There are plans in the works to get Putney firefighters responding again.
The Selectboard is creating a town fire and rescue advisory committee with Town Manager Karen Astley and Interim Fire Chief Brian Harlow as non-voting members, according to My Champlain Valley.
A written plan to help get the fire department back on its feet could be ready as soon as next week for public consideration at a future board meeting.
One of the town officials said he discovered that certain checks, made out to the fire department over a period of seven years, never appeared in the town’s receipts.
“The Firefighters Association and the fire department use the same Post Office box,” Selectman Fletcher Proctor said.” The Firefighters Association has been deciding which checks to turn over to the town and which checks to put into their account.”
The association exists to "promote the general welfare of the Putney Fire Department...".
Select Chairperson Aileen Chute believes the lines separating the fire department and the Firefighters Association seem to be blurred.
“My personal recommendation is that we sit down at some point and we work out a memorandum of understanding with the Firefighters Association to clarify those lines,” she said.
Morgan Garcia-Galili, the wife of one of the firefighters who quit last month blasted officials: “We don’t have a functional fire department. We don’t have good EMS for people that are medically vulnerable in our community — and you want to focus on the budget of the Firefighters Association.”