We have reports coming in from what was apparently a rather poor showing by the BCFD Board of Trustees and their supporters at the board meeting tonight. We hope to have more details later but here are some points of interest.
Two officers in the BCFD Auxiliary, Val Gould and Lorraine Conn (wife of chairman Mike Conn) who are strong supporters of the board misbehaved during the comment period at the meeting. Ms. Gould stood up at one point, interrupted someone who was making a comment and rudely told her to stop talking while Ms. Conn was seen making a rude gesture (a.k.a. “the finger”) to the same commenter. While Mike Conn did at one point verbally attempt to control Ms. Gould during one of her outbursts, he was largely unsuccessful and himself repeatedly interrupted comments. Folks, this is no way to run a board meeting. The purpose of public comment periods are to let every concerned stakeholder have their say. To behave in this manner is inexcusable, and apologies should be issued immediately.
In a later comment period, one canyon resident pointed out that the board spent a huge amount of time discussing the purchase of a printer/copier while largely ignoring the safety concerns expressed during the initial comments, given him no confidence in the adequacy of the job they were doing managing the department.
After the meeting, Perry Shane was asked if he was still training officer in the department. He said no. He was then asked if he was still co-chief with Denny Guentzel, to which he replied “I don’t know what I am. I’m just a volunteer firefighter.” Why are we finding out about this in this manner? Shouldn’t something like that be part of the chief’s report? And who is training officer if Shane is not?
Acting chief Denny Guentzel indicated on questioning that while he’d had a regular physical from his personal doctor early in the year (prior to coming back on the department) he had not seen the department’s physician nor had he had the stress test required of all firefighters over the age of 60. So we wonder if Mike Conn, Dave McKee, and Rick Anderson have had theirs, or like Denny are they putting the department and the canyon at risk by responding to calls in potentially inadequate physical condition to perform the duties required of them and if in fact they are more likely to become another incident themselves if overstressed. (Heart attack is the leading cause of death among firefighters.)
We also have something new to report in relation to an earlier blog report. In his chief’s report tonight Denny Guentzel indicated that he had received a call from the Bozeman Fire Department thanking him for the service of Perry Shane and Ted Mather in Tender 84 at the antique mall fire. It was indicated they hauled more than 25,000 gallons of water and stayed on scene until 4:00 a.m. If this is the case, then the problems reported in an earlier post on this blog were either incorrect or eventually overcome. If we were in error in reporting the problems, we sincerely apologize and in either case congratulate Shane and Mather on providing that service either with or without having difficulty to begin with.
Bridger Canyon Fire Department (Ex)Firefighters 
Not the first time Lorraine Conn has shown her lack of maturity at a board meeting. Last time I saw it, a firefighter in his early twenties had to ask her to stop talking and show some respect. Glad to see her childish behavior being called out.