WESTBROOK – A female firefighter on leave after charging the Westbrook Fire Department with sexual harassment returned this week to a very different work environment, according to city officials and a consultant who provided harassment prevention training to the department.
Lisa Theberge and another female firefighter, Kathy Rogers, went on paid administrative leave in September 2008 due to what they said was a hostile work environment. The two women also have a lawsuit pending against the city.
Rogers has not returned to the job. However, Theberge’s first day back at work was Monday, said the new fire chief, Michael Pardue.
“She is back in a very professional culture…and a very professional environment,” said Pardue, who has led the department since March. “This is an organization working very hard to change whatever the image was previously.”
Stephen Wessler, executive director of the Portland-based Center for Preventing Hate, which has been conducting training in harassment prevention and communication at the fire department over a period of months, agreed with Pardue that there has been a climate change.
“The training went exceptionally well,” Wessler said. “It’s clear to me this department wants to move on and is ready for the return of Lisa Theberge and is ready for the next chapter. My belief is that the department wants this to be a really positive next chapter.”
The city’s new mayor, Colleen Hilton, who has made transforming the fire department a priority ever since she took office in January, said this week that she is “thrilled to get Lisa Theberge back to work.”
Hilton said that she is “confident that the re-entry will go well because we’ve made so many changes and I’m confident about the work that’s been done down there.”
Wessler called Theberge’s return “wonderful timing” because he said it allows department members to utilize the skills they have just learned in training and to show that “every member is accepted.”
Wessler said the training will be completed this week when Theberge and a few other department members who weren’t able to participate because of scheduling conflicts will have their training.
Pardue said it’s important that everyone in the department be trained so that they all “have the same expectations going forward.”
Theberge could not be reached for comment, and the attorney representing both Theberge and Rogers declined to comment.
When asked about Rogers’ possible return to work, Hilton said, “We’re still in discussions with Kathy and her attorney.”
Sexual harassment had been an issue in the department for decades, but the charges brought by Theberge and Rogers brought it to the forefront.
Their complaints led to a city investigation and the punishment of seven firefighters in December 2008.
Then, following her inauguration this year, Hilton did not re-appoint both the fire chief and the deputy chief. The city in March hired two temporary leadership consultants – Pardue and Deputy Fire Chief Sandra Hillsgrove – to head the department.
And the city said its plan was to create an environment in the department that would enable Theberge and Rogers to come back to work.
Wessler said there are key factors now present at the department that make a return possible.
One is the training that department members received, for which the council earlier this year authorized spending up to $40,000.
Hilton said she is “very impressed” with the work that Wessler has done with the department.
Wessler said that part of the training was geared toward helping firefighters learn how to deal with workplace conflict by talking about it and bringing it out into the open.
Also, he said, the training helped department members learn how what they say can hurt others, even if it’s unintentional.
“You’ve got to assume that using degrading language or jokes will have a negative impact on someone else,” he said.
Wessler said he plans to return this summer to check in with members on how they’re doing coping with any conflicts that have arisen and see if they need to learn any additional skills.
Another important change in the department, Wessler said, is “very strong leadership.” He said Pardue and Hillsgrove are “really superb” leaders.
Also, he said, all along department members have had outstanding skills as firefighters and paramedics. Wessler said that despite the difficulties, they “continue to have faith in their high standards as professionals.”
Pardue said that another change is the department’s effort to develop more of an “open approach” with Westbrook residents. One way it has been striving to do that is by participating in school and community functions.
For example, he said, about six weeks ago firefighters went to Westbrook Middle School to observe a fire drill and were able to offer tips on how the school could avoid a bottleneck on a stairwell that occurred as students were evacuating the school.
The fire department also has worked with a business to help refine its fire drill plan, and firefighters next week plan to visit some children at a summer day camp to demonstrate how fire hoses and ladders work, Pardue said.
In addition, he said, in two or three weeks, the department will close its call-company station house on Mechanic Street and transfer the station’s equipment and its on-call firefighters to the main public safety building on Main Street.
Pardue, the founder and president of management consulting firm Central Intelligence of Kennebunk, who has taken over the duties of fire chief for a six- to 12-month period, said the move is key to the department’s “unification” efforts to combine its full-time firefighters and call company staff.
The department currently has 33 full-time career firefighter positions – one of which is vacant and for which the city currently is seeking applicants – and 49 call company members and fire police, whose job it is to control traffic in the event of a fire.
Hilton said unification has been a goal of hers for several reasons. She said it just “didn’t make sense” to have the two units operating separately within a mile of each other. Also, she said, having the groups together will ensure they all operate under the same standards.
The city will re-use the Mechanic Street station, probably for repairs of public services vehicles, Hilton said.
Brendan Rielly, the City Council president, said on Monday that he is pleased that Theberge has returned to her job, and praised the department for changes it has made.
“For the first time in a long time, everything we’ve heard coming out of the fire department has been very positive,” Rielly said.
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