North fire board won't go quietly won't quit
Members reject demand to resign in letters probe
BY AMY DeMELIA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Monday, November 2, 2009 2:18 AM EST
NORTH ATTLEBORO - Fire commissioners will fight for their posts at a termination hearing, rather than comply with selectmen's demand that they resign.
Selectmen gave Commissioners Valerie Hickey, Michael Coyle and Christopher LeBlanc until noon Friday to resign from their posts, saying they mismanaged an investigation into complaint letters about the fire chief's management style.
None of the commissioners submitted a letter of resignation by the deadline.
"We did absolutely nothing wrong," said Hickey, the commission's chairwoman.
The resignation demand came after selectmen conducted their own review of the fire commission's investigation into five complaint letters about Fire Chief Peter Lamb, and found the complaints were without merit.
In their review, selectmen criticized fire commissioners for interviewing the fire chief before talking to the letter writers, for conducting illegal meetings and for failing to turn over records.
Selectmen also issued a letter of concern to Town Administrator Mark Fisher and censured selectmen Chairman Paul Belham for their actions in connection with the episode.
Fisher was cited for failing to the fire chief information about the Whistle Blower Act he had received from town counsel.
Belham was censure because he had conversations with two of the letter writers before the complaints were filed and because he expressed his opinion regarding the allegations on The Sun Chronicle's Web site while his son was a volunteer member of the fire department.
The board also recommended that Lamb increase communication with his command staff, particularly on matters relating to post-incident critiques, but did not take formal action against him.
Hickey questioned why selectmen are punishing the fire commission.
"You can find fault with our methodology, but we said there was no problem with the chief and we had issues with the way Mr. Fisher and Mr. Belham handled things," she said. "(The selectmen's) investigation found the same thing - they issued penalties to Mr. Fisher and Mr. Belham, and not the chief.
"Why should our punishment be worse than theirs?"
Since fire commissioners will not resign, selectmen plan to conduct termination hearings.
Town bylaw says that all appointees to boards can be removed for cause by their appointing authority after a public hearing, but does not lay out a process or any other details.
Selectman Mark Williamson said he plans to speak to town counsel about how the process should work.
