Unity
The announcement came at a meeting attended by Fire Chief Bruce Baker, who said the departing firefighters don’t want to leave the town in a lurch.
“We have talked with the firefighters and we want to make this as smooth and painless as possible,” Fire Chief Bruce Baker told the Selectboard at its meeting Monday afternoon.
“Same here,” Selectboard chairman Ed Gregory replied.
Selectboard member William Schroeter asked Baker if firefighters would change their mind and Baker said there is still discussion going on.
The board then scheduled a meeting with the chief and firefighters next Monday in the town offices. Asked the purpose of the meeting, Gregory said it was to discuss the transition to new members.
Outside the Selectboard office, Baker was non-committal when asked whether he had resigned along with the rest of the department.
“Nothing has been approved yet,” said Baker, who has been with the all-volunteer department 29 years, the last 19 as chief.
He repeated what Assistant Fire Chief Robert Noll said at the end of Town Meeting: “We have had several resignations.”
By a ballot vote of 65-38, voters approved a petition article at Town Meeting that places authority for appointing the fire chief with the Selectboard. Previously, the firefighters themselves chose a chief from among their ranks. Additionally, firefighters now will be appointed to one-year terms by the Selectboard. Either fire chief or two-thirds of the department can make recommendations, but the Selectboard will have final say.
According to several people who attended Town Meeting, the motivation for the change was to ensure accountability for how the taxpayer dollars that help support the department are spent. For the current fiscal year, the fire department will receive $47,500 from the town, the same as last year. Of that, about $10,000 is paid to members in stipends ranging from $3,647 to $138.
In an interview on Monday, Schroeter, who presented the article at Saturday’s meeting, said he outlined some of the frustrations that board has had with the department.
For example, he said the board has tried for two years to get a complete inventory of the department’s equipment — not just the vehicles — from the chief. All the equipment is owned by the town.
“They have never given us an inventory,” he said.
In another example, he said the town previously had an office in the fire department building and made a request to the department to have that office again for use by the police department.
“It took them nine months to get back to us and tell us we can’t have it back,” Schroeter said, adding the board can’t even get a key to the building. “They have been very uncooperative.”
Baker said outside the Selectboard meeting Monday he did not want to comment further on this issue: “I think enough has been said.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at poglclmt@gmail.com
Correction
Unity Selectman William Schroeter asked Fire Chief Bruce Baker on Monday if firefighters who said they are quitting because of changes approved at Town Meeting might change their minds. An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the Selectboard member who asked the question.
