Freeport Officials Stand Behind Embattled Fire Chief Ben Greenslait

FREEPORT -- Fire Chief Ben Greenslait agreed with investigators that he was not a licensed firefighter about two weeks before a letter acknowledging such showed up on Mayor Mickey Marse's desk, according to a report the Bureau of Fire Standards and Training released to the Daily News on Wednesday.

In an interview June 14, Greenslait could not produce a single document that verified his participation as a firefighter from 1995 to 2004, according to the report. A firefighter's certification lapses if he or she is not active for more than three years. Greenslait originally was certified in 1989.

"I have come to the conclusion that ... Greenslait's minimum standards certification had probably expired before he was accepted as a volunteer by Freeport in March 2004," investigator Tuffy Dixon wrote in the report.

Greenslait has been running the Freeport Fire Department since he was promoted in 2008. In his application for the position, he stated that he started working with the department in 1999, although investigators did not report finding any evidence to confirm that.

After the city received the letter from the state July 2, the council assigned Greenslait to administrative duties. He continues to collect his $47,407 salary.

The Walton County Sheriff's Office has provided two high-level emergency management officers to oversee operations temporarily at no cost to the city.

The state's investigation was initiated by a complaint filed by former firefighter Wayne Charles.

Marse and council members continued to defend Greenslait at their meeting Tuesday. They questioned what evidence the state used to determine Greenslait was not a volunteer in 1999 and whether the city should appeal the decision.

"We need to do everything we can to back him up," said Councilman Charlie Simmons. "He's the best chief we've ever had."

Councilman Earl King said the city should stand by its decision to keep Greenslait as chief until it gets more information from the state.

"The state made a decision based on the word of people and has no written proof that he was there or wasn't there," he said.

In the fire bureau's report, Dixon writes that Jason Owens, who was a Freeport firefighter from 1994 to 2002 and then Fire Chief until 2004, stated "without question" in an interview that Greenslait was not a member during his time at the department.

Robin Haynes, Freeport's city clerk, told Dixon she was "not positive" but did not think Greenslait was a volunteer firefighter when she started working with the city in 2000, according to the report.

The report also included several handwritten and typed letters from residents stating that they remember Greenslait working as a firefighter during the time in question.

Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson said that aside from the operations support his office is providing the Fire Department, a deputy also is looking into allegations about Greenslait's certification status.

"We'll be looking into whether it was known or should have been known that his certification wasn't good at that time," he said. "And also, is it accurate that it's not good?"

He said he hopes the investigation will wrap up by next week.

After Tuesday's meeting, Haynes questioned the state's process for verifying a firefighter's certification from a personnel standpoint. She said it seemed to be based on the "honor system," and that somewhere in Greenslait's case that system broke down.

She did not comment on where in the chain that breakdown occurred.

She said Greenslait presented his certification letter when he was hired and that the state's website listed him as certified.

"Regardless of what happens with Ben, if we ever have to go out and get another fire chief and he has a certificate and it says on the website that it's accurate, how will we know?," she said Wednesday.

After Tuesday's meeting, Greenslait said he has not decided whether to appeal the state's decision that his certification had lapsed.

"I have a lot of unanswered questions," he said.

For now, he said he has started training for the next certification exam in September, which will require him to pass a series of rigorous physical tests.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service