Fire 12 resignation

Nepotism policy adoption expected in August

Matt Baide | Jul 20, 20230

Commissioner chair Albert Wilder resigned from Mason County Fire District 12 at Tuesday’s regular meeting at the fire station in Matlock.

“At the conclusion of this day, I am resigning as a commissioner,” Wilder said right before the end of the meeting. “I will continue to serve the community as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, but as far as the commissioner, I am resigning at the end of this day.”

Wilder joins two other Fire 12 commissioners, John Pais and Brian Jutson, who have resigned. All three still face a recall vote because their names are on the Aug. 1 ballot.

The commissioners reviewed two separate nepotism policies during the meeting. Wilder is the father of commissioner Kelli Walsworth, and Walsworth is married to fire chief Bryan Walsworth.

The nepotism policy was not voted on and adopted during the meeting, but the policies reviewed are posted on the Fire District 12 website.

The first policy talks about the purpose and scope along with definitions of the policy. It states that the district will not prohibit all personal relationships between employees, but in order to avoid nepotism, reasonable restrictions will apply.

The second policy states, “Whenever possible, married or in relationships shall not be placed in direct supervisor/subordinate positions. Direct supervision is defined to include a supervisory relationship where the supervisor is directly responsible for supervising a subordinate. In situations where direct supervisory relationships cannot be avoided, such appointments must be approved by the board of commissioners.”

Wilder said the policy will be voted on at the next general meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Aug. 15.

“The biggest problem is trying to find a policy that fits the department,” Wilder said. “Just like every other rural fire department is if you go back to when this fire department was started, the chief’s son was a commissioner. There’s always been family, always.”

Mason County Commissioner Kevin Shutty, who represents Matlock, said he understands the frustration of the community. Shutty attended the Fire 12 candidate forum in Matlock on Saturday, with only candidate Nick Jones making himself available for the community to ask questions.

Commissioner candidate Cinda Compton was appointed to the vacant position after Pais resigned. Jennifer Jutson is a commissioner candidate but did not attend the forum.

“I think it’s really frustrating that the current regime is playing a shell game to try to avoid accountability for years of malfeasance, years of misfeasance and fraud,” Shutty said.

When asked about the federal criminal investigation into Fire 12, Shutty said it is his understanding that the FBI is investigating and when people make referrals to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, they’re sending those to the FBI.

“I think it’s pretty common for the FBI to not comment on open investigations as they’re going through their process but I’m confident in my conversation with the Sheriff’s Office that it is being investigated,” Shutty said. “We just don’t know what a timeline is on a process like this.”

Shutty said he wants people to contact the Sheriff’s Office when there are concerns or any new allegations relating to the way the fire district has been operating and “keep the pressure on that side too.”

One person who plans to apply for the open commissioner position is Marj Adsero, a resident of Lake Nahwatzel. Adsero applied for Pais’ seat after he resigned, but she was not appointed. She emailed her application after Jutson resigned but was still not appointed.

“Both times in the meeting, he (Wilder) said ‘No one applied, no one had interest,’ with me sitting in the meeting,” Adsero told the Journal. “Again for the paper saying no one stepped up other than one person, which was his daughter, Kelli, but at that time, Nick (Jones) and I both put our applications in for that position that they voted for Kelli.”

Adsero’s husband was a volunteer firefighter with Fire 12 for 13 years, but Marj said when Kelli became chief, they started pushing out many volunteers and community members. Adsero, who is retired, said she has 11 years of board experience and 17 year’s experience with a global company as a plant controller where she conducted internal and external audits.

At the end of the meeting after Wilder announced his resignation, Adsero asked whether her application would be accepted, and Wilder said “all the applications that have been provided to this point are still here.”

Adsero is not hopeful she will be appointed to the open commissioner position.

“I confirmed again do you have my application? And he said ‘Oh, we have it,’” Adsero said. “But it’s not going to matter.”