Seattle Fire Department official who abused position resigns

The Seattle Fire Department lieutenant who abused his position to demand free backstage passes to a Hannah Montana concert and also failed to bill Qwest Field for $200,000 in fire services has resigned, the city announced this afternoon.

Lt. Milt Footer's conduct had sparked an ethics investigation, which found he had violated the city's ethics code. When Fire Chief Gregory Dean declined to discipline Footer or reassign him from his position as a fire inspector at Qwest Field, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels ordered an investigation.

Nickels formally reprimanded Dean for failing to adequately punish Footer, the city announced today.

"Lieutenant Footer's actions have left a stain on the department and this matter should have been dealt with in swifter and more serious manner ... " Nickels wrote in his letter of reprimand. "In the future, I expect consistent and aggressive enforcement of city and departmental policies."

Dean issued a written statement today saying he respected the mayor's decision.

"I have learned from this experience and believe I will be a better leader and Fire Chief because of it," Dean wrote.

A consultant hired by the city also discovered an additional possible ethics violation by Footer, a 29-year department veteran. Footer, the consultant found, had accepted three free parking passes worth $30 a day from First & Goal, the company that runs Qwest Field, for "an extended period of time."

Footer could not be immediately reached for comment and has not responded to previous interview requests.

In March, city ethics watchdogs found that Footer had "wasted public funds" by failing to bill the Seattle Seahawks' owners for about $196,000 worth of fire services at Qwest Field. Footer also demanded a backstage pass to a Hannah Montana concert for him and his fiancée — misuse of his position, according to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

First & Goal reached a settlement with the city to pay $122,000 for the services Footer failed to bill. But the company will not pay the remaining $74,000 because the bills were not provided in a timely manner, the mayor's office said in a news release.

Footer worked at Qwest Field for seven years in an unusual arrangement in which the Seahawks' owner, Paul Allen's First & Goal company, paid his salary. In return, Footer would give priority inspection services to First & Goal for events at the stadium.

Ethics investigators said such a deal, in which Footer, with minimal supervision, regulated the company that paid his salary was a "recipe for serious problems" and conflicts of interest.

The whistle-blower who helped expose the ethics scandal in the Fire Department believes Dean went out of his way to protect Footer.

Jim Woodbury, then a deputy chief, said Footer had access to Dean that allowed him to go around the chain of command and meet directly and frequently with the chief. Footer works in the fire marshal's office, which Dean ran before Nickels named him chief in 2004.

A five-month investigation by the city's ethics commission concluded that Dean did not sufficiently discipline Footer for failing to collect the money from First & Goal and demanding the concert passes from a KeyArena employee. Dean put Footer on administrative leave in March after the ethics report was released.

Just before Woodbury filed his ethics complaint, Dean called Wayne Barnett, the city's top ethics watchdog, and told Barnett he'd probably get a whistle-blower complaint about the concert tickets.

Dean told Barnett not to worry about it because it had been handled, according to Woodbury. Barnett confirmed his account.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com