Former Lewis County Fire District 6 Chief Paul Patterson officially resigned from his position during a special meeting of the district’s board of fire commissioners Thursday evening after less than a year in the role, scribbling a nine-word statement onto a piece of notebook paper.
“On August 22nd, 2024, I have resigned my employment with LCFD 6,” the note, signed by Patterson, reads.
What led up to that statement, though, has left Patterson with more questions than answers, as he claims he did so “under duress.”
“If you were to say ‘give me definitively why they did it’ — I have absolutely no clue,” Patterson said in an interview Tuesday.
The timing, he said, was suspect.
According to Patterson, had he completed a year of service, the district would have been obligated to provide a $30,000 severance package and, had he been terminated, Patterson would have also been eligible for unemployment benefits.
During the Aug. 22 meeting, Patterson said he requested to consult with a lawyer before making a decision, but was not allowed to do so.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” Patterson said.
Patterson has retained an attorney as he considers filing civil rights litigation against the district alleging the district’s policies and procedures were not properly followed. Patterson has also filed a report to the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
During a commissioners meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Greg Greene said the board accepted his resignation during a public meeting. However, he declined to say whether the resignation came after a threat of termination.
“We appreciate that you have questions about former Chief Patterson and his employment with the district. On August 22, the board accepted a written resignation from former Chief Patterson,” Greene said while reading from prepared remarks Tuesday. “On behalf of the board of commissioners, and Lewis County Fire District 6, we wish to thank former chief Patterson for his service to the district and the residents he served. I wish him well in his future endeavors.”
In his remarks, Greene said the commissioners could not discuss personnel matters. According to Greene, the commissioners planned to discuss the search for a replacement during an executive session Tuesday night.
Following the departure, Greene said he has sought to communicate that “in no way is the current position the district is in meant to reflect upon the board’s opinion or stance regarding career staff.”
“We still support them wholeheartedly, and we want to do everything we can to ensure that they have the resources and the abilities to accomplish what they need going forward,” Greene said.
A Detroit native, Patterson joined the district after serving as the deputy chief of the Long County Fire Department in Georgia and, in recent weeks, began to put down roots in Lewis County.
According to Patterson, his departure came weeks after he requested a pay increase that he said would better align his compensation to those in neighboring districts, though doubts about his authority have lingered for months.
“Anytime I bring something to the board, I’ve vetted it,” Patterson said. “But any of these ideas, after minimal review, they get shot down. So that’s the problem that I was having.”
Questions of authority
Following a dispute with a volunteer firefighter in early December, Patterson said he felt both threatened by the interaction and concerned that the commissioners again questioned his authority.
According to the results of an investigation conducted by Fire District 6, Patterson and volunteer firefighter Dave Layden both “communicated in a manner which conveyed that each of” them “were upset” during the Dec. 6 meeting.
Following the discussion, according to the investigation, Layden briefly left the station before returning and engaging with Patterson “in an aggressive manner.”
“It is the Commissioners’ opinion that your decision to re-enter Station 61 and re-engage with the Chief in an aggressive manner was inappropriate on your behalf,” the letter states.
During the interaction, Layden told Patterson “(Commissioner) Colin Mason will hear about this.”
According to the investigation, Layden said he made the statement out of respect for the chain of command, though Patterson perceived the remark as a threat.
In a letter summarizing the investigation results on Jan. 25, signed by Greene on behalf of the board, Greene wrote Layden was required to follow directives from Patterson.
“We find no credible evidence that Chief Patterson has issued you, or anyone else, any directive that is illegal or unsafe,” Greene wrote. “Similarly, it is not the Commissioners' place to pick sides between you and the Chief as to whether his operational ideas are better than your operational ideas. Chief Patterson is the Chief — and you are required to follow his directives as a volunteer member. Otherwise, the organization cannot function.”
On the same day Greene notified Layden his status as a volunteer for the district was revoked, Mason resigned from the board. In a letter of resignation, Mason said he couldn’t remain “if I am unable to effect positive change for the district.”
“As an elected official tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the district and planning for its future progress, I can no longer, in good conscience, support the immoral and unethical behavior I believe has occurred and continues to occur with no repercussions,” Mason wrote. “To be tasked with doing the right thing, I can no longer continue to effectively represent the citizens of our district when such morally reprehensible actions are allowed to take place.”
Layden and Mason both attended Tuesday’s meeting and left in the same vehicle. Following the meeting, Layden said he and Patterson had disagreed with training and recruitment efforts for volunteers.
Mason declined to make an additional statement Tuesday evening. In his remarks, Layden said that Patterson “just didn’t do what we expected him to do.”
“This good old boys system that runs in this fire department and this fire industry has to go away,” Layden said. “It needs to be, and should be, a professional environment where a volunteer comes in and knows through teaching, coaching and mentoring, how to perform the duties of a firefighter. So that way, we can utilize those people to get back up to station 63, man station 62 and do the right thing for this district.”
Station 63, located at 736 Logan Hill Road, has been a point of consternation for years. In April, the district received notice from the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) that understaffing in the Logan Hill area would result in increased insurance rates, and Patterson said he began a search for a solution.
Patterson offered to live in the station and staff it, among other proposals to add staffing in the area, though commissioners declined. The offer, he said, came when there were few options to immediately alleviate the shortage.
“I’m like, ‘as opposed to what? Somebody dying?’” Patterson said.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner James Martin said the district was currently working through usage rules to man the station, though it would be a challenge to man the station with volunteers.
“There have been some discussions, and some preliminary plans, with how to get volunteers back to that station,” Martin said. “There have been some offers from volunteers to man that station to meet the qualifications for the ratings. But, once again, we can’t knee-jerk something and do it wrong. It needs to be done properly and within the law.”
Following the disagreement, Patterson said he sent an email “that was probably the beginning of the end of me.”
In the email, sent to Greene on April 17, Patterson said there was a lack of trust from the board that “every member of this department sees.”
“If you all feel that the direction that I have been moving toward is not positive, let’s shake hands and I will be on my way,” the email from Patterson states. “If you feel that things are moving positively, please, get out of my way and let me run my department.”
In response, Greene wrote that he had received the response and shared it with the other commissioners. Soon after, Patterson said he received notice of a full evaluation.
“It was all a setup. Who gets a 10-month review?” Patterson said. “It was nothing but a couple of weeks after that email.”
The evaluation, dated June 4, graded Patterson on his leadership, organizational management, financial management, human resources development and public service. Patterson failed to score higher than “satisfactory” in any of the five categories and received a “needs improvement” in several areas.
Following the evaluation, Patterson said he “worked very hard” to try and meet the board’s expectations. As the calendar flipped to August, Patterson felt he and the board had a professional relationship.
Nearing the completion of his first year in the role, Patterson prepared an offer for a raise he felt was in line with neighboring districts. During an Aug. 13 meeting, Patterson presented the offer to the fire commissioners.
A week later, Patterson received a text from Greene.
“Chief the board has called a special meeting for tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m.,” the text to Patterson reads. “Your attendance in person is required.”
While he was optimistic the meeting would be to discuss a counter-proposal, Patterson said at the Aug. 21 meeting he was presented with an ultimatum: resign or be terminated.
“I have been terminated without cause, but they’re going to say he resigned, but it was definitely under duress,” Patterson said. “I didn’t call the meeting. If I was going to resign, wouldn’t I have called the meeting? It doesn’t make any sense.”
