The six professional firefighters laid off last month will officially say goodbye to the job Saturday.
"The letters were mailed last Friday. Their last day will be Saturday the 30th," village administrator Robert Schoelle confirmed Tuesday.
Trustees voted 6-2 in favor of laying off six professional firefighters and one fire lieutenant at a board meeting in February. The lieutenant, under civil service law, has actually been demoted to firefighter.
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Trustees Dennis Donnelly, Nick Episcopia, Laurence Quinn, Brian Daughney and John DeMaro, along with incoming mayor John Watras, voted in favor of the move while outgoing mayor Don Brudie and trustee Andrew Cavanaugh opposed the layoffs.
Village counsel Gary Fishberg said the cuts will save the village $950,000 per year, citing the cost per firefighter is roughly $154,000 per year.
According to a recently created Facebook page supporting the seven employees affected:
- John Occhipinti: Left the Hempstead Police Department after three years of service to join the GCFD. He has been with the GCFD for seven years, hired on March 5, 2006. He is 32 yrs old. He is a 14-year member of the Hempstead Fire Department.
- Eric Baron: Has been with the GCFD for four-and-a-half years. He is 27 years old and was hired by the GCFD on Sept. 14, 2008. He has more than 10 years experience as a volunteer firefighter with the Plainview and Hempstead fire departments. He is currently re-certifying as an EMT.
- Brian Galazka: Left the NYPD after two years of service to join the GCFD. He has been with the GCFD for seven years, hired on March 5, 2006. He is 30 years old. He has been certified and practicing EMT for 10 years and currently serving as a lieutenant in the North Massapequa Fire Department. He is a former member of the North Merrick Fire Department and has over 12 years experience as a volunteer firefighter.
- Shawn Bigam: Has been with the GCFD for six years. He is 29 years old and was hired by the GCFD on March 11, 2007. He is also a certified and practicing Emergency Medical Technician for nine years. He is a certified instructor for the American Red Cross. He is a former volunteer firefighter with the New Hyde Park Fire Department.
- Peter Thorp: Left the NYPD after 3 years of service to join the GCFD. He has been with the GCFD for seven years, hired on March 5, 2006. He is 31 years old. He is currently on the executive board of the Local 1588 Firefighters union. He is also an EMT with the Baldwin Fire Department as well as a former assistant chief of the Williston Park Fire Department.
- Thomas Talento: Has been with the GCFD for four-and-a-half years. He is 39 years old and was hired by the GCFD on Sept. 14, 2008. He is a 20-year volunteer member and former chief of the Hempstead Fire Department.
- Robert Noonan: Been with the GCFD for 18 years, the last seven as lieutenant. He was hired Feb. 28, 1995. He is 42 years old. He has 25 years in the fire service, 22 years with the Hempstead Fire Department where he was an ex-chief and the last three with the West Sayville Fire Department. He is a 2nd deputy chief instructor with the Nassau County Fire Service Academy for the last 10 years.
"The employees we have are all great employees. They work hard. They do their job. They come to work at a great rate. They don't go home sick,"
trustee Dennis Donnelly said, referring to additional layoffs. "All that being said, the realities of what we're dealing with is we can't have that many of them. It has nothing to do with anybody. It's an unfortunate situation. But it's just based on the fact we can't have the amount of people we have or else we're going to tax people to death. We have good employees. It's just the way it is."
Another budget session is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday in the village hall boardroom. A public hearing on the budget will take place at the April 1 organizational meeting.
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