Select Board meeting with Bradford Fire Department
February 18, 2019 7:10pm
Jim Bibbo, Chairman, Michael James, John Pfeifle and Karen Hambleton, Town Administrator attended a meeting with the Bradford Fire Department to discuss the future direction of the Fire Department.
John opened the meeting stating the Selectmen were looking for a near term solution to replace Chief Goldberg, who is retiring in the spring of 2019 and to introduce funding for Fire Fighters on an on-call basis.
There is currently no resource within the volunteer organization that is interested in assuming the Fire Chief role. The Select Board had approached Police Chief Jim Valiquet with the idea he could oversee both the Police and Fire Department while a long-term solution was identified.. Subsequently, they submitted the following Warrant Articles to support that plan:
Article Twenty-Three: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Nineteen Thousand Dollars ($19,000.00) to fund additional responsibilities for Bradford’s Police Chief to include oversight of the Fire & Rescue Departments. (Majority vote required.) Selectmen recommend. Budget Committee does not recommend.
Article Twenty-Four: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Seven Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($7,500.00) to fund on-call stipends for the Fire Department. (Majority vote required.) Selectmen recommend. Budget Committee does not recommend.
Fire Department members, Chief Mark Goldberg, Brooks McCandlish, Carl Goldberg and Rob Steiz all spoke, objecting to this plan, for the following reasons:
- The lack of Fire Department involvement in discussing the plan proposed.
- A concern that Jim Valiquet’s experience as a Fire Department Lieutenant had been 15 years ago.
- That the Department is looking for a working Fire Chief who is focused on fire fighting, and not on office administration.
- A concern that the model of having a leader that is focused on shared responsibilities between Fire and Police isn’t a model they have seen successfully implemented.
- The Department felt the only objective with the Selectmen’s model was to focus on saving money.
- A concern that the Town would have to pay external resources to perform inspections and certifications as Jim did not hold the requirements to perform these actions.
John Pfeifle responded that the Selectmen’s role was to look a several different solutions and a shared services model with surrounding towns was a specific objective he would like to work towards.
Mark Goldberg felt the Selectmen were pursuing a single solution that wouldn’t work and submitted the Petition Warrant Article (below) intended to fund a part-time Fire Chief which would support an annual salary & benefit amount of $45,000 plus $16,000 in stipend funds for on-call response. This total was then rounded up to account for training, new uniforms, etc. and divided in half for a half year of service. The intent for this Article was also to include having an independent evaluation conducted by Municipal Resources Inc., or a similar organization, to establish the responsibilities and requirements for the Fire Chief position.
Article Twenty-Five: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Thirty-Five Thousand Dollars ($35,000.00) to hire a part-time Chief for the Fire Department and to provide pay for firefighters on a per call basis. By Petition. Selectmen do not recommend. Budget Committee recommends.
Mark Goldberg also questioned how the $7,500 stipend amount had been calculated for warrant Article Twenty Four. Karen stated that it was based upon a $15,000 amount discussed by him with the Capital Improvement Committee.
Carl Goldberg questioned visibility into the due-diligence and operating model that supported the Selectmen’s proposed plan of having the Police Chief take on the added role of Fire Chief.
Mark Goldberg felt that non-public meetings were being held without transparency and that these meetings should have included the Fire Department.
Michael James stated that if the Fire Department would not support the Selectmen’s proposed plan then he, in his Selectman role, would not support it either.
The Selectmen were asked to remove or reword their Warrant Article to support the Fire Department’s objective to have an independent profession organization review the structure and make recommendations. Michael and John stated they would support this but John cautioned that it would increase taxes.
The discussion turned to the subject of whether or not the Town should try to purchase St. Peter’s lodge. The Select Board and Fire Department both support this purchase although the Select Board would not make any recommendation regarding the use or demolition of the building without further review. The Fire Department felt a motion should be made on the floor at Town Meeting to tear the building down and utilize the space for parking.
Minutes submitted by Laurie Colburn, Recording Secretary