This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Salt Lake City Fire captain has filed a notice of claim at City Hall alleging fraud, state fire code violations, cover-ups and retaliation by top brass in the department.
Martha Ellis, a 21-year veteran and former battalion chief and fire marshal, says in her June 6 notice she was demoted recently after raising concerns, including allegations aimed at members of the department's executive team engaging in personal activities on city time, payroll fraud, a lack of smoke detectors at Fire Station 2 that caught fire and installation of bicycle lanes on 300 South that yielded a roadway narrower than required by the state and city fire code.
A notice of claim is a required first step to a lawsuit against a government entity. The Tribune obtained the document under the state's open-records law after appealing the city's initial denial on grounds it was a private record.
Attorney Jaqualin Peterson, who is representing Ellis, said the claim was filed because "the city wasn't taking any of this seriously."
The claim states that "Capt. Ellis communicated in good faith about what she reasonably perceived to be potential misuse of public funds and-or suspected violations of state law and city policies and ordinances."
In addition, "Capt. Ellis also objected and refused to carry out directives (i.e., cover-up) what she reasonably believed to be violations of the fire code."
Ellis also filed a federal complaint of sexual discrimination and harassment against the department with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That November 2014 complaint is being amended.
Mayor Jackie Biskupski declined to comment Tuesday, according to spokeswoman Holly Mullen. "The mayor doesn't have a comment at this time because [the notice of claim] is a threat of litigation," she said.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department's spokesman also declined a request for comment.
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Excess-pay allegations • On Feb. 21, The Tribune ran a story highlighting Fire Chief Brian Dale's affiliation with the International Academies of Emergency Dispatchers (IAED).
While he was deputy chief, Dale said he taught classes at IAED conferences, earning $20,000 to $30,000 annually. As deputy chief, the city paid him a salary of $110,116 and benefits worth $11,116, for a total package of $121,232.
Dale said in his City Council confirmation hearing in May 2015 and later in a Tribune interview that he has not abused his office or broken the public trust. IAED pays for Dale's travel and expenses at conferences across the U.S. and in Europe.
In 2012, for example, he spent over 40 days at various conferences, according to his computerized calendar. However, city officials say the calendars are not an official record, but only a planning tool that often is fluid among top executives.
Recently, Dale announced his retirement later this year.
Although Biskupski had appointed acting Police Chief Mike Brown to the top position in the police department, she had not done so with Dale, who, like Brown, was a carry-over from the administration of Mayor Ralph Becker.
On March 16, according to the allegation, three weeks after the publication of the Dale story, Ellis was placed on administrative leave because "she failed to meet certain performance expectations."
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Fire code violations • One year earlier, Salt Lake City's Fire Station No. 2 in the Marmalade neighborhood caught fire, causing extensive damage and forcing nine firefighters to receive treatment for smoke inhalation. Four firefighters filed notices of claim at City Hall in March, indicating they may take legal action against the municipality for negligence and violation of the city's own fire code.
There were no smoke detectors in firefighters' sleeping quarters, contributing to unspecified injuries to the firefighters when the two-alarm blaze broke out at 1:27 a.m.
Ellis, who was fire marshal at the time, said she was purposely kept out of the loop during the design and construction of the station.
But, according to her notice of claim: "Crews involved were not happy with the fire department's position on the safety conditions in that the department was attempting to cover up deliberate violations of the fire code. Ellis was further aware that the department was trying to place blame for such violations on her."
Not least, Ellis' claim states she objected to plans to install protected bike lanes on 300 South because the concrete barriers would narrow the roadway in many places to less than the 26-foot minimum required for ladder trucks used in fires that involve buildings over 30 feet tall.
According to Robin Hutcheson, director of transportation for the city, there was some miscommunication between the agencies during the planning of the protected bike lanes.
The notice of claim, however, said Ellis refused to sign off on the bike lanes long before construction began in 2014, but they were built anyway when word came down from the Becker administration "to make it happen." The claim states that a new fire marshal, Ryan Mellor, said he had the authority to "manipulate the code."
"The fire department was trying to backtrack, or cover up, the fact that it had approved the city's building of the bicycle barriers in deliberate violation of the code," the notice of claim asserts.
In April, Mellor told The Tribune that, according to the fire code, the 300 South roadway meets the 26-foot minimum width requirement. But, he added, that width includes parking spaces where cars could impede fire trucks.
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Internal complaints • Ellis first complained of possible payroll fraud in a May 2015 letter to the city attorney, and again tried to seek official attention in a September complaint to the city's EEO program manager, according to the notice of claim. Next, she brought her concerns to the mayor-elect through Biskupski's spokesman, Matthew Rojas, on three separate occasions, beginning a month after Biskupski's Nov. 3 election. She then met privately with the mayor on March 30, two weeks after she was placed on administrative leave but prior to a disciplinary hearing. Nonetheless, Ellis was demoted May 3.
"Captain Ellis has reason to believe that the [fire department] executive team and the mayor, among others, blame her for the heightened scrutiny that Chief Dale, the fire department and the city have come under due to the negative publicity surrounding the events described in this notice," according to the claim. The document asserts that Dale knew of her internal complaints or suspected her of leaking information about them to the news media.
Late last month, Dale announced he would retire in October when he reaches his 30-year work anniversary.
The notice of claim seeks reinstatement to her former battalion chief rank, back pay and benefits and damages.
Ellis in a statement Tuesday said her claims go beyond retaliation.
"Although I have filed the notice of claim in response to what I believe to be retaliatory disciplinary actions, this story has broader implications in public safety, appropriate use of public funds and transparency in governance," she said. "Every effort has been made to resolve these matters at the lowest possible level. Having exhausted all other options, I felt obligated to make my concerns public, as not doing so would be in direct conflict with my responsibilities as a public servant."