SLO County town’s former fire chief wins $200,000 settlement over his termination
The former Cambria fire chief who said he was terminated in 2023 for raising concerns about potential sexual harassment won’t get his job back, but he will receive a $200,000 settlement in a lawsuit agreement unanimously approved Monday by the town’s five-member community services district board.
The settlement, reached nearly a year after Justin Vincent filed his complaint, didn’t include admission of any wrongdoing on either side, according to a report from district counsel Tim Carmel after the special meeting about the litigation Vincent had filed against the Cambria Community Services District.
Vincent, who was hired as chief in December 2022 under a five-year contract, will receive $150,000 plus $50,000 to cover his attorney’s fees.
At the time of Vincent’s firing in October 2023, general manager Matthew McElhenie said the chief had been let go after a “comprehensive review and careful consideration.”
It’s unclear exactly what led to the decision.
“The separation results from a detailed examination and investigation of fire department operations while ensuring respect and confidentiality and following relevant laws and guides related to employee termination procedures and announcements,” McElhenie added.
The GM never explained further what those guidelines were or what they forbade.
As part of the settlement, termination documents and other related statements and paperwork will be removed from Vincent’s file, and the CSD will accept an after-the-fact letter of resignation.
The payout to Vincent will come from the CSD’s insurance coverage from the Special District Risk Management Authority, Carmel said.
What former Cambria fire chief’s lawsuit said
In Vincent’s 40-page complaint filed Jan. 26, 2024, in San Luis Obispo Superior Court, he claimed he was the victim of retaliatory practices, racism, sexual harassment, violations of various government and labor codes and lack of due process, along with a number of other charges.
The complaint noted that at that time Vincent was “the only African-American employee of CCSD,” and “the first African-American to be hired as a fire chief in the County of San Luis Obispo.”
Many of Vincent’s complaints seemed to center around a formal grievance filed with then-CSD General Manager Ray Dienzo in April 2023.
In that, Vincent alleged that Haley Dodson — the district’s administrative assistant who worked in the same fire station he did — had created a hostile work environment and made “unwanted sexual comments to members of the fire department for several years prior.”
His lawsuit itemized more than a dozen of these behaviors or instances he alleged he observed from Dodson, or about which other employees had told him.
Vincent claimed he “began to regularly observe Dodson engage in severe and pervasive sexual harassment, including but not limited to lewd and sexually offensive comments and jokes,” according to the lawsuit.
That included speaking “about the firefighter’s bodies and genitalia, sometimes in jest and sometimes with lustful intent,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also claimed “Dodson had on one occasion made sexual comments during a Cambria CSD Board of Directors meeting.”
Soon after Vincent filed the formal grievance, McElhenie took over the general manager job. He placed Vincent on administrative leave in September 2023.
This story was originally published December 30, 2025 at 11:13 AM.
