The Franklin Fire Merit Commission on Monday demoted a firefighter accused of harassing female paramedics and retaliating against a fellow firefighter by withholding directions to an emergency scene.
The five-member board voted 3-2 on Monday to accept Dennis Bordenkecher’s demotion, effective immediately, to firefighter from lieutenant, a position he had held since 2010.
Multiple internal charges were filed against Bordenkecher, a 22-year veteran of the Franklin Fire Department, last year. A hearing on his proposed discipline was scheduled for August, but Bordenkecher offered to accept losing his rank, rather than proceed with the evidentiary hearing. Other proposed sanctions, such as prohibiting him from ever testing for promotion again or the merit board assigning him a station and shift, were removed because state law does not give the board that authority.
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The merit board, which oversees the hiring, promotion, some discipline and termination of firefighters, was asked in August to consider accepting Bordenkecher’s admission and demotion, and met to discuss the matter. The board decided at that time it could not accept the demotion as the resolution of the disciplinary charges. They wanted to hear the evidence; they wanted the public to hear the evidence.
The internal charges were filed after an investigation into Bordenkecher’s conduct. A fire department review board was called and reported its findings and recommendations to the merit board under former Franklin Fire Chief Dan McElyea, who has since stepped down from the top leadership position. Fire Chief Matt Culp took the helm Jan. 1. Both testified during the hearing Monday night.
The charges included:
For the charge relating to harassment of female SEALS employees: neglect of duty, neglect or disobedience of orders and conduct unbecoming a member of the Franklin Fire Department;
For the charge of not providing directions to the medical call: neglect of duty, neglect or disobedience of orders, conduct unbecoming a member of the fire department and conduct injurious to the public peace or welfare;
For the charge of ordering a fellow firefighter not to provide directions to another firefighter: neglect of duty, neglect or disobedience of orders and conduct unbecoming a member of the fire department;
For the charge of retaliating against a firefighter: neglect of duty, neglect or disobedience of orders and conduct unbecoming a member of the fire department.
Keith Carlson, Bordenkecher’s attorney, pointed out that in all of Bordenkecher’s performance evaluations, which were presented to the board, he has only ever been given “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” in all areas.
He also argued that the city has poured a lot of money into training and retaining Bordenkecher during his 22-year career, and anything less than demotion would be a loss.
Bordenkecher said Monday he was ready to accept demotion as a consequence for his actions, but was not ready to hang up his hat as a firefighter.
“I feel that firefighting is a team approach, and I feel that, as a lieutenant at Station 22, I let my team down. I feel I would serve better as a firefighter,” Bordenkecher told the board.
“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching and looking into myself and I feel that with my 22 years of experience, I can certainly still bring a lot to the team.”
Bordenkecher said he needs to work on his communication skills.
“I really want to continue doing this job. I love it. I regret everything that happened. I’d like to put this to an end tonight because of everything I’ve went through, and my family’s went through and the fire department’s went through,” he said.
Board member Kathy Stolz asked Bordenkecher if he has been participating in any trainings or taking classes to improve his communication skills.
He said no.
For an hour, the board asked questions. They wanted specifics about the incidents in question.
“Your attorney may cringe at me asking this with where we’re at procedurally, but what did you do?” asked Michael Kyle, a board member.
“I could have handled things better. I could have been more open, more forthright, and communicated better with my peers,” Bordenkecher said.
“I’m going to be honest, that’s not answering my question,” Kyle said. “What did you do?” he asked again.
“Once again, I let my crew down,” Bordenkecher continued.
“How?”
“Communication was the biggest factor. People sometimes — often … I guess I don’t smile a lot, so people, they think everything I say is serious. I think I offended some people with stuff that I’ve said that might have been a joke.”
“Is that all?”
“I think that’s the gist of everything.”
Bordenkecher was assigned to a different shift in early 2019, and department staff was told not to discuss the matter, Bordenkecher said.
More details emerged as he was asked about the run incident when he refused to give a fellow firefighter directions to an emergency scene where a person was unconscious. Department leaders said that incident occurred after a meeting was organized so Bordenkecher could apologize to his crew for his actions regarding the harassment allegations.
“The meeting was done that morning, and then the run was that afternoon,” former chief McElyea said.
Bordenkecher said he met with the chief that morning, but the apology meeting with the crew was about a week and a half after the run incident.
“We had been there multiple times,” Bordenkecher told the board, explaining what happened the day of the run in question, in September 2018.
“So when he did not know how to get there on an unconscious person and he needed your help … why didn’t you just give him the directions?” Kelly asked.
“I was, at first, in disbelief that he did not know where Graham (Road) was,” Bordenkecher said. “For us and how our districts are, Graham (Road) is a dividing street in the City of Franklin … As a 10-year veteran, I would have thought he would’ve known — should’ve known, according to our rules.
I did give directions. But I will admit, one of the back steppers gave directions before I could. The whole time, during that run, we were headed in the right direction, toward the residence, and we went the shortest route possible without delay.”
Bordenkecher said department leaders should have handled the events of that day differently, and some board members agreed.
“Truth be known, I wish that day the chief would’ve sent me home, because I can’t begin to tell you how that affected me, reading the statements from the individuals who were upset with me. That was the worst day of my life,” Bordenkecher said.
“That day was very stressful. I was under a lot of duress and stress from everything that had just been presented to me, and I wish I would’ve handled it better and been more forthcoming, and I apologize for that and I apologize to them,” he continued. “But having just been handed everything I was handed, I don’t know how anybody would have been able to handle it any different. I was pretty emotional.”
Bordenkecher explained to the board how the charges brought against him have impacted his personal life.
“We’ve been through a lot. I’ve gotten my mailbox run over. I’ve had threats, all kinds of things. I have a 13-year-old son who told me don’t buy him gifts for Christmas because he didn’t know if I was going to have a job, and there’s nothing worse than that,” Bordenkecher said, crying.
He said he has tried to apologize to everyone involved, but was told not to discuss the matter. He told board members he thinks morale has taken a hit for some, but has been boosted for others, which confused them.
“I feel it has boosted some morale and brought down some,” Bordenkecher said. “With the crew that was unhappy with me, it might have boosted their morale.”
Fire chief Culp disagreed.
“I would say that, generally, morale is lower, specifically for one individual involved in this situation,” Culp said. “I don’t know of anybody that their morale got boosted. I personally don’t understand how that could be possible. But, generally, morale is lower.”
Culp said although Bordenkecher was no longer working the same shift, he was working at the same station, and still interacted with his former crew from time to time. The situation with Bordenkecher has created scheduling conflicts within the department, he said.
“It makes me feel ashamed. I wasn’t aware of that. I’m a little embarrassed. I want to work to try to bring that morale back up,” Bordenkecher said.
Department leaders stood by the charges as written, and contested the chronology of events and Bordenkecher’s details of the run incident in question, said Bill Barrett, an attorney representing the fire department.
“We are not here for trial. Because the outcome of tonight’s hearing is uncertain, I do not intend to conduct a deposition of the respondent, cold, in public, and I am not going to cross examine him,” Barrett said before the vote.
Culp told the board he would look into developing an improvement plan for Bordenkecher moving forward.
Following the public hearing, board members met privately for about 25 minutes before voting publicly. Board members Stolz, Kyle and Joe Kelly voted to accept Bordenkecher’s demotion; board members Ralph Speicher and Rachel Barrett Knight voted not to.
“You have a great opportunity to fix the things you’ve done,” Speicher said. “I do think you should’ve been sent home that day. But I stand by what I voted.”
During the course of this investigation, Bordenkecher continued to manage a shift at fire station 22 on the city’s east side. Bordenkecher was promoted to lieutenant in 2010 and earned $57,294 annually. He will take a pay cut of up to $5,000, he said. He was placed on paid administrative leave for eight shifts in December 2018 and January 2019, when the investigation started, but has since returned to work.
