LITTLETON Allegations of insubordination, mismanagement of funds, and soliciting a citizens' petition for more funding preceded Fire Chief Alex McCurdy's ouster, documents obtained by The Sun reveal.
In a July 22 e-mail sent by Selectman Paul Glavey to the other selectmen and Town Administrator Tim Goddard, Glavey stated that insubordination had been an ongoing problem with McCurdy, "often involving board concerns that he has intentionally fomented citizen and department unrest to pressure the board on policy and budget issues. This was the principal concern in a disciplinary hearing with the chief a few years ago that nearly led to his dismissal then."
The e-mail continues to label McCurdy insubordinate for his alleged role in generating a citizens' petition for increased funding for the Fire Department's full-time union positions and using union members in the hiring process for union spots.
McCurdy, reached at his home last night, adamantly denied all allegations against him, including the charge that he had a role in the petition.
"Of course I spoke to citizens' groups about funding, it was part of my job," McCurdy said. "The petition came after I pled, in an open meeting, with selectmen not to cut funding that would leave me with less than a full-time staff, but I by no means solicited it."
"The chief specifically ignored a board directive not to involve the union members in the hiring process for their vacancies by putting his son Steele, a union member, squarely in the middle of the process," Glavey alleged.
McCurdy denied receiving any such orders from the board and the supposition that his son was instrumental in the hiring process.
"I would ask, how did they notify me?" questioned McCurdy. "It was a fair process and no one person had the ability to taint the process in any way. My son was not in the middle of the process, he was just as involved as anyone else."
The most serious fiscal allegation against McCurdy, as outlined in Glavey's e-mail, is that the chief essentially gave himself an unvoted pay raise by presenting payroll authorization papers to Goddard and former selectmen Chairman Joseph Cataldo.
Neither Glavey nor selectmen Chairman Ron Caruso returned calls seeking comment on the contents of the e-mails.
But according to Glavey's e-mail, "the chief intended to fund this salary increase by diverting money appropriated for the call firefighting members."
McCurdy said that allegation is the one that bothers him the most.
"The thought that I would abscond with anyone else's money is ridiculous; that's not me," McCurdy said. "It is absolutely untrue."
In addition to Glavey's memo, a draft of the Aug. 9 letter from Goddard informing McCurdy of the Aug. 23 disciplinary hearing accuses the chief of failing to report to selectmen a "vote of no confidence" taken by Fire Department officers in January regarding the Deputy Chief, and poor judgment regarding criminal charges filed against Deputy Chief Keith Nixon.
McCurdy contends that although he did not send a formal memo to town officials regarding the vote, he did speak about it with Goddard and individual selectmen.
"Nothing that happened should have come as a surprise," McCurdy said. "If they consider a report an official memo, then I guess they are technically correct, but they were well aware of the situation."
Nixon was placed on administrative leave in August after being arrested in Worcester on charges of exposing himself to a woman.
In a closed-door session with selectmen on Aug. 23, McCurdy agreed to step down effective yesterday. The secretive nature of the agreement has been a source of contention between residents and town officials in recent weeks.
"I worked as an advocate for public safety and members of my department and I may have been a bit of a pain in the butt at times," McCurdy said of his relationship with selectmen. "I made some mistakes, but I always worked hard to run a department with many challenges as well as I could."
According to sources familiar with McCurdy's settlement, he will remain on the town's payroll until April of 2005.
Selectmen voted unanimously on Monday to appoint retired deputy fire chief Bruce Larsen as interim chief until a permanent replacement is found.
