WINSTON — Three Winston-Dillard Fire District board members facing a recall election promised Monday to vigorously dispute accusations that they have mismanaged the department and snubbed the public.

One of the three, Dale Stutzman, called the allegations against him and fellow board members Stan Keeler and Lyle Jeffries “total fabrications.”

Keeler and Jeffries were equally defiant.

“I'm going to fight it,” Keeler said. “We're doing the best we can with the funding we have.”

Said Jeffries: “I think I'm doing what's right and what's right for the district, and I'm not going to back off.”

Douglas County elections officials Monday verified that petitioners turned in enough signatures, at least 385, to force separate recall votes on each board member.

Chief Deputy Clerk Jeff Doty said the three board members have until Monday to resign or take their case to voters. Since all three say they will fight to retain their unpaid positions, a vote-by-mail election likely will be held the second week of March, Doty said. Two board members, Vern Heyer and Charlie Brickey, are not targeted for recall.

Doty estimated the election will cost $3,000 to $5,000 and will be paid for by the fire district.

Recall petitioners charge Stutzman, Keeler and Jeffries with failing to prevent a budget crisis. The department's only four employees with the rank of firefighter will be laid off Wednesday.

Petitioners also charge that the three haven't listened to the public, resisted reducing administrative salaries and refused to hire an outside consultant to evaluate the district's management.

The recall group has organized under the banner FIRE, standing for Fully Involved Recall Effort. The group's spokesman, Bruce Justis, said Monday the group has raised about $1,100 so far for a campaign.

Justis, a former Winston police chief, said he was sorry friction between the board and its critics had reached this point.

“This is not an easy thing. We talked with these folks for five months before deciding we didn't have any choice but to go to the recall. We know it's hurtful,” Justis said. “We don't mean any ill will for them.”

Trouble has been brewing in the district for many months and began under the district's longtime chief, Robert Nicholls, who retired at the end of the year because of health problems.

Justis credited the new chief, Ken McGinnis, who was elevated from division chief without an increase in salary, with improving communication with the public. But Justis said underlying problems with the district's management remain.

More foresight might have headed off layoffs, Justis said. The layoffs will leave the district with nine employees, half of what it had less than two years ago.

“That is one of the things in government you have to stay right on top of,” he said.

The three board members blamed the district's budget problems on declining property tax revenue, driven largely by delinquent payments and a devaluation of property in the district owned by Roseburg Forest Products.

Spending money on a consultant would just worsen the district's finances, they said.

“It's just hard to lay people off and say we're going to do a (study),” Keeler said.

They said administrative expenses have been cut by Nicholls' retirement, though the district won't realize savings until July because Nicholls retired with a large amount of vacation pay due.

McGinnis and two office workers now make up the district's paid administration. The fire board Monday appointed Joel King, a former Sutherlin fire chief, as a volunteer to occasionally relieve McGinnis.

“I think we are as bare-bones in administration as we can be,” Stutzman said.

On the petitioners' grievances, Stutzman granted that the district mishandled a public records request by Heyer.

Heyer, who has been at odds with the rest of the board over several issues, asked the district to provide him with how much it paid each employee in salary and benefits. Heyer said he wanted to get a handle on the district's compensation costs. The request blew up into a legal dispute with Heyer up against Nicholls, fire district lawyer Mark Hendershott and the rest of the board. The Douglas County District Attorney's Office sided with Heyer and ordered the records released at no cost to Heyer.

Recall petitioners “can kind of hang their hat on the disclosure of public information,” Stutzman said. “We did, as a district, handle it improperly.”

Otherwise, Stutzman stoutly defended the board's management of the district.

He said the district will set up a volunteer firefighter program to maintain service in the face of layoffs. “If the disgruntled citizens give us a little bit of breathing space, we're going to have a pretty good program put together,” Stutzman said.

He said he wants to stay on the board to help the district survive without resorting to merging with another district, such as Douglas County Fire District No. 2. “I'm going to do everything I can do to fight for local control,” he said.

Justis said recall organizers are not pushing for a merger, but the district should commission an outside consultant to consider it. “We want the analysis done,” he said.



• City Editor Don Jenkins can be reached at 541-957-4201 or djenkins@nrtoday.com.