Kennedy City Council gets heated over June 12 illegal building burn

By Margie Holmgren
Several apologies were offered at the Kennedy City Council meeting on Monday, July 15. The apologies stemmed from an unauthorized burn by Kennedy business owner and fireman, Todd Truedson. The fire was set to a building just east of his business, Todd’s Electric, on Wednesday, June 12. He had recently purchased the building and tore it down due to its structure failure. Truedson had been using the building for storage the past few years but due to the bricks falling off the back of the building decided to tear the structure down. Truedson did not obtain the necessary permits for burning the building, nor permission from the fire department or the city before starting the fire. He had specifically been told by the city clerk that he was not to start it on fire. Truedson offered his apology to the city at the council meeting.
“I would just like to officially give an apology to the city for all the commotion that I caused,” Truedson stated. “I certainly didn’t intend on causing that much headache for everybody. I really don’t want my irresponsibility to cause friction between me and the city or the fire department. I have 20 years of service with the fire department, so I don’t want you to hold that against me for 20 years of good service.”
“Right now, I’m just sitting in limbo waiting to clean that up,” he added. “I certainly didn’t intend to cause as many problems as I did. I thought I did it as prudent as possible and I guess in my world it’s not uncommon to use those methods. I don’t know what else I can say. I’m truly sorry.”
Council member Henry Escareno thanked Truedson for his apology and offered his own.
“I myself got bent out of shape and pissed off and that’s my fault,” commented Escareno.
Addressing the firemen he said, “Sorry gentlemen if I said anything wrong to you guys. But my concern was the residents and the actions that were going on that I feel were totally wrong, in my opinion, sorry, and I did lose my temper, but I don’t lay it on the fire department. They did their job, so I apologize to you guys as well, but it was the heat of the moment, and I was pretty pissed off.”
The Kennedy Fire Department presented a letter dated July 1 to the council members. In the letter they informed the council they had met and discussed their concerns and their role after they were called on the scene. In the letter, they asked for Escareno “to recuse himself from any matters pertaining to the Kennedy Fire Department.”
Six firemen were on hand to discuss the matter with the council, Fire Chief Aaron Kirkeby, along with firemen, Andy Kirkeby, Carey Mortenson, Ethan Paulson, Jon Langen and Eric Warner. The men expressed their concerns in how the event was handled. Chief Kirkeby stated they have taken disciplinary action for Truedson’s actions as a fireman, and he will be on probation for a year. They have spoken to him about this, and he knows he needs to be active going forward.
Council members expressed their concerns about the fire, not knowing what might be in the basement of the building and concerns for the residents in the area. They were worried about the smoke from the fire as well as the possibility of other buildings catching on fire as the flames were quite high.
Councilor Jon Turn commented, “Todd put a situation on the city and you guys that shouldn’t be because he took a fire truck and did an illegal burn. He’s taken the Kennedy fire truck out making it look like the fire department is part of this illegal burn.”
Truedson had told Escareno as well as the Kittson County Sheriff’s department that he had permission and that the Kennedy Fire Department was on the scene.
Councilor Cindy Urbaniak, who was not in town that day, expressed her concerns and stated she has never heard Escareno say anything degrading about the fire department.
“You have to take a step back and think about where he came from,” Urbaniak said, noting Escareno is from California. “He just about lost their house at one point. Can you imagine living with fire outside your door? So, fire means something different to him than to us.”
Melissa Woinarowicz, Kennedy city clerk/treasurer, added that to the average person the fire did not look contained or safe. She also stated that someone shouldn’t be judged over one bad moment referring to Escareno’s comments.
During the discussion, Escareno left the meeting. The firemen did not feel his apology was sincere but agreed when the council stated they needed to move on to other business.
The city will bill Truedson for the $300 fine that is imposed for an illegal burn.
In other business,
• The council approved adding Kennedy to a grant for housing repairs being written by John Wynne of Northwest Community Action. Currently it includes the cities of Halma, Humboldt, St. Vincent and Donaldson.
• Approved hiring The Insulation Place, Grafton, to repair the roof on the city office for $5,650.
• Approved hiring Hallock to sweep the streets at $125/hour and $90/hour for traveling to Kennedy.
• Approved the service contract with ND Sewage Pump and Lift Station for $555.
• Accepted donations for Celebrate Kennedy totaling $2,300 from Brink Lawyers, Sjostrand Agency, Crop Insurance Associates, CHS, Kennedy VFW and Dahl, Hatton, Muir and Reese.
• Accepted a $2,500 donation from OtterTail Power Foundation for lights at the baseball field.
The council adjourned and will meet again in regular session on Monday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m.