Jan. 31--TRURO -- As selectmen work to better staff Truro's on-call fire department, a consultant hired by the town is recommending the department hire a new chief.
In his final report dated Oct. 6, 2012, consultant and retired Brewster Fire Chief Roy Jones said that the town's current part-time fire chief, Brian Davis, has not shown the required leadership. Jones recommends as a first priority that the town hire a fire chief with demonstrated skills in managing a combined department of full-time and on-call members.
A year earlier, Jones issued an interim report that said the department was bogged down in the internal squabbling of the governing board of fire engineers, and lacked structure, leadership, standards and goals. At that time, Jones said Davis needed more support from selectmen, and he recommended that the selectmen manage Davis directly.
The selectmen have not reviewed the final report with Jones, but plan to in February, selectman Chairman Breon Dunigan said Wednesday.
"My belief is that (Davis lacks) the training and leadership capabilities and management capacity to run the department, after working with them for a year plus," Jones said Wednesday. "In order to make a fire department function in a robust and professional manner in today's world, leadership is a critical thing. Unfortunately, that right now does not exist. I will be candid. There are things I kept recommending that it (turned out) was a lot of 'OK,' and then complete disregard for it."
The selectmen appoint the fire engineers annually, and from among themselves the engineers choose the fire chief. In 2012, the selectmen reduced the fire engineers from seven to three members. The fire engineers are Davis, retired Truro firefighter John Garran and civilian Arthur "Butch" Lisenby. The fire engineers first chose Davis as fire chief Sept. 3, 2008, after longtime Fire Chief E. Thomas Prada resigned six months earlier amid a police investigation into an assault allegation against him. Davis is paid about $36,000 annually.
Davis and Lisenby did not return a call for comment Wednesday, and Garran said he hadn't seen Jones' final report.
The selectmen hired Jones early in 2011 after the fire engineers were unable to produce a long-term plan for the department. Jones was paid $5,000 to make an assessment of the department's needs and write the interim report in 2011, Town Administrator Rex Peterson said Wednesday.
He was paid another $5,000 to implement his recommendations from the interim report and write the final report in 2012. He was also paid $3,000 to develop and administer promotional exams for fire department officers.
On Wednesday, Dunigan and Selectman Gary Palmer, board vice chairman, said the selectmen are focused on making sure there are enough firefighters to cover the town, which they noted is part of Jones' final report. "That was a bigger priority than whether or not we should be looking for a full-time chief," Palmer said.
The difficulties are clear, as described in town records.
The selectmen received a letter from a resident complaining that no one from the fire department had shown up for an emergency call at their property, according to meeting minutes from Oct. 17, 2012.
At that call, Garran explained Wednesday, a nonprofit medical emergency response team that is paid by the town responded first with an ambulance and one town firefighter. That team determined that the situation was not an active fire and canceled the call, Garran said.
In another example, in Jones' final report, he cited a house fire where six firefighters from Truro responded, when the national standard for that type of incident is 14. Also, of the three firefighters who took Jones' promotional exams for fire officers, no one passed, the meeting minutes stated.
In his final report, in addition to a new fire chief and staff upgrades, Jones recommended strengthening internal administration -- such as training, policies and procedures, and hiring -- along with cooperating with the nonprofit emergency medical service, Lower Cape Ambulance Association, and the neighboring, all-volunteer fire department in Provincetown.
Jones said Wednesday that after he delivered his final report, he attempted to contact the selectmen to discuss it. He said Selectman Jan Worthington wrote in an email to him saying the board wouldn't be talking to him again. More recently, though, Jones was asked to attend the February meeting. Worthington did not return a call for comment Wednesday.
Town officials are designing a new fire department budget for the upcoming annual town meeting that may place two firefighters, with medical emergency certifications, in the fire station 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to Town Administrator Rex Peterson. The fire department's annual operating budget is about $333,000, and initial estimates for the new budget have come in at $620,000, Peterson said.
In addition to the staffing plan, the selectmen are also considering the prospect of a town charter revision that voters may face at the May 14 annual election, which would place the hiring of the fire chief in the hands of the selectmen. The selectmen began the process to revise the charter after receiving Jones' interim report in 2011.
"From this point forward, Roy will be working with the board of selectmen in paving a path for the future, if the charter gets changed and the selectmen are in charge of the fire department," Dunigan said.
Copyright 2013 - Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
