OWLS HEAD — The Owls Head Fire Department is unsettled these days, with a written complaint filed against the current fire chief, and some residents voicing unrelated criticism about the department's response last winter to a blaze that destroyed Frankie's Garage. A meeting held Monday evening, July 8, was moved behind closed doors for more than an hour as selectmen and fire department directors addressed a personnel complaint.

Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Colson officially presented the complaint a week ago to the Owls Head Volunteer Fire Company Inc. Board of Directors, the nonprofit that governs the town's fire department.

"It concerns improper emails and putting personal information in emails," said Colson, Tuesday morning, July 9. "Beyond that, I can't tell you much." He said he was bound by rules governing executive session. He said the complaint has not been elevated to legal channels.

Fire Chief Frank Ross said July 9, "We've been asked by the Board of Directors not to say anything until after the annual meeting of the Fire Association and the vote."

Ross, who has been fire chief for the past 30 years, was referencing the annual vote of officers at the Fire Company's yearly meeting, when the membership decides who it wants as its leaders. That vote includes the annual appointment of the town's fire chief. The town's fire department has approximately 23 volunteers, according to Tim Sternberg, current president of the Fire Company. The company's meeting takes place the week following the Owls Head annual town meeting, which usually occurs in August.

As well as being Owls Head's fire chief, Ross is also the town's forest warden, system manager for the bulk waste transfer facility and addressing officer for the 911 communication system.

Because the three Owls Head selectmen automatically sit on the nonprofit Fire Company's board of directors, the organization's meetings are treated as public. Like many Maine fire departments, the origins of the Owls Head Fire Department are rooted in informal structures that morphed into nonprofits. The Owls Head Fire Department structure is now a quasi-municipal organization.

At the June 28 selectmen's meeting, the selectmen voted to ask Michael Plante, of the state Department of Labor, to conduct an audit of the fire department, according to meeting minutes. The DOL will analyze the fire department's existing structure, how to define compensated volunteers and payroll, and how the nonprofit Fire Company meshes with the municipal fire department organization.

Selectman Linda Post said July 9 that the audit is to take place July 23.

Because the Colson complaint is considered a personnel issue, the seven fire company officers and selectmen who gathered around a table at the Owls Head Community Building meeting room at 6 p.m. July 8 withdrew from open session and reconvened in the basement in executive session.

Although Colson said at the meeting that he would be willing to have the discussion about his complaint aired in open session, Ross indicated that he would rather go behind closed doors.

When they climbed back up the stairs more than an hour later, the directors, who included selectmen Post, Richard Carver and Nancy Colson (Bruce Colson's sister-in-law), as well as Steve Hallett, Tim Sternberg, May Grant and Andrew York, unanimously voted that all communications within the fire department be limited to pagers and I Am Responding, a cellphone text messaging system that fire department personnel use to notify each other about emergencies and fires.

Sternberg said at that point the discussion concerned only, "a personnel matter involving the department."

Bruce Colson said July 9, "I don't know how anyone can get a fair shake with any kind of complaint in this town."

Frankie's Garage

Members of the family who grew up at Frankie's Garage on Route 73 in Owls Head were also attending the July 8 Owls Head Fire Company meeting. Cecil Fogg owns the garage, and he, along with his sisters, Sheila Polky and June Webber, and his brother, Robert Salo, maintain that portions of the garage could have been saved during the Feb. 10 inferno that destroyed the building and its contents. The fire was attributed to a malfunctioning waste oil burner.

• Owls Head garage destroyed in Sunday afternoon fire.

• Fire marshal's investigators determine cause of Owls Head garage fire

The family had voiced those concerns at the June 28 selectmen's meeting. Meeting minutes said: "Sheila Polky and her daughter discovered the fire and watched the whole thing. As an onlooker she felt that the fire should of been put out. She said that Cecil has been to South Thomaston, Owls Head and Rockland to talk to the other firemen. The consensus was they were not happy with the way things were run. In Chief Ross's report he put in a personal opinion, also stated it hadn't been plowed and it had been. He also added the water company statement after the first incident report was written. He stated that we had low water pressure so they had to go to the vocational school to get water. But he never called the water company for two weeks.... Cecil Fogg said the bay where the furnace is was empty that night. It was noted that at the vocational school they didn't have the right kind of hookup with them to get water. They had to borrow equipment from another town."

It was noted in the minutes that the selectmen requested copies of fire reports to review.

The minutes also said: "Cecil asked Frank Ross why he didn't use foam and Frank Ross told him it was too expensive. Cecil Fogg at the end said to the selectmen that he would like the selectmen to take a long hard look and see if Frank Ross is still qualified to be fire chief. Richard Carver said that the selectmen are looking to hire an independent auditor to go over the Fire Company and the bylaws."

On July 8, Fogg said that besides losing a business in the fire, he lost valuable vehicles that were stored in the garage, including a 1967 Ford Mustang, a 1963 Chevrolet Nova, 1968 Chevrolet Camaro, a 1930 Model A wrecker and two Harley Davidsons - 1974 and 1977 models.

"This was our history that died," said Polky.

Asked what sort of resolution he hoped to see, Fogg said, "A new fire chief and someone who will do something."

Polky added, "We don't want anybody killed in any fires."

The Owls Head selectmen next meet Monday, July 15, at 5 p.m. at the Owls Head Community Building.

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Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.