Voting for Enfield’s town officers and the Mascoma Valley Regional School District budget and officers will take place from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, at Whitney Hall. Residents will vote on the remaining articles on the Town Meeting warrant, including the town budget, at a floor session beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, at the Enfield Village School.
ENFIELD — Voters will be asked next month whether to reorganize the town’s fire department and to do away with a more than 80-year-old town institution.
An article on the Town Meeting warrant calls for Enfield to abolish its elected fire wards, a three-member panel that has overseen the fire department since the 1930s, and instead bring it under the supervision of a fire chief appointed by the town manager.
Officials say the transition would provide firefighters with the same oversight that governs the police and ambulance departments. It also would allow for a future merger between the fire and ambulance departments, increasing the number of trained first responders in Enfield, supporters say.
However, the proposal has been criticized by some as part of an effort to push out longstanding firefighters and ultimately transition to a full-time, paid department, an assertion disputed by Town Manager Ryan Aylesworth.
“I just want to emphasize that there is a commitment to finding a way forward that includes all of the existing members of the fire and ambulance rosters,” he said in an interview last week. “We value their service. We believe that everybody has a lot that they can contribute, and it’s our goal to ensure that that volunteer force stay intact.”
The idea of a merged fire-rescue department came about during Enfield’s strategic governance program, which last year saw each town department identify challenges and set goals into 2023.
The process found that there are 29 members of the Enfield Fire Department, which responded to 154 calls in 2017. But only 10 of those members went to at least 15 of the calls. Another six didn’t respond to any.
Some firefighters also are under-trained, which means that Enfield could miss out on important grant opportunities, according to the fire department’s strategic plan.
If the warrant article is approved by voters, the transition would occur in 2020 and see both members of the fire and ambulance departments cross-trained to respond to medical and fire emergencies.
Members would be required to respond to a set number of calls, and the department would look to better response times, according to a narrative of the proposal written by Aylesworth.
Another warrant article asks voters to appropriate $20,000 to begin planning for the transition, which would be implemented with the help of an outside organization.
The Town Meeting questions come as quarreling inside the fire department and leadership shakeups made news recently. Two fire chiefs have resigned from the department in the past week, and it’s unclear whether the fire wards, who each receive a $500 annual stipend, will appoint a replacement anytime soon.
Fire Chief David Crate, the son of the late Donald Crate, a former longtime chief himself, resigned on Tuesday, according to meeting minutes.
David Crate, who started as a junior firefighter 51 years ago, was not available to comment late last week or on Monday. While he submitted a letter of resignation to the fire wards, a copy hadn’t been provided to town officials by Monday, Aylesworth said.
The wards then voted last Tuesday to appoint Fred Cummings, a former Selectboard member and Enfield firefighter, to the top post. However, controversy ensued on Thursday, as Cummings wrote to the town’s Listserv explaining that there had been “fighting and backstabbing” within the department.
“There has been a culture there that has been allowed to run free and allowed people to treat others like dirt if they don’t like you or what you think of certain things,” Cummings wrote. “And if you weren’t a member of the in crowd, they have no use for you. People are basically being driven away from the department.”
His post went on to say that Cummings was planning on leaving town before the end of the year and criticized a member of the town’s budget committee for criticism of the fire department. Nearly three hours later, Cummings, who declined an interview request, had resigned, saying in a post that he couldn’t make the organization stronger and wouldn’t participate in a “further failure.”
Assistant Fire Chief John Pellerin said on Monday that he’s filling the chief’s responsibilities until the fire wards either decide on an interim or permanent replacement for Cummings.
“I want to make sure that the people of Enfield know that we have a confirmed 20 firefighters that are still dedicated and ready to answer the call when it comes no matter what happens with the fire wards and how they decide things,” Pellerin said in a phone interview. “I want to stress that that’s what we do, we still have dedicated staff here.”
Meanwhile, the fire wards have stayed silent on the controversy. A planned meeting of the three officials scheduled for Monday was canceled, and one of them, Lloyd Hackeman, declined comment when asked about the transition process outside the fire station.
This isn’t the first time that issues with the Fire Ward system have come to a Town Meeting vote.
Residents in 2013 overwhelmingly approved a “conflict of interest” policy proposed by Cummings that forbade top leaders of the fire department from also serving as wards.
At the time, Chief David Crate and Assistant Chief Tim Taylor were wards, and some criticized the arrangement as lacking accountability.
Firefighters at the time also issued concerns that wards were meeting in secret and failing to post meeting minutes.
It’s unclear how many changes were implemented after the policy passed, 125-22. Taylor, who is still a Fire Ward, is listed on the department’s website as assistant chief.
Minutes also appear to be posted sporadically and, if correct, show that only a single meeting was held in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2015. There was no meeting in 2016, according to the documents posted online.
Aylesworth, the town manager, said there’s still work to be done before the town votes next month on the fire department’s future. The town has hired Meredith, N.H.-based consulting firm Municipal Resources Inc. to review the proposal to end the fire ward system, and a report that will be issued early next month will be considered by the Selectboard, he said.
Voters also will be asked to approve a $6.67 million budget at Town Meeting. The spending plan amounts to a 3.9 percent increase, although that figure includes payments for the Route 4A sewer extension, which is paid for by residents of the Lakeview and Shaker Landing condominium communities.
Without the sewer costs factored in, the budget would be a 1.75 percent increase.
If the budget is approved, officials predict the town’s tax rate will increase between 20 and 31 cents per $1,000 of valuation. That would cost between $50 and $78 in additional taxes on a home valued at $250,000.
A petitioned article put forward by the town’s Energy Committee also calls for the decommissioning of 22 street lights previously identified by Aylesworth and the police department to be redundant. Turning off the lights could save the town more than $2,000 in electricity bills a year, according to the committee.
The vote is advisory only because the town manager and Selectboard have ultimate authority over the lights.
On the ballot, incumbent Selectboard member Meredith Smith is being challenged by David Stewart for a three-year seat. All other races are uncontested.
People can find additional information on Enfield’s Town Meeting at www.enfield.nh.us.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.