Cragin To Relinquish Chair—

Changes To The Board

Of Fire Commissioners

By Andrew Gorosko

Following its upcoming board officer elections, which are planned for October 15, the Board of Fire Commissioners will be headed by someone other than Kevin Cragin, the civilian board member who has served as the panel’s chairman for more than 20 years.

At a September 24 board meeting, civilian board member Lisa Goosman of Meadowbrook Road, who is the panel’s vice chairman, had nominated Mr Cragin of Georges Hill Road to serve another one-year term as the board’s chairman.

But Mr Cragin deferred, responding, “I’m not going to be nominated as chairman for the coming year.”

Mr Cragin said he would remain on the panel as a civilian commission member, but would not seek another term as the group’s leader.

Citing internal conflict among local fire officials, Mr Cragin said that the past year has been the “worst” year that he has experienced during his 21 years as the group’s chairman. Mr Cragin’s current three-year civilian board member term expires in October 2013.

After Mr Cragin deferred the chairmanship nomination, Newtown Hook & Ladder board representative Rob Manna of Glen Road nominated Sandy Hook board representative Michael Burton of Glen Road to run for the chairmanship. However, Mr Burton declined that nomination.

Mr Manna was then nominated to run for the chairmanship, a nomination which he accepted.

Also, Ms Goosman was nominated to run for another one-year term as the agency’s vice chairman.

Notably, the three-year civilian term now being served by Ms Goosman expires in October.

Thus, before Ms Goosman could run for reelection for another one-year vice chairmanship, she would first need to be reelected to a three-year term as a civilian board member.

Competition

There is competition for filling Ms Goosman’s expiring civilian term.

Jay Nezvesky of Brushy Hill Road, who is the Botsford Fire Rescue Company representative on the board, nominated Rob McCulloch of Bridge End Farm Lane to run for the civilian position.

Later, Mr Nezvesky also nominated Patrick Reilly of Possum Ridge Road to run for the civilian’s post. 

Following the September 24 board session, Mr Cragin explained that no more nominations will be accepted for the civilian membership on the board.

However, when the board conducts its next meeting on October 15, it is possible that there will be more nominations for the board chairmanship, Mr Cragin said.

At the start of the meeting, Mr Cragin announced that although the next regularly scheduled session of the board was planned to occur at the Botsford firehouse, it would instead be conducted at either the Sandy Hook or the Hook & Ladder firehouse.

“I consider Botsford a hostile environment, so I decided not to have the meeting there next month,” Mr Cragin said.

Botsford fire officials have taken issue with some of the actions of board members, questioning those actions’ legitimacy.

Last March, the board convened a special meeting to air its various complaints about the actions of Botsford Fire Chief  Wayne Ciaccia, who some commission members charge has acted to undermine the authority of the seven-member panel. Chief Ciaccia did not attend that mid-March session.

Two weeks later in late March, it appeared that some of the intensity of the ongoing conflict had subsided, based on the tone of public comments that were made following a lengthy closed session held between the board and Chief Ciaccia to discuss their differences.

However, it now appears that the conflict between Chief Ciaccia and the board has resurfaced. Chief Ciaccia did not attend the September 24 board session.

One of the points of contention among the five fire companies has been the division of public funding to cover operations and capital costs, with some members of the less active fire companies questioning why the more active fire companies should get more funding than the less active companies.

Some members of the busier companies say that because they are more active, they require more funding than the less active companies.

A recent analysis of fire company fire calls showed that during a three-year period, the Newtown Hook & Ladder and the Sandy Hook fire companies each responded to roughly one-third of local fire calls, while Botsford responded to about one-sixth of the calls, and Dodgingtown and Hawleyville each responded to about one-tenth of the calls.

The Board of Fire Commissioners has seven members, including one member designated by each of the five local volunteer fire companies and two civilian members. The civilian members are elected by the five board members who represent the fire companies.

The board oversees the purchase and maintenance of all town-owned firefighting apparatus and major capital equipment, among various other duties.

At the September 24 session, Mr Nezvesky said that the minutes for the board’s August 27 meeting are vague, asking why a specific question that he had raised at that session about a financial matter was not included in the minutes.

Mr Cragin responded that the August meeting minutes would remain unchanged.

Civilian Candidates

During the board meeting, the two civilians who are seeking to replace Ms Goosman as a civilian member discussed their bids for board membership.

Mr Reilly was a member of the Botsford fire company from 1980 to 1991. He was a Botsford representative on the Board of Fire Commissioners from 1987 to 1990.

Mr McCulloch formerly served as a Hook & Ladder fire company member. He also was its representative on the Board of Fire Commissioners for about three years. He told board members that he has resigned from Hook & Ladder and is not affiliated with any local fire company.

Mr Burton said he believes that Mr McCulloch would function as an ally of Chief Ciaccia as a board member. Mr Burton added that Ms Goosman should continue as a civilian board member.

Noting conflict between Mr McCulloch and Hook & Ladder, Mr Manna said it would not be healthy for Mr McCulloch to be a board member.

Mr McCulloch said that he always had good intentions while formerly serving as a board member.

Mr Reilly said that he currently has no affiliation with the Botsford fire company and is not involved an any conflict between that fire company and the board.

There obviously is much tension and conflict between the Botsford fire company and the board, he said. Noting that he has past experience as a board member, Mr Reilly said, “It just seemed like a good fit.”

Mark Dewolfe of Misty Vale Road, who is a Hook & Ladder fire company member, said that anyone who serves a civilian member of the board should be impartial and of the utmost integrity.

“You are at a crossroads,” he told board members, adding that those members make decisions concerning the use of public funds.

The board members must decide whether a given civilian running for a board seat would be a good member or a bad member, Mr Dewolfe said.

Chief Comments

Asked to comment on the Board of Fire Commissioners, Chief Ciaccia said September 26, “I’m all about fairness. I just want people to be fair.”

Perhaps new board members would have some different insights about the functioning of the board, he said.

“The Board of Fire Commissioners should treat all five fire companies fairly…Just be fair,” he said.

“I hope the new civilian member is a fair person,” he said.

“There’s some bias going on toward us,” he said of board members’ attitudes about the Botsford fire company.

Commenting on Mr Cragin’s decision not to conduct the next board meeting in Botsford, Chief Ciaccia said, “Our firehouse is not a hostile environment. It never was and it never will be.”