STOCKBRIDGE — A major walkout of volunteer firefighters following the dismissal this week of the longtime fire chief caused a stir around town, but the head of the Board of Selectmen is assuring homeowners the volunteer department remains properly staffed and is able to respond when needed.
“The fire department is fully operational, fully functional and fully capable,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Donald M. Chabon said Friday.
The walkout, in which at least 12 firefighters resigned on Tuesday, came the morning after the Board of Selectmen voted to terminate longtime Chief Ernest “Chuckie” Cardillo.
The protest resulted in media coverage throughout the Berkshires and parts of New York state.
Cardillo, who is also a member of the three-member Board of Selectmen, was terminated after it was learned that as fire chief, he repeatedly fell victim to scammers in the purchasing of equipment for the department over the telephone. The result over six years was that his actions cost the town around $83,000, selectmen contend.
Chabon said that after learning he had been taken advantage of, Cardillo then tried to conceal the town from finding out. “He changed the books,” Chabon said. “He exposed the town to a lot of vulnerabilities.”
Cardillo, according to the Berkshire Eagle, has denied falsifying records or trying to conceal anything.
The scam was found by the town accountant and reported to the Board of Selectmen, Chabon said.
Cardillo was placed on partial administrative leave in January. Deputy chief Neil Haywood was named interim chief, and assistant chief Peter Socha was named deputy.
The Board of Selectmen voted 2-0 Tuesday night to dismiss Cardillo as chief. Cardillo as selectman recused himself from the vote. The vote cited mismanagement and poor judgment as reasons for dismissal.
The next morning, between 12 and 15 of the department’s 20 volunteer firefighters announced they would no longer volunteer out of loyalty to Cardillo.
Fifteen firefighters signed a letter to the Board of Selectmen in January defending Cardillo. The letter said calling Cardillo’s competence as a chief into question because of “a budgetary oversight” is an insult to the department.
A photo on Facebook shows 12 sets of turnout gear lined up in the driveway to the town Fire Station.
A Facebook page titled “The Stockbridge 15” railed against the dismissal of Cardillo as unfair after 40 years of service.
“For those of us who stood proudly by his side we will continue to do so, but not as firefighters or EMTs for the town of Stockbridge. We follow honest men; they don’t sit in the town’s offices, and they no longer sit behind the doors of the Fire Department.”
The mass departure would have left the town in a difficult spot, but problems associated with the walkout seem to have been averted, Chabon said.
“A number of them left. They quit. But a number of them came back,” he said. “And some people who left before and were not on the force decided to come back.”
Department staffing is more or less what it has been, he said.
“We have had a number of responses since (the dismissal and walkout), and all of them have been fully responded to as they should have been,” Chabon said.
Attempts to reach Cardillo were unsuccessful.
The Eagle reports that he is considering legal action against the town for termination without cause.
Chabon said some in town have raised the question about amending by-laws to prevent any member of the Board of Selectmen from serving on any town position that is overseen by the board.
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