GRAND COTEAU — Mayor Patrick Richard has issued a written statement regarding his termination of the town's fire chief.
Yesterday, we reported that Riley Grisham has been terminated as chief.
Here's the mayor's statement:
This is a statement that is being made to offer some clarification to what transpired with the Grand Coteau Fire Department and the termination of the Fire Chief. First of all, let's not turn this into something that it's not. This is not a personal issue. The Town of Grand Coteau has always been a volunteer fire department. I truly understand the need and importance to have certified, paid firemen on our payroll, but we are still a volunteer fire department. Unfortunately, the Town's budget limits its ability to staff all departments with all positions it desires. Often times hard decisions have to be made and with that comes staffing cuts. These cuts are not singular to the Fire Department. Budget restrictions are a battle that all small municipalities face and Grand Coteau is included in that.
At one time, we had nine paid firemen on our roster. This is a number that far exceeds any municipality of our size. We have more fire fighters than police officers and more than our whole maintenance department. I recently directed the chief that we were going to drop the number of paid firemen from seven to five. I advised the chief to comply, but he did not. Recently, at our monthly board meeting it was made clear that this was non-negotiable. After the meeting, Mr. Grisham then put a post on the Grand Coteau Fire Department official social media page that was inappropriate and received some comments that I have grave concerns about.
On August 19th 2025 a meeting was held between myself, the town attorney and Fire Chief Grisham. I then advised Mr. Grisham that his post was not appropriate and for failing to follow my directive to release two firemen, that we would be looking for a new fire chief. When an employee cannot follow direct orders of his/her employer, there will be consequences and Mr. Grisham was aware of this.
Upon termination of Fire Chief Grisham, I was then informed of two other fire fighters from Grand Coteau Fire Department that walked off the job. That shows me that they were not truly dedicated to the Town of Grand Coteau, only to an individual. Since all of this has transpired, I would like to assure the citizens of Grand Coteau that we do, in fact, have fire protection through mutual aid with neighboring towns. I also received a call from a former fire fighter of GCFD that he would come back to assist the town, and he is currently at our fire station. I have been in communication with individuals who have expressed their desire to assist as well. Again, Grand Coteau has always been a volunteer fire department and unless we receive financial assistance, it will remain as such.
As we reported yesterday, Grisham's Facebook statement expressed his gratitude for the community's support, saying, “A lot of citizens appear to be upset, and I'm very grateful for all their support during this time. This is especially tough for me. It is no secret that our fire department has struggled. And we have worked very hard to get it to the point that it is now.”
The response from the fire department reflects a deep sense of pride and frustration among the ranks.
Grand Coteau Fire Captain Glen Maglalang noted, “And we built this department to something we are very, very proud of and just to let it go hurts. And we're doing that because we're tired of having an uphill battle. No matter how hard we fight, it seems like there's always another fight. Not even like a fire, like politics. We're fighting that. And we want support, and we're not getting that.”
Here's the post:
