This story, originally published at 4:57 p.m. March 7, 2024, was updated at 5:02 p.m. March 8, 2024, to add comments from Jeffrey Buddle, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local Union 1664. It was updated again at 5:48 p.m. to clarify that County Executive Marc Elrich said he had a potential candidate for fire chief but did not say he was submitting a nominee to the County Council.
County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said Thursday he stands by his nomination of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) Division Chief Charles Bailey for fire chief, even though Elrich dropped the nomination Tuesday.
Elrich nominated Bailey in November to take over for Scott Goldstein, who stepped down in July. He had worked for MCFRS for 34 years, starting as a volunteer in Sandy Spring and working as a paramedic and as a member of the hazmat team. If appointed, Bailey would have been the county’s first Black fire chief. However, the Montgomery County Council did not vote on Bailey’s nomination within the 60 days mandated by county code, so Elrich would have been required to resubmit Bailey’s original nomination or submit a new candidate. Gary Cooper is serving as interim chief.
It is unclear why the council did not vote on Bailey’s nomination in a timely manner or why the nomination expired.
Bailey declined to comment on the dropped nomination when reached by phone by MoCo360 Tuesday afternoon.
“Knowing that we did not have the votes on the council, there was no point in putting it back out there,” Elrich said during a press briefing Thursday.
When asked whether Bailey was connected to a Montgomery County Office of Inspector General (OIG) memorandum released Friday that revealed that a senior MCFRS employee engaged in misconduct, Elrich said he couldn’t comment on personnel matters.
“But obviously, I was ready to put him forward again,” Elrich said.
According to the memorandum, a senior MCFRS employee engaged in misconduct in 2019 and 2021, violating the Code of Conduct. The identity of the employee is unknown.
Elrich said Thursday there are some other good candidates he has in mind to potentially put forward for the fire chief position.
Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) declined to comment Thursday on Elrich’s assertion that there was not enough council support for Bailey.
“It is the county executive’s responsibility to garner support from councilmembers for his nominees,” Friedson told MoCo360. “The council takes seriously its role to advise and consent on nominees to ensure public accountability and we await an official nomination transmittal for this critical role.”
During the briefing Thursday, Elrich also responded to statements released by Jeffrey Buddle, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local Union 1664, in which Buddle criticized Elrich for the fire chief selection process.
Buddle said in an email statement Thursday that “on several occasions over the course of a year he had discussions regarding senior MCFRS officials along with the Fire Chief selection process.”
In the statement, Buddle said that on Nov. 28, 2022, he sent an email to the county executive’s office that “raised several concerns of misconduct regarding senior management officials (including Division Chief Bailey),” and said that “the union received no response from the County Executive.”
Buddle detailed similar instances from June to August where he brought up his concerns about Bailey to Elrich via emails and in-person conversations and had been dismissed. He said that the concerns had “not been addressed or investigated in any meaningful way” and the union “was ignored” repeatedly.
According to the statement, on Nov. 13, Buddle said he met with Elrich at his office and “the County Executive acknowledged the union’s concerns but stated that he was moving forward with the nomination notwithstanding the union’s concerns.”
Buddle told MoCo360 on Friday that he cannot publicly comment on what the union’s specific concerns are about Bailey because they are “personnel-related matters.”
Elrich denied allegations that he ignored complaints about Bailey from the local union.
“They actually weren’t ignored. … We went back to HR … not a single thing that they listed appeared in any record of having ever been raised with personnel or raised with the fire chief. Ever,” Elrich said. “So it’s very interesting that these suddenly pop up.”
In response to Elrich’s comment, Buddle told MoCo360 on Friday that “this did not suddenly pop up” and “our concerns were well documented.”
Buddle had also released a statement late March 1 that the union was “aware of the public report” concerning the OIG memorandum. The statement did not make any specific connection to Bailey.
“Our members who stepped forward to provide witness testimony should be commended for their courage in providing first-hand accounts of such misconduct,” Buddle wrote. “Rest assured that their testimony to the Inspector General is protected by law from retaliation or reprisal by anyone in Montgomery County Government or otherwise.”
Elrich said he believed the union was trying to push Bailey out of the running in favor of an unnamed former union president.
“So I would say that, you know, their motivations were pretty much trying to knock off one candidate and make room for another candidate. And it really bothers me,” Elrich said. “The union succeeded in getting what they wanted at least in terms of not getting this chief. I still feel and I know that most of the people who did the interviews feel [Bailey] is certainly the best qualified candidate we had.”
In response to this comment, Buddle told MoCo360 Friday that “it is unfortunate the County Executive seems to assign all the blame to the union for his own failure to properly vet yet another nominee for a significant position within his administration.”
MCFRS spokesperson Daniel Ogren said Thursday that the fire department was not told why the decision was made to let Bailey’s nomination expire and why Elrich said there was not enough council support for him to be named chief. Ogren also said the next step in finding a new chief is unclear to the department.
“We’re anxious to have a new fire chief, but we have no idea where it’s [going to] go from here,” Ogren said. “The assumption is that the process is going to be reopened and there will be interviews locally, regionally and maybe beyond in an attempt to find the next fire chief. We really have no idea how all that plays out.”