McComb’s civil service commission voted unanimously today to declare Fire Chief Jean Frye ineligible to serve in that capacity.
The vote does not remove Frye from office but places potential liability on the city board for her service if the issue of an “irregular hire” is not addressed.
Citing a number of communications between the civil service commission, Frye and City Hall officials since January, Chairman Don Lazarus said his commission’s efforts to certify Frye’s qualifications had been ignored or denied — and that his motion was as a result of that dismissal.
“Something’s wrong here,” Lazarus said. “We have been run around.”
Lazarus pointed to letters in January and March asking the city board to note civil service regulations and submit Frye’s qualifications.
An April 15 letter to City Administrator Jim Storer acknowledge receipt of a synopsized resume and asked for official documentation of certificates represented in the resume.
Lazarus said Storer then suggested at a special called commission meeting on April 24 that he contact Frye directly.
But an e-mail from Frye dated April 29 directed Lazarus to ask Storer and Mayor Zach Patterson to request the credentials from her, stating that: “once receiving authorization from my supervisors to submit all documents pertaining to my Fire Service Training … I will gladly respond to your request.”
“I considered her reply to be deliberately evasive and uncooperative,” Lazarus said.
“It seems almost like a dog chasing his tail here,” echoed commission member Larry Dorr.
Lazarus said the only conclusion he could draw was that “her superiors refuse to let her give us the credentials.”
Frye declined further comment today and said she needed to learn more about what the vote would mean for her, but said she had submitted qualifications to City Hall when asked and had “done what they asked me to do.”
Her initial hire last year was by a 4-2 vote, with Selectman Danny Esch and Wade Lamb’s “nay” votes citing concerns about qualifications not being provided.
