The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Members of the Cathlamet Town Council on Tuesday gave first approval to an ordinance to put the direction of the Cathlamet Fire Department under control of town officials.

The department has been operating under an ordinance adopted in 1932 which put control under the Cathlamet Commercial Club, which no longer exists. The latest audit of the town by the Washington State Auditor's office said the arrangement doesn't meet state law and needed to be changed.

The ordinance entirely repeals the previous ordinance and provides standards for membership, naming of officers, discipline, pension and relief and so on.

Members of the fire department urged the council to delay approval of the ordinance and continue using the old ordinance. Council members replied that adopting an ordinance takes three readings and at least two meetings, so there is time to consider comments and modify the language of the ordinance.

One change that concerned fire department members is that the new ordinance gives authority to appoint the department chief to the mayor. Under the old ordinance, department members elect all officers.

Under the new ordinance, the mayor would appoint the chief to a six-year term. The chief would be accountable to the mayor and would be subject to the performance process and procedures used to evaluate other department heads.

The chief and mayor would jointly appoint an executive assistant chief from the membership; the executive assistant chief would serve at the pleasure of the chief.

Department members would elect other officers.

Mayor George Wehrfritz said the ordinance had been drafted by what he called the Three Mayors Committee which includes himself and Bob Rendler and Dick Swart, who are current council members and former Cathlamet mayors. They said they had gone over the proposed ordinance with Fire Chief Jerry DeBriae, Assistant Chief Duncan Cruikshank; Lieutenant Beau Renfro and other officers.

Cruikshank urged the council to table action on the ordinance. It still has errors and inconsistencies, he said.

"The devil is in the details," he said.

Council member Wally Wright, who is a captain in the fire department, agreed.

"We should get this a whole lot closer to being a real document before considering it," he said.

Wright voiced displeasure with the new ordinance giving the mayor authority to appoint or fire the department chief.

"I'm very much disturbed that a person who has never dealt with volunteers will use an iron fist to change the organization," he said. "I've seen the morale of the Cathlamet Fire Department go down the slippery slope and I don't know if it will ever recover."

Wehrfritz commented that fears that he would take over the department have been "blown out of proportion."

There have been many suggestions of how to tweak the ordinance, he said, and the committee can look at them and make changes for the next reading.

Rendler commented that the ordinance isn't mandated in state law, it is optional. If the town just followed state law, the mayor could make wholesale changes in department staff and operations.

Swart commented that the ordinance doesn't set up operating policies and procedures; those are left to the department to establish. Also, committee members made 24 changes in the ordinance after consulting with department officers.

"I take exception to the comment that this is full of errors," he said. "If there are errors, it's the fault of the fire chiefs.

"The ordinance doesn't tell the fire department how to do anything."

After more discussion, Wehrfritz called for a vote on a motion to approve the ordinance for the first reading. Swart, Rendler, Steve McNicholas and Ruth Doumit voted in favor, and Wright voted against the motion.