While the Tumwater City Council didn’t have any ordinances or resolutions to vote on during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20, council members convened to honor the Tumwater Fire Department’s 2025 Firefighter of the Year — Andrew Weinstein.
During the meeting, Tumwater Police Chief Carlos Quiles also introduced two officers in his department who have been promoted: Danielle Dawson to sergeant and Bryent Finch to lieutenant.
Newly appointed Tumwater City Councilor Brandon Weedon was sworn in by Tumwater Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff, and the council approved the meeting’s consent calendar and the previous meeting’s minutes along with delivering department reports.
“Andrew is a great example of a lateral (hire) that has done very well for the department,” Tumwater Fire Chief Brian Hurley said.
Hurley stated Weinstein embodied the fire department’s values of compassion, respect, empathy and humility.
Tumwater Fire Department Battalion Chief James Osberg, who has been supervising Weinstein for the past several years, lamented losing him to another shift on the fire department.
“As the battalion chief for A shift, I challenge each of our members to be 1% better each day and set their bar each day they come to work, and raise it just a little bit more,” Osberg said. “Andrew’s been a great example of that for our crew. He’s someone I can lean on and provide as a living example to folks that maybe need a visual aid … He’s highly motivated, a self-starter, and he has the best interests of the fire department as a whole in everything that he does.”
Osberg added this past year Weinstein took it upon himself to overhaul and re-organize the department’s EMS gear and supplies.
“People who work at the fire station know that can be a daunting task,” Osberg said.
Weinstein then spoke and thanked both his superiors and the Tumwater City Council for being honored.
“I appreciate you all taking the time out of the meeting to recognize me. All the folks that are behind me I get to work with every day, I don’t think I would be up here without A shift, for the past couple years, and moving forward onto B shift,” Weinstein said.
Following the Firefighter of the Year ceremony, Quiles introduced Dawson and Finch to the council.
“Yesterday, I had the honor of attending a celebration at New Life Baptist Church honoring the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Quiles said. “It was a powerful reminder that one person’s selfless acts can make a difference. As the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Not everyone can be famous, but everyone can be great because everybody can serve.’ This is why Danielle and Bryent are great, because they have dedicated their lives to public service.”
A lateral transfer from the Steilacoom Police Department, Dawson has been working for the Tumwater Police Department since 2017 and is a major collision investigator, field training officer and has also been a detective and acting sergeant already. Quiles added Dawson was also the department’s 2024 Officer of the Year.
Finch, originally a Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) deputy, joined the Tumwater Police Department in 2009, according to Quiles. Since then, he continued serving on the TCSO SWAT team until 2025, becoming the team’s assistant SWAT commander. He was also named Tumwater’s 2012 Officer of the Year and earned the department’s lifesaving award. He is a patrol tactics, controlled arrest, active violence and survival tactics instructor and more.
Tuesday’s meeting was also the first meeting for the newly hired Tumwater City Administrator Paul Simmons, who was selected for the job during the council’s first meeting back on Jan. 6. Simmons took the city administrator position formerly held by Lisa Parks, who was fired at the beginning of the year by Dahlhoff who also fired former Tumwater Police Chief Jay Mason along with Parks.
Both the city administrator and police chief positions are at-will employees in Tumwater, subject to serving at the will of the mayor.
Despite having the authority to fire both positions, Tumwater City Councilor Peter Agabi still raised budgetary concerns about Dahlhoff firing both employees during the Jan. 6 meeting, stemming from the severance payments both Mason and Parks are due to receive now. He also had questions about the state law authority relating to hiring and firing employees.
Dahlhoff and Agabi got into a more heated discussion before Dahlhoff cut off Agabi’s mic and called for a 10-minute recess to the meeting. Ultimately, Agabi still approved Simmons’ hiring during the vote.
According to copies of Parks and Mason’s employee contracts with the city acquired by The Chronicle, Parks’ annual salary was $169,788 while Mason’s was $214,332.
Both are due severance payments equal to six months’ worth of salary along with payments for unused sick and vacation days — a standard severance package for upper level municipal employees in many cities.
Simmons also received a significant pay raise compared to Parks, with his annual salary set at $219,696.
Mason served only a short stint as Tumwater’s police chief, having been appointed chief by former Tumwater Mayor Debbie Sullivan on July 1, 2025, after serving with the department since 1993. Sullivan chose not to run for re-election last year.
“I am grateful to former Police Chief Mason and former City Administrator Parks. Each has demonstrated care and dedication to the city,” Dahlhoff said in an email to The Chronicle. “That said, I am taking us in a new direction. My evolving vision for the city focuses on neighborliness, honesty, responsibility and unity. I encourage innovation in order to maintain and achieve the quality of life we have come to expect in Tumwater. Our new city administrator is a good example of what we are seeking. Paul Simmons is a proven leader who has clearly demonstrated his ability to lead executive teams, secure funding for city projects and work across departments, as well as build a community vision alongside the community.”
Since his firing and the naming of Quiles as interim chief at the beginning of the year, no announcement has been made as to whether Dahlhoff intends to again hire a police chief internally, or conduct an external search for the police department’s next head.
