Norwich Volunteer fire chiefs, members of the five volunteer fire departments and a few resident taxpayers blasted the proposal to create a fire services director position during the City Council Public Safety Committee meeting Wednesday, calling it unnecessary, expensive and “totally ludicrous.”
The three aldermen on the committee, led by 12-year veteran alderman and former police officer William Nash, shot back, rejecting accusations that the proposed fire services director is political and would undermine the volunteer departments. They said city leaders have tried for years to get the volunteers and paid fire department to cooperate to find cost savings, to no avail.
Norwich The City Council Public Safety Committee started work on a plan to upgrade antiquated fire radio and dispatch system, a top priority in the new fire services study, and voiced support for a controversial idea to create a fire commissioner to oversee all fire departments.
The committee on Wednesday discussed the 194-page report by McGrath Consulting Group, released Feb. 16, for the first time Wednesday and started the process to obtain cost estimates for fire radios and upgrades to the dispatch system.
Committee Chairman Alderman Joseph DeLucia said much of the report will be reviewed methodically rather than as “a snowball running downhill,” noting the fire communications system is an immediate need.