WESTBROOK – Two female firefighters remain on paid leave a year after making complaints about harassment in the long-troubled city department, where a probe into the misconduct of its members continues.

Seven members of the Westbrook Fire Department were disciplined in December after the city conducted an investigation into claims made by Kathy Rogers and Lisa Theberge. According to their attorney, the city is leading another investigation into the conduct reported by the women, which includes allegations of sexual assault, pornography in the station, inappropriate touching, throwing equipment at the female firefighters and references to their body parts.

Rogers and Theberge went on leave at the end of September 2008. That leave was originally scheduled to be three weeks long. Neither their attorney, Rebecca Webber, nor representatives for the city are venturing to guess when they might return, but both parties claim that that’s still the plan.

“The city and the affected firefighters are trying to work out a way that will permit them to return to work safely and without risk of physical and emotional retaliation,” Webber wrote in an e-mailed statement Monday.

So far, the city has shelled out nearly $100,000 in overtime pay that can be directly attributed to the absence of the two firefighters.

Each shift in the department is staffed by 10 firefighters, and at least nine are required to be working at all times. So, if one person on Theberge’s or Rogers’ shift cannot work because of a vacation or illness, the city has to pay another firefighter to work overtime.

In addition, the City Council approved in July spending $20,000 on a training program that’s being administered by Steve Wessler from the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, based in Portland. According to City Administrator Jerre Bryant, the first phase of that program, during which Wessler conducted individual and small-group meetings with members of the department, is wrapping up. Once Wessler comes up with a strategy for moving forward, Bryant said, he’ll make a presentation to the City Council and then begin implementing his plan.

Meanwhile, representatives for the city and the female firefighters have been working through a mediation process. Though the women have filed notices of claim with the city, stating their intent to sue, Bryant said, from a legal standpoint, “everything is on hold” while they try to find a way to get the women back to work.

“We’re trying to work out resolutions,” he said.

A LOOK BACK

Throughout the year, members of the department, city officials and the firefighters on leave have, for the most part, kept mum about the goings-on inside the station, both now and in the past.

However, a few details have surfaced, in public records, online postings and statements from Webber, which have shed some light on the specific allegations and on the nature of the department in general. Observers have characterized the department as a place where inappropriate behavior and the use of derogatory and obscene language has long been a common and accepted practice by both firefighters and top administrators.

In the wake of reports last fall that Rogers and Theberge had been put on leave and that the city would be disciplining members of the department, people claiming to be either in or affiliated with the Westbrook Fire Department made comments on online news stories about the situation. Both Webber and the city’s attorneys sought out the people behind the posts and, at the same time, sent out a message to keep quiet. Webber, however, did respond to one specific comment made on a Web posting about an inappropriate movie being watched at the fire station. She revealed that some firefighters, while working, had watched “Nine Lives,” a film is set in the Los Angeles gay community, which she said was pornography.

Those with knowledge of the situation in the fire department seemed to heed the warning to keep silent, and new details about what had led to the women taking leave didn’t emerge until the state’s Board of Arbitration and Conciliation issued a report this spring.

The state board in June overturned the city’s demotion of Donald Trafford from lieutenant to firefighter based on testimony from the city, Trafford and other members of the department. Trafford, who received the harshest punishment of the seven firefighters disciplined in December, was the only one to file a grievance with the city.

In addition to Trafford, firefighter Matt Lamontagne was suspended for 60 days. Deputy Chief Thaddeus Soltys and per diem firefighters Jim Harbaugh, Meagan Breau and Ron Giroux were suspended for two weeks, and Capt. Peter Mullin received a letter of reprimand. All the suspensions were without pay.

According to testimony from the city in the board’s report, on Trafford’s shift, “vulgar language and derogatory comments were commonplace, including comments of a sexual nature.” Theberge said Trafford used obscenities to insult her weight and haircut.

Other members of the department testified at the arbitration hearing that Theberge often used vulgar language, as well, insulting other firefighters with obscenities and even repeating some of the same language she accused Trafford of using to insult her.

The city contended that, as a lieutenant, it was Trafford’s duty to intervene when inappropriate language was used, not add to it.

However, according to Trafford, he refrained from stopping the use of inappropriate language because his own supervisors, including then-chief Gary Littlefield, frequently used the same language. Littlefield declined to comment on the fire department this week.

Though Bryant said at the time the restoration of Trafford’s position as lieutenant wouldn’t make negotiations with Webber and her clients easier, he emphasized that the city was working hard to change the attitude in the department and was still optimistic about women returning to their jobs.

But Webber revealed this week that the investigation into the women’s allegations is still not finished. Patricia Dunn, an attorney for the city, deferred questions regarding an ongoing investigation to Bryant, who wouldn’t comment on the probe or whether the same members of the department who were punished in December are involved.

MOVING FORWARD

It’s still undetermined how long it will take Wessler and his team from the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence to complete its training program. But it’s clear that, from previous harassment claims made by Rogers in the past 15 years, which twice resulted in settlements with the city, the history of inappropriate behavior in the department is longstanding.

Firefighters have received special sexual harassment training since 2003, when the Maine Human Rights Commission, for the second time, ruled in Rogers’ favor.

Though the city has authorized spending $20,000 for the intensified training, the actual cost could be more, if Wessler, who charges an hourly rate of $225 for himself and $175 for the two colleagues who assist him, needs more time.

According to Mayor Bruce Chuluda, Fire Chief Daniel Brock, who was hired in January following Littlefield’s abrupt retirement, is still trying to get a grasp of the situation he stepped into and the best way to move the department forward.

“He’s bringing his own management style into the group,” Chuluda said about Brock, who he described as “a quiet leader.”

Brock did not return phone calls this week seeking comment.

Brock was hired after Littlefield, who had been chief for 10 years, announced his retirement last October, just weeks after the female firefighters went on leave. Though Littlefield had planned to work through the end of last November, Chuluda put him on leave a month earlier and, for the interim, placed Police Chief Bill Baker in charge of the department during what could be seen as its low point.

Looking back at that time, Baker said it seemed a dramatic slip in the department as a professional environment “led to some poor workplace behavior on the part of some individuals and a culture of tolerance for it from others.”

He said it’s now up to the men and women in the department to change that culture for good. Observing from the other side of the public safety building, he said he has reason to think that’s happening.

“It seems to me that since the new chief has been in place the focus has been largely back on business where it belongs and I sense the

difference,” he said.

Still, the turmoil within the department is clearly not over. Rogers and Theberge remain on leave, having collected a full year’s salary, which is about $44,000 for each of them. As mediations continue, overtime costs keep adding up and the final tally for what taxpayers will end up doling out in dealing with the fire department’s issues is unknown.

Chuluda said he couldn’t say whether the end of the drama within the fire department was in sight, only that it’s already gone on too long.

“I would have liked it to end a long time ago,” he said.