Selectman Adam Dolby urged a compromise.
BLANDFORD — The Board of Selectmen held a Friday night meeting for townspeople and voted to appoint Brian Care as interim fire chief.
To a standing ovation from the 150 residents who attended the meeting, members of the small volunteer Fire Department agreed to return to work.
Fire Chief Robert DeCoteau and his colleagues – seven regular volunteer firefighters and a probationary firefighter – resigned in protest Tuesday after a final clash with the Board of Selectmen over an ongoing dispute about who has the authority to appoint firefighters, and about criminal background checks for town officials.
Selectman Adam Dolby, a newcomer to the board and a probationary member of the Fire Department who abstained from submitting his resignation, urged community members to turn out for Friday’s meeting at the Town Hall.
Bill White, a town resident, said, “We all need a compromise. We can’t rely on mutual aid 20 miles away.”
White said the disagreement between some members of the Board of Selectmen and the former fire chief had left the town in a precarious position. “Everybody is hoping there is not a fire or a heart attack or a choking victim,” he said.
“The firemen want to work,” he added.
Fire Capt. Thomas Piper said the Fire Department needs a chief. The volunteer firefighters will not work unless there is somebody running the department they can trust, he said.
He said Care agreed to step in as chief and the firefighters agreed to work for him.
For several months, fire officials have battled the selectmen over various issues, including who has power to make appointments to the Fire Department. On Tuesday firefighters submitted a group resignation letter to town officials in anticipation of the board’s moving to replace DeCoteau with a new chief.
At a meeting in April selectmen sought to shift the authority to appoint volunteer firefighters from the chief to the selectmen.
According to April selectmen meeting minutes, the board requested that all appointees come before the board with a resume to be appointed by them with the chief’s referral.
The selectmen also sought criminal background checks for all members of the department, an ongoing issue that dates back to 2012, as part of the town’s effort to update its personnel policies.
In May Piper and another volunteer firefighter, Robert Costello, requested a vote of confidence from the board for the department’s volunteers.
According to May selectmen meeting minutes, the board was not looking to remove or criticize volunteers, but wanted to know who they are and appoint them officially.
The minutes state that Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) checks are required by all town employees/volunteers who come in contact with the elderly and/or children. As of July the meeting minutes state that CORI checks still had not been completed.
Piper said Wednesday that the dispute is a political conflict between Selectman Bill Levakis and DeCoteau.
Dolby, who has been a selectman for several months, said it would be difficult to find firefighter candidates should those who resigned opt not to return. Blandford, like other small towns with volunteer departments across the states, has a hard time recruiting firefighters, he said.