It’s not easy to get to the bottom of allegations against George Brown, the Assistant Chief of Operations at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue. If members of the firefighters union, which recently cast a vote of no confidence in Brown, are to be believed, then Brown has shown a serious lack of leadership and management abilities and has treated department employees so poorly that it has created an unpleasant work environment for some at the station. If Brown is to be believed, he has simply implemented needed changes asked for by Chief Hank Lipe and VIFR’s board, and those changes haven’t gone over well. One thing most do seem to agree on is that this move by the union has stirred controversy at a fire department that has been quiet for quite some time.
Several years ago, VIFR was highly criticized by the community as it publicly struggled to transition from an all-volunteer department to one with some paid responders, grappled with a high-profile lawsuit and went through several chiefs in a short period of time. Both Lipe and Brown, who came on in 2008 and 2009, have garnered praise for bringing greater order and accountability to what some called a loosely run agency. We were surprised to hear last week that at last some union members had concerns about Brown almost as soon as he came on and claim that the assistant chief has refused to change his behavior.
A few things about this story don’t make sense to us. If Brown has simply followed orders from Chief Lipe and the board, as Brown and some board members have suggested, then why do union members have such high praise for the chief? On the other hand, if Brown has done such a poor job over the last several years that he’s garnered ongoing complaints and created an unpleasant work environment, why do some board members say they’re just now learning there are concerns? And if the changes at the fire station have been for the better, as board members say, why couldn’t Brown have implemented them without making most of the paid department members unhappy with him?
We hope the outside investigator hired by VIFR is impartial and can present a clear picture of Brown’s time at the department to the chief and the board. While some board members seem supportive of Brown so far, we hope they will also keep an open mind and consider any facts that arise from the investigation. For the department’s sake, we hope that the union’s claims are unfounded and Brown isn’t the poor manager and aggressive man they make him out to be. If union claims are true, we hope the chief and board respond appropriately and Lipe, who only commented by email for the article on this issue, will be honest and forthcoming with the public. We believe union members when they say Brown’s supposed mismanagement hasn’t impacted VIFR’s service, and we hope this issue is resolved soon so the department can stay focused on its mission rather than trying to navigate another public ordeal.
