By Nick Sambides Jr.
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Copyright 2007 Bangor Daily News
MEDWAY, Maine — Racism and sexism among East Millinocket firefighters and police, and Medway selectmen’s failure to oppose it, forced Fire Chief Peter Noddin’s resignation, he said Wednesday.
Noddin blamed his resignation on continuing fallout from a series of incidents within his department and with neighboring East Millinocket firefighters, including a fire in July 2004 in which East Millinocket firefighters left a fire scene in Medway, where they had answered a mutual-aid call, because Noddin assigned a female Medway volunteer firefighter to a key position in an interior attack team.
Harassment that followed the incident from within Medway’s department helped contribute to six female firefighters leaving Medway’s volunteer department inside a month of the incident, Noddin said.
He said East Millinocket firefighters used a derogatory term when referring to women firefighters. More recently, Noddin said, East Millinocket police had threatened to harass American Indian members of the Medway Volunteer Fire Department.
“I stepped down and then was fired,” Noddin said Wednesday. “There have been some controversies here over diversity in the Fire Department and I had asked for a statement of support from the town that we would be an equal opportunity employer, and I never got it.”
East Millinocket Fire Chief Les Brown and East Millinocket police Chief Garold Cramp did not immediately return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Other East Millinocket and Medway officials denied or expressed mystification at Noddin’s claims, with Medway officials saying he was never fired.
Mark Scally, chairman of East Millinocket’s Board of Selectmen, and Kathy Lee, Medway’s administrative assistant, said they knew nothing of racism or sexism within their town’s respective fire departments.
“I have never heard anything about East Millinocket firefighters refusing to work with anybody, never mind Medway firefighters,” Scally said Wednesday.
“We have never refused to back Peter,” said John Farrington, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “We have always given him our 100 percent support.”
Scally added: “This whole thing sounds dubious to me.” Scally, a member of East Millinocket’s board since May 2004, said he has never met Noddin. “Nobody has brought this to the [East Millinocket] board.
“If it’s that serious, why hasn’t he brought it to our attention? And if he makes claims that he has, that is patently false,” Scally added.
Farrington and Lee said they didn’t know why Noddin resigned so suddenly. Attempts to contact Noddin by telephone calls, certified letters and sending a police officer to his house prior to the board’s accepting his resignation all failed, Farrington said.
“About three years ago he came to us with these allegations [in July 2004] and we said, ‘Peter, get us the facts and come back to us,’ and he never did,” Farrington said, “and when he claims we are not an equal opportunity employer, every document that we have states that we are.”
Noddin said he was wondering how far he should go in pursuing his claims given that the job of fire chief only paid him a stipend of about $500 annually.
When asked if she had any idea why Noddin resigned, Lee replied, “not a clue.”
“We enacted a sexual harassment policy two years ago because we didn’t have one and Peter helped us do it,” Lee said. “His job performance has been fine. As a fire chief, Peter knows the laws better than anyone.”
Noddin explained his reasons for resigning in an e-mail to Medway’s selectmen and Lee dated Feb. 20. His resignation was effective Feb. 28.
“My status as a whistleblower, and the board’s refusal to support my Title VII rights as such, and the rights of individuals that are locally controversial due to gender or perceived race/national origin differences create a situation where continued service on my part would be ineffective and detrimental to the department as well as the community,” Noddin wrote.
During a meeting last week, Medway’s selectmen asked Lee to investigate. Wednesday, Scally said he would do so as well.
Medway’s selectmen have never pressured Noddin over the hiring of minorities for the Fire Department, which pays firefighters for every emergency call they respond to, Farrington said.
Scally praised Brown’s running of the East Millinocket Fire Department, particularly its “very successful” ambulance service.
“He’s got good ideas. He’s a forward thinker who has kept the place up to snuff,” Scally said. “I think Les Brown is a very competent person.”
Assistant Chief John Lee has temporarily replaced Noddin as Medway’s chief.