Aug. 07--WEST HAVEN -- West Shore fire commissioners decided to, for now, save part-time firefighter jobs following a raucous meeting that heard insults, expletives and calls for impeachment.
Impassioned pleas from firefighters and residents to preserve the long-time program, which costs around $20,000 annually, appeared to have swayed Chairman Michael Doyle, who voted with Commissioner Al Posey to keep the jobs. Commissioner John Biancur voted to eliminate them.
The five workers, officially called utility firefighters, were on the chopping block due to a need to allocate more money to the department's $34 million unfunded pension liability and because they haven't received proper training since a supervisor job overseeing that task was cut.
The issue received attention at last month's meeting and drew a crowd of around 70 to the Ocean Avenue firehouse Tuesday night. Firefighters and residents called the idea a "slap in the face" and said a manpower cut would cause safety issues. Part-timers supplement career firefighters.
"I guarantee you everyone in this room, if they lose a family member because there are less men responding to their house, they'd give everything from their savings to have their family member back. That $20,000 is nothing compared to a life," said Kevin Mullen, captain of volunteers and a utility firefighter.
Some outrage stemmed from the fact a budget including a 4 percent raise for the utility crew was passed in May and began July 1. The raise amounted to about $780 total. Each worker gets around $5,000 annually, which is one reason Doyle initially wanted to scrap the program.
"The maximum benefits we see in New Haven County is $1,000 per year. We're not recruiting from this program at this time," Doyle told the crowd. "If it was for recruiting purposes at one point, it hasn't been for a long time. Volunteers can keep coming. But to pay them $20,000, that's the problem."
By the end of the meeting, he said, "The timing isn't right," and will challenge whoever fills the vacant chief position to improve the program.
Posey, who had opposed the cut since the last meeting, again proposed revisiting the issue, along with the district's financials, in six months, and noted, to thunderous applause, that no audience members supported cutting utility workers.
But Biancur challenged those who said cutting manpower creates safety problems, saying not having properly trained part-timers does the same thing.
He added that the union proposed the idea during contract negotiations when asked to save money and raised the safety concern.
"I would argue we would be derelict in our duties if we did not eliminate it," Biancur said of the part-time program, as audience member Tim Wrightington called him a "pompous jackass" and an embarrassment to the city's Republican Party.
Wrightington noted the utility workers make about $9 an hour, asking why the district can't pay for that, but has paid for commissioners' polo shirts featuring the department's logo.
West Shore union steward Paul Clini questioned how many aspects of the department have been mismanaged over the years, such as eliminating the part-timers' training supervisor, and said other departments are being sued for cutting manpower after firefighters or residents die in fires.
"Over past years, you guys are chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. What's going to be left?" he asked.Many also used the story of a utility firefighter, Matthew Peckingham, who performed CPR on a motorcycle accident victim a few weeks ago, as a reason to keep the program.
Call Susan Misur at 203-789-5742.
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