Serious allegations of toxic work culture at Maine fire marshal’s office keep coming

AUGUSTA, Maine — A few weeks after Maine’s fire marshal told lawmakers that morale was improving in the office investigated for allegedly having a toxic culture, he received an email from an inspector who wanted to share final thoughts before resigning.

The June 7 email to Richard McCarthy repeatedly mentioned a “Good Old Boys Club” that the now-former inspector, Daryen Granata, described as “currently running the agency.”

Granata outlined concerns with an inequitable training system and Assistant Fire Marshal Greg Day, who runs the inspections division and whom Granata accused of abusing overtime, showing up 37 minutes late to his first meeting before yelling at staff to “get off your computers” and promoting a “buddy” to supervisor of the Southern Division over more qualified inspectors.

“Decisions like this are killing morale agency-wide,” Granata wrote in the email obtained by the Bangor Daily News.

McCarthy has gotten other complaints in recent months about his other assistant fire marshal, Troy Gardner, who oversees the investigations division. None of the complaints obtained this month had been previously publicized. Taken together, they call into question how much has changed in the office since lawmakers reviewed the agency following BDN reports last year.

Maine State Law Enforcement Association Executive Director Kevin Anderson, whose bargaining unit represents fire investigators, sent McCarthy a complaint in March about Gardner’s “aggressive, unprofessional and threatening” behavior during a labor management meeting that McCarthy also attended.

Gardner , a former Maine State Police criminal investigations leader, was “looking to pick a fight” at the meeting that he viewed as a “ploy [by] me/us to get more dirt on him,” Anderson wrote.

In April, investigator Brady Smith emailed McCarthy to say he left the office due to Gardner. Smith described Gardner as a “corrupt” leader whose “no way but my way style of thinking” has “utterly ruined your agency.”

Asked for comment Thursday, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said in an emailed reply that McCarthy was copied on that “we are not in a position to discuss personnel matters.”

Lawmakers are currently not in session in Augusta, but the chairs of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, Rep. Sue Salisbury, D-Westbrook, and Sen. Pinny Beebe-Center, D-Rockland, said they are “aware of many of these complaints and take them very seriously.”

“We are currently in the process of looking into these concerns further to determine the next steps,” Salisbury said.

Day and Gardner did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Smith, who is Presque Isle’s deputy police chief, and Anderson, the state law enforcement union leader.

Granata, who is now Cape Elizabeth’s harbormaster after working in the fire marshal’s office for six years and in law enforcement for more than 30 years, said he feels bad for former colleagues still working for the office, though he added several are looking to join him in leaving.

“The pure lack of leadership and the way they operate is just stunning to me,” Granata said. “There’s just no integrity.”

Last July, the Legislature’s oversight arm confirmed fire marshal’s office staff concerns, including from investigators who described being rushed to complete work and feeling like they were pushed to find crimes had been committed. Investigators also found dealing with management more fraught than responding to deadly fires.

In December, the Maine Labor Relations Board found the office had acted in “flagrant violation” of the union contract for members of the investigations division.

McCarthy and Public Safety Commission Michael Sauschuck appeared May 15 during a joint hearing of the Legislature’s watchdog and criminal justice committees to explain how they were responding to the litany of concerns about the fire marshal’s office.

McCarthy provided few specifics when lawmakers asked about how he was repairing trust with staff on an individual basis, other than mentioning he was working to build greater “cohesion” by implementing more consistent policies between the inspection and investigations divisions, holding more meetings and updating outdated policies.

“I believe morale is improving,” McCarthy said. “There is still work to be done, but I believe it is improving.”