Spokane Firefighters Union president steps down as chief search continues

The president of the union representing Spokane firefighters has stepped down amid calls from the group for more input in the search for the city’s next chief.

John Goodman has informed International Association of Fire Fighters Local 29 of his intention to step down as president, citing “personal reasons” that had “nothing to do” with the current recruitment process.

“It’s coincidental,” Goodman said in an interview Tuesday.

Randy Marler, the acting president of the union, said executive board members were first informed Friday by email of Goodman’s impending departure, a day after five candidates, including interim fire Chief Brian Schaeffer, were interviewed to replace Chief Bobby Williams.

“He said he was comfortable leaving the business of the union in good hands,” Marler said.

An email sent earlier in the week by the city’s human resources analyst in charge of the recruitment process urged top members of the department to attend a community forum where chief candidates would be interviewed “not only to meet the candidates, but to support Chief Schaeffer.”

Meghann Steinolfson, the sender of the email, and Brian Coddington, spokesman for Mayor David Condon, both said the email was meant to remind department employees they could participate in the selection process by attending the public forum, not to indicate preference for a particular candidate.

Marler said the email, which was forwarded anonymously to The Spokesman-Review, didn’t come from him or members of the union’s executive board, and that the union’s call for more participation in the recruitment shouldn’t be seen as a slight on the interim chief.

“I don’t want Chief Schaeffer to feel personally attacked,” Marler said.

Two recipients of Steinolfson’s email – Jay Atwood, a fire division chief, and Mike Lopez, integrated medical services manager for the department – said Tuesday they didn’t read the message as indicating support for Schaeffer.

“I don’t know that I considered it to be lobbying. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it,” Atwood said.

“To me, it was just a reminder, something that I already knew about,” said Lopez, who participated in the interview process.

An email sent to the address that forwarded Steinolfson’s message to Fire Department command staff was not returned.

Schaeffer denies having any contact with the city’s human resources department to sway the decision-making process. Condon has the authority to appoint a chief, which is then subject to City Council approval.

“I had no knowledge of the process, no additional knowledge that the other candidates didn’t have,” Schaeffer said Tuesday. “(Human resources) specifically carved me and my role completely out of the process, in the very beginning. Essentially, I was in the dark, which they did purposely.”

Members of Local 29 expressed concern last week they weren’t being given enough of an opportunity to vet candidates for the job, Marler said. The union also believed an internal candidate, Capt. Andrew Bessmer, should have been allowed to interview. All internal candidates were interviewed for the police chief’s job last year, Marler said.

“They did the same thing for the Police Department. They should have done it for us,” Marler said.

Marler said he couldn’t provide “a lot of concrete information” indicating why he believed the recruitment process has been unfair.

“It’s just kind of a feeling we have,” he said, but he noted that Condon had the authority to set up the recruitment process and forward any name he chose to the City Council.

Coddington said Tuesday the mayor’s original deadline of mid-June to confirm a new fire chief is still on track. That would mean forwarding a name to the City Council sometime in the next couple of weeks, Coddington said.