DAWSON CITY – Dawson’s fire chief has his job back.

There are certain conditions attached to it, and the upshot is that the general public may never learn, from either him nor the other senior managers, just what caused his dismissal in the first place.

The announcement came by way of a council resolution, moved by Mayor Wayne Potoroka and seconded by Coun. Bill Kendrick, about 24 minutes into Tuesday evening’s 39-minute meeting.

It was “moved that council reinstate Mr. (Jim) Regimbal’s employment with conditions.”

The conditions were not specified, but it can be assumed that they grew out of the appeal proceeding which began last Friday evening.

That followed a large demonstration of public support outside the city hall/fire hall complex, as depicted in Monday’s Star.

“Before we go to on this vote on this, just a few words,” said Mayor Wayne Potoroka.

He was addressing himself to the cable 12 TV audience and to the eight or nine members of the volunteer fire department who were in solemn attendance.

“Once passed, this will reinstate the protective services manager’s (Regimbal’s) employment status with conditions,” the mayor said. “He will return to active duty on June 15.

“Unfortunately, we can’t discuss any of the details. This is a human resources matter, as I’m sure you all appreciate.

“It was difficult and stressful for everyone involved, And I think it’s important for everyone to understand that the decision that council is about to make here is in no way a reflection that council does not support both our CAO and are CFO, André (Larabie) and Joanne (Van Nostrand).”

Potoroka went on at some length to indicate that Larabie and Van Nostrand conducted themselves in a professional manner throughout the last fortnight since Regimbal was fired.

Some of the accusations levelled against Larabie and Van Nostrand for the action, on the street and on social media, were unjustified, the mayor said.

“We believe this was a fair outcome,” Potoroka said.

“These situations, like the one we’ve been dealing with, can bring out the best in people. That includes the folks who took the opportunity to decently and in a positive manner show their support. We appreciate that.

“Certain people … used this as an opportunity to question the character and credibility of some of the people working in this office, who are dedicated to high ethical standards, and it wasn’t called for.

“Any suggestion that there was a witch hunt going on by either the CFO or the CAO didn’t help. It does not accurately reflect what was happening and really undermines the integrity that those people bring to the office every single day. There was no witch hunt.”

Moving forward, Potoroka added, “we will be taking steps to mend the relationships between (the members of) the city’s management team, and we trust that everyone here will help us in encouraging those efforts, and we will appreciate it as you do.”

Following this speech, the vote was taken on the resolution, and it passed unanimously. This was followed by a burst of applause from the firefighters present.

Regimbal was not able to say much when contacted later.

He did reveal that all the available council members had come to visit him about 90 minutes before the meeting and told him what would be brought forward.

Regimbal said he is relieved to have come through this stressful time and to have retained his job, which he said he is quite willing to continue performing in a professional manner.

He understands that the other people in the dispute are bound to silence as he is, and accepts that.

He will be heading out of town shortly to have a bit of a break and rebuild his energy before returning to his office.