EMS Supervisor Resigns In Wake of Numerous Alleged Violations

For the second time in as many months, a high-ranking member of the town's emergency medical services department has resigned after facing disciplinary action.

Richard Clow, who was named captain of the EMS department last July, submitted a brief handwritten letter of resignation Thursday to Chris Bromson, director of public safety. The note said, "Mr. Bromson: I, Richard Clow, resign my position with the town of Enfield effective 4/21/2011. I do this with the understanding that I have no other options available to me at this time."

Human Resources director Steve Bielenda said Clow had been removed as captain in March, and worked as a supervisor since that time.

On April 4, Clow received a letter from Bromson requesting he appear at a Loudermill hearing two days later. At that meeting, held at the Enfield Police Department, Clow was given the opportunity to respond to multiple charges of violations of the town of Enfield's Code of Ethics and Personnel Rules & Procedures. "In the interim, you will be suspended with pay pending the results of the Loudermill hearing," the letter stated.

The letter outlined five specific charges against Clow, dating from July 1, 2010 to March 28, 2011.

The first accusation was that he repeatedly ordered a product called EZ-IO needles, manufactured by a company called Vidacare, by whom Clow was also employed during his tenure with Enfield EMS. That dual employment violated the town's Code of Ethics, Section 2-10 (8): "No public official or municipal employee shall engage in or accept private employment or render service, for private interest, when such employment or service is incompatible with the proper discharge of his official duties or would tend to impair his independence of judgment or action in the performance of his official duties, unless otherwise permitted by law."

The second complaint involved Clow's admission that on several occasions, he had used a town-owned vehicle to transport the EMS director to and from the airport for personal trips while on company time. "In addition, you failed to report your supervisor's unauthorized requests to taxi him to and from the airport to the Director of Public Safety, Director of Human Resources, Assistant Town Manager or the Town Manager," the letter states.

Inappropriate overtime and refusal to punch in or out with the department's biometric clock was the third offense listed in the letter. "As a Captain, you have worked a disproportionate amount of overtime. Some of this overtime was self-imposed while the Director of EMS was absent, thereby unnecessarily overburdening the overtime budget," the letter says. In a seven-month period, Clow received more than $31,000 in overtime pay, in addition to his salary of $67,392. "If the town had not curtailed your excessive overtime earnings, your annual income would have trended towards the annual amount of $113,892," the letter continues. "Clearly, this position was never budgeted nor anticipated to earn $46,500 in overtime or 69 percent over the annual base rate of $67,392 that the Town budgeted for fiscal year 2010-2011. In addition, you circumvented use of the biometric clock thereby compromising the veracity and accuracy of your overtime hours. You were the only hourly paid employee that avoided using the biometric clock on a daily basis."

On March 17, Clow allegedly called a subordinate and used profanity to badger him that he was going to lose his job. A few days later, that employee's wife said Clow also told her that her husband was going to lose his job. The following week, according to the letter, Bromson and Bielenda questioned Clow about those statements, to which Clow replied, "I do not recall."

The final complaint against Clow pertained to his apparent resentment with being directed to teach supervisors how to administrate the weekly EMS payroll. "Your demeanor to them was quite clear in that you resented having to train them on "how to do your job." Indeed, even your attorney mentioned to us that you were asked to train these supervisors on "how to do your job"," the letter stated.

Clow's departure comes six weeks after the , who left after serving a suspension for detrimental conduct while responding to the scene of a suicide in February.

Former EMS Director Art Groux has been serving as interim head of the department since Sullivan's resignation. , who led the department from May 2002 to Sept. 2004, returns to the top job beginning May 9.

Bielenda said the captain's position will remain vacant for the time being, and may be eliminated altogether. "We will let the new director decide what to do with that position," he said.