By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The Nottingham Select Board decision to terminate Fire Chief Jaye Vilchock was correct, as the long-time chief gave “substantial cause” to justify last year’s firing, according to a court ruling released last week.
“The Court finds that [Vilchock] ‘lost the confidence of … those who served under him’ and his ‘course of conduct in this entire matter’ rendered him unfit for the position of NFRD Chief,” Rockingham Superior Court Judge Lisa English wrote.
Nottingham Town Administrator Ellen White told InDepthNH.org on Tuesday the town’s Select Board had yet to discuss the ruling and had no comment at this time.
Vilchock went to court last year in an effort to get his job back. After a bench trial this summer, though, English ruled there was more than enough evidence for the Board to take action. Vilchock did not respond to a request for comment.
Firefighters and other department staff started voicing complaints about Vilchock to town officials in early 2023, according to court records. Several came to a March 2023 non-public meeting with the Board of Selectmen to make allegations against Jaye Vilchock and his wife, Sandra Vilchock, the department’s lieutenant.
The employees reportedly raised serious issues concerning “public and employee safety, unfair discipline, retaliation, questionable personnel management, and creation of a hostile work environment.”
The NFRD employees arrived at the meeting in an unfamiliar car and entered and left the building through the back door for fear of retaliation, according to court records. Three days later, the board suspended Jaye Vilchock and Sandra Vilchock, and hired Charla Stevens, Esq., of Charla Stevens Consulting to investigate the complaints.
When the Board read the completed Stevens report in June of 2023 it moved to fire Jaye Vilchock for cause. He was issued a termination letter on June 19, 2023.
Stevens testified at the bench trial and discussed her findings and the factual basis, according to English’s order.
“The Court credits Ms. Stevens’s credible testimony regarding her investigation, her findings related to the complaints lodged against the plaintiff, and the concerns raised in her report,” English wrote.
“Ultimately, Ms. Stevens concluded in her report that the NFRD was ‘in a state of dysfunction with extremely low morale,’ with ‘an overall sense which is supported by the evidence that the ‘plaintiff engages in micromanagement, fails to delegate and empower officers, does not accept the input of others regarding Department affairs, and engages in retaliation and mistreatment of those he views as challenging him or as poor workers.’”
English cites four examples from Stevens that illustrate the serious problems with Jaye Vilchock’s leadership, all of which give the town cause to fire him.
In one incident, Jane Vilchock canceled mutual aid coming from a neighboring fire department to a car accident in which a woman was pinned under a tree. Jaye Vilchock was not himself at the scene of the accident, in violation of department policy which gives that authority to the on-scene commander.
Vilchock told Stevens during her investigation he felt some of his staff called mutual aid too often.
English further cites incidents in which Jaye Vilchock ordered an employee to drive a department truck that did not have working brakes, got into an accident with a department and did not report the damage, and staff members’ constant fear of retaliation.
“The Court finds evidence that this fear of retaliation was warranted, as evidenced by the [Jaye Vilchock’s] interactions with Chief [Matthew] Curry while the [Jaye Vilchock] was on administrative leave, persuading him to meet with him on one occasion during which Chief Curry testified that ‘there was a lot of anger directed towards [him]’ and he “felt like a punching bag… the whole time,’” English wrote.
The Stevens report also found that Sandra Vilchock was known to spout inappropriate and hostile comments to patients and staff, using frequent homophobic and racist slurs, according to the report. In one instance, she used a slur for a lesbian patient who was being transported, before commenting, “Why can’t they be normal.”
Jaye Vilchock was chief for decades for the on-call volunteer department. Stevens found that Jaye Vilchock struggled when the department switched to being staffed on a full-time professional basis. English wrote in her order that difficult transition does not excuse his poor leadership.
“Multiple witnesses testified that this transition was generally difficult. However, [Jaye Vilchock] was not only unable to manage this change in the NFRD effectively, but also handled it in a way that resulted in the toxic and inefficient work environment evidenced by the verified complaints lodged against him,” English wrote.
