A candidate for the North Whidbey Parks and Recreation board got into a verbal spat with pool staff and other patrons at least twice, according to incident reports filed at John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool.

Retired doctor Richard Fort, 68, argued with a teenage swim instructor over which lane he could swim in, according to an incident report filed with pool administration in March 2013.

The swim instructor was conducting a private lesson and placed a “closed” sign on one lane to work with a child. Fort got into the lane and started swimming, according to the report.

“I politely stopped and asked him to move. He was extremely rude and abusive towards me,” the instructor said in the report.

When Fort didn’t get his way, he called the instructor a liar and told her, “I will do everything in my power to get you fired,” according to the incident report.

Fort did not respond to several calls and emails from the Whidbey News-Times for comment.

Fort hasn’t been involved in any reported incidents since, but the lifeguards and other staff at the pool “have indicated they consistently find him angry and demanding,” said district interim director Erika Miller.

This is Fort’s first run at public office. He’s running unopposed for a seat on the board, which oversees a special-purpose district that stretches outside of city borders, serving the same area as Oak Harbor Public Schools.

Though operating the pool is a substantial part of what the parks district does, it also includes two community parks.

Fort is a vocal critic of the district’s swim club, which is subsidized by taxpayer dollars. He’s written several letters to the Whidbey News-Times on the subject.

The encounter outlined in the March 2013 report was the second time Fort argued with pool staff over lane space, according to an email from the child’s mother, who witnessed both incidents.

“During the first, I was only a witness since it was not during my child’s swim lesson,” the mother wrote. “During that incident, even with the lifeguards explaining to him the position of the pool, he did not move until an adult, the other student’s mother, stepped in and I have to believe that was because he felt he did not have to listen to three teenagers.”

The father of the child wrote an email to interim director in August expressing concern about Fort serving on the parks board.

“I have serious reservations about (Fort) as he is a known threat to minors (at the time) performing their duties at the pool because he does not like what they are doing,” according to the email, obtained by the Whidbey News-Times in response to a public records request.

“I have additional concerns that this man may have power over my daughter and seek retribution, who is currently employed at the pool along with my son. This is not a man who you want representing the best interest of the pool or its employees.”