Coventry Fire District Out of Cash, Chairman Says

As members of the Coventry Fire District are out collecting money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the district they serve appears to be out of cash and their jobs once again are on the line.

Fire District Board Chairman Frank Palin notified the town’s Public Safety Director Chief Frank Brown on Friday that the district’s financial position “force us to layoff all of our firefighters because we will be unable to pay them.” Brown is the Chief of the Hopkins Hill Fire District in addition to the town’s Emergency Management Director.

Palin said “it is doubtful that the District will be able to meet payroll in one week” on Sept. 4 and there is one ”last-ditch” effort to save the district in the form of a negotiation meeting with the union Monday night.

“If this last ditch effort is unsuccessful, layoffs will be discussed at the meeting,” Palin said. “the District has had an indirect approach made to it by a private ambulance service to provide services to the residents of the district at no direct cost to the taxpayers. The private ambulance service is willing to bill for Rescue Recovery to compensate it for services rendered.”

The district can’t enter a contract with a vendor without permission of the union and it’s unlikely it will get that permission, Palin said.

But the town can enter into such an agreement, according to the Town Charter, Palin said. “In the interest of public safety, I beseech you to consider this approach. Previous attempts to discuss this issue have been made with Mr.Hoover, Town Manager, and Mr. Shibley, Town Council President, without success,” Palin wrote. “Your duty is to provide for the public safety of all residents of the Town of Coventry. Don’t abdicate your responsibility. Please, please prevent a potential disaster from occurring.”

Union officials said that Palin rejected a prior offer from the union for concessions. And David Gorman, president of the Coventry Professional Firefighters Local 3372, told WPRI that the “no direct cost” assertion by Palin was not accurate and residents would be billed for the full cost of a transport. They would also not respond to emergencies.

The district’s ongoing financial problems came to a head in June when then-Board Chairman Frank Palindrome notified residents that the district was teetering on the brink of collapse.

The crisis has renewed calls from many, including firefighters, that Coventry needs one town-wide fire district. For some, it presents the only affordable and realistic option to spare the town future problems with fire districts facing financial pressure.

The nearby Central Coventry Fire District filed for bankruptcy and went into receivership after a lengthy and controversial period of time.

About two weeks later, Coventry voters went to the polls and rejected a one-time $600,000 tax to buy the district some time to get its financial house in order. At the same time the voted to dissolve the district in the nonbinding referendum 534 in favor, 399 against.

The crisis embroiling the district follows the termination of former Fire Chief Paul Labbadia, who was caught in an undercover Target 12 investigation as he apparently drove his department SUV while drunk, smoked pot and drank during work hours and spent many hours on the golf course instead of on the job.

The saga has been frustrating for all involved, especially residents who want reliable and dedicated fire and rescue service and firefighters who are worried about their own families who rely on their paychecks, which might not be in the mail next week.