Police and Public Safety Director David Schofield, who came to Whittier over a year ago from St. Paul Island where he was the police sergeant.
Schofield is filling the position of former Fire Chief Doug Maliski, who submitted his resignation letter Feb. 20.
However, his letter came the same day a termination letter was submitted by Barrett. Schofield said he was terminated for responding to an avalanche slide at Mile 86 on Feb. 18. He said the city manager stated that he left without proper authority and left the city at risk.
“I didn't resign, I offered my resignation to the council,” Maliski said. “But that was the same day I got the letter of termination. According to the city council, the city manager can't terminate me.”
Maliski said he was with the Schofield having coffee at the Inn at Whittier when the call came for assistance from a Girdwood trooper and he responded. He left alone and then received a call from Schofield to return, which he did.
“That's why the city manager says I put the city at risk—for calling the trooper,” Maliski said. “I asked Trooper Lewis and he was more than happy to have our assistance. He was stuck on the other side of the avalanche.”
However, Barrett said the reason for Maliski's termination was more involved than just one incident.
“The city's position is that the volunteer fire department services the city under the city's umbrella of liability,” Barrett said, “and we determined that the fire department operation has certain standards set by the state and the fire department was failing to meet those standards.”
Maliski, a veteran member of the Fire Department for over 20 years, said the volunteer numbers were up to 25 when he was chief and now its down to three or four non-certified firefighters, and he is concerned that the city is not ready for the summer demands of fire and emergency responses.
“Because the city fired me, the state Fire Marshall cancelled Whittier's fire department registration,” he said. “If you're not registered with the state, you're not eligible for state grants and other stuff. We won't have a fire department to respond in the summer. I took the department from five to 25 people.”
He added that 90 percent of the volunteers left the department when he was let go.
Schofield said Maliski is exaggerating the number of volunteers that he recruited and said the department is still registered with the state and was not receiving any grants.
“Our firefighters have never had a certified firefighter,” he said. “We have not put in for any grants. Doug Maliski said he was going to put in for grants but missed the deadline.”
Schofield said the fire department currently has eight active members and that Maliski may have recruited 25 members but many did not show up for meetings.
“If people didn't show up for meetings, I don't know how he can count them as active members,” he said. “Now we have eight active members.”
Schofield said they are currently training with the Whittier Tunnel firefighters and in a few weeks the state will be offering 24-hour basic firefighting classes. He said he fully expects to have certified and trained firefighters ready to operate their two engines by May 1 with two Firefighter Fire 1's and one new police officer. They are also hiring a paramedic with Firefighter Fire 1 certification and other trained personnel to maintain the equipment, including an E-1 Engine with another one on the way.
“We're doing everything we can to build up the fire department, but it takes time,” he said.
Schofield said he will be looking to fill the fire chief position and keep it as a volunteer position, unlike past administrations that hired a chief for $60,000 per year.
“I want to keep it a volunteer position,” he said. “I strongly believe we should have paid personnel to add to the fire department, but I'd like to keep it a volunteer setting with paid people coming in to fill the jobs behind the scene like maintaining equipment.”
