MOSES LAKE - Former Grant County Fire District 5 chief Scott Clendenin disputes the district board's version of events surrounding his departure.

He says he was not asked to resign, as recently told by District 5 Board Chairman Patrick Hochstatter, but was instead fired without warning at a Feb. 6 board meeting.

"Let me set the record straight, I did not resign as fire chief," he stated in a letter to the Columbia Basin Herald. "The board of commissioners chairman Pat Hochstatter, Shawn Needham and Buck Naff fired me at 10 p.m. (Feb. 6) and stated my employment would end at midnight."

Last week Hochstatter said Clendenin was asked to submit his resignation because "he was just not the right man for the fire department."

On Monday, he again declined to give specificreasons Clendenin was let go, saying he is "trying to make this separation as friendly as possible" and that relating the details wouldn't benefit anybody.

"I can give you back a bunch of our accusations, thoughts, feelings, concerns, or whatever but I don't think it's warranted," he said. "I don't think its a good thing for the department to start the whole mudslinging thing back and forth."

But Clendenin suggests he was fired after standing up to the board on behalf of his staff and volunteers.

"It is a fact you must stand toe-to-toe with board members to keep your volunteers motivated and the career staff's best interest for employment and benefits," he sated. "My first responsibility as a fire chief and as a leader is my people."

Clendenin stated his "personal problems" with the board were mainly limited to Hochstatter, who he claims attempted to fire him once before.

"Pat Hochstatter is not a professional and has shown over and over again he tries to intimidate and control people instead of being a good effective leader," he stated. "Chairman Hochstatter has a hard time thinking he has lost control of the fire district and he is not the fire chief."

Hochstatter denied having made any motion to have Clendenin removed from his position prior to this month, and reiterated that Clendenin was not fired, but was asked to resign from the position.

"One thing was said and (Clendenin) heard something different," he said.

On the night Clendenin was let go, the board held a nearly hour-long executive session in which Clendenin claims they discussed a request he'd made for written comments regarding his 2011 evaluation.

Clendenin said he wrote two letters to the board requesting comments on the evaluation, one on Dec. 15 that received no reply and another Jan. 18.

"Instead of providing me written documentation from my 2011 evaluation the board fired me as the fire chief of district 5," Clendenin said.

Hochstatter confirmed the board did discuss Clendenin's performance in the Feb. 6 executive session. He said the reason no written comments were given to Clendenin concerning his December performance evaluation was that the board decided to let him go.

"If you're not necessarily going to continue employment, then what's the point?" he said.

A public records request revealed no performance evaluations or other documents recording incidents of misconduct on the part of Clendenin nor any recorded disciplinary action taken against the former chief, dating back to the beginning of his time with Grant County Fire District 5.

Clendenin said the lack of written feedback on his evaluation is merely the latest example of poor communication he's experienced from the board since he was hired in August 2010.

"They have had very little response to me after countless hours preparing objectives, goals, budget models, a one- to five-year strategic plan, developing a new operations manual, updating the district's policy manual for 2011 and 2012 and trying to improve customer service in the district," he stated.

Clendenin went on to say that after a year and a half the board has not acted to approve his updates to a district policy manual dating back to 1997.

Hochstatter takes issue with the accusation, saying the board reviewed the policy manual in 2010, although he couldn't comment on the extent of the review.

"When Scott (Clendenin) started he pretty much rewrote the whole policy manual and that wasn't necessarily ... we had a difference of opinion on the policy manual," Hochstatter said. "There are certain policies the board must approve and there are policies that are more standard operating procedure. I don't think Scott understood the difference between those. Some of those policies are very old but they have been reviewed."

Clendenin says he helped save the district at least $300,000 last year and pointed to other improvements he made, including providing more training, improving living conditions for duty crews, opening communications among district personnel and increasing safety and accountability.

In light of this track record, Clendenin asserts his unemployment makes no sense.

"I have worked hard for District 5 personnel and for our customers and do not appreciate being fired because I stood up for my people," he said.