N.C. Dept. to Change Policies in Wake of Dismissals

March 27--KNIGHTDALE -- Three volunteer firefighters dismissed by Knightdale last month for their family ties to other town employees remain ousted.

But, should those volunteers wish to continue risking their lives for the town, glimmers of hope exist.

Shannon Sales and Brandon Smith, along with Ryan Blair, a part-time employee, were fired Feb. 29 because of a policy that prohibits the town from employing married couples and more than one person of the same kin.

Blair's father, Steve, is a crew leader in the Public Works department. Sales' husband, Adam Stanley, works part-time as a recruiter for the fire department. Smith is the brother-in-law of Shawn Brown, the town's public safety director.

The violations were not the result of unethical behavior, which led to criticism of the dismissals.

Town Council did not discuss the dismissals at its meeting last week, but Knightdale Mayor Russell Killen says town staff is currently crafting a new personnel policy that, once adopted, would likely render the former volunteers eligible for work again.

"I've received a lot of feedback from people in the community," Killen said after last week's Town Council meeting. "But all I can say is that we're working on the issue and will address it once that policy is brought to us at a meeting in April."

Specific details of the forthcoming policy re-write are not yet available.

Also unclear is whether the dismissed firefighters would return to work for Knightdale.

They did not return calls seeking comment.

Killen also declined to comment further, as did most councilmen.

But councilmen Jeff Eddins and Terry Gleason after the meeting said they're committed to seeing those volunteers return to work.

"I'll be frank, I want to see them hired back," Eddins said. "That policy was meant to prevent nepotism and clearly this is not a case of that."

Eddins and Gleason chair the Public Safety Committee and previously called the dismissals "hasty" and "unnecessary."

"It's not like they did anything illegal or immoral," Gleason said.

The violations were discovered when the Human Resources department noticed paperwork for some volunteers was missing, according to Town Manager Seth Lawless.

Current policy

Currently, a Knightdale policy enacted in 2008 prohibits employment of any relative already working for the town government.

However, some are exempt.

Jay Chalk, son of Knightdale town councilman Mike Chalk, works as the town's athletics supervisor. But the policy doesn't apply to them because Jay Chalk was hired in 2000, before the current policy was enacted.

Prior to their dismissals, the firefighters had worked with the town for months.

Other towns

According to research by Knightdale town staff, personnel policies vary among other Raleigh suburbs.

Holly Springs and Zebulon don't allow any relatives or spouses to work together for their town governments.

Morrisville forbids family members from working in the same department.

Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, and Garner allow family members to work together as firefighters so long as they don't work the same shift.

Gleason says he'd like to model the new policy after the southern Wake towns.

Specht: 919-829-4826

Copyright 2012 - Eastern Wake News, Zebulon, N.C.