Hot Topics on Thursday's Coventry Fire Board Agenda Tabled until September

COVENTRY, RI—Two hot topics on the agenda for the Central Coventry Fire District's board meeting tonight are being tabled until September, according to the chairman of the board.

Fred Gralinksi said Thursday that the two items, which relate to the compensation for the fire district's manager, Gayle Corrigan, and a possible ballot question, are expected to draw a sizable crowd. The meeting was planned to be held at 1A Liena Rose Way and that venue is too small.

Gralinski said the tabling of the agenda items are strictly to ensure the meeting venue has enough room for everyone to be heard. The items will instead be heard at the Sept. 8 board meeting, which is expected to be held at Town Hall.

"We're not running away from anything," Gralinski said. "The feedback we've been getting led us to realize more people would come than the place will hold."

Specifically, one agenda item would amend Corrigan's contract by increasing the monthly payments to her firm, Management Resources Partners, "to cover professional services provided to the CCFD." Corrigan was tapped earlier this year to help steer the embattled district still reeling from a bankruptcy period that followed a financial crisis.

The other item is a "consideration" of a non-binding question to voters: "Do you, the qualified electors of the Central Coventry Fire District, direct the Board to petition the town of Coventry to begin a process to develop a new model for providing fire, EMS and street lighting services to the citizens of the CCFD, in the context of dissolution of the CCFD,"

Gralinksi, on Thursday, said the word "dissolution" "wasn't supposed to be in there." Instead, he said that the question is meant to see if a community discussion about fire service should happen.

Meanwhile, members of the fire union have been warning residents that the district's intentions are to ultimately dissolve the district and force a volunteer-based model for fire and outsource EMS. Firefighters are also fuming over the board's vote earlier this month to reject a new contract after intense negotiations between Corrigan and the union.

The change in tone from firefighters since that vote is striking. On July 22, in a tweet announcing a settlement, union members said the agreement would "settle years of labor unrest" and was "a commitment by both FF's [and the district] that healing process has begun."

With the contract, the union states that the district would be "virtually debt free" and on solid financial footing. They want that as much as possible so the district can invest in new equipment and eventually hire more firefighters to replace some of the members lost during the years of turmoil.

On Aug. 5, after the vote: "The CCFD BOD has wasted nearly $3 million in legal fees of taxpayer money since 2013."

On Aug. 8, they said surveillance cameras installed throughout the firehouse was money that could have been spent on thermal imaging cameras.

On Aug. 12: "CCFD hired 'Fail Corrigan' as District manager @ taxpayer cost of $200K for what? Today they're judge shopping to dissolve fire district."

Gralinski said Thursday that the board was not judge shopping. Instead, the board is seeking clarification on three specific questions and "none of which ask to dissolve the fire district."

(We'll have details on those three questions soon.)

The rest of tonight's agenda will be addressed as planned. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Central Coventry Fire District made national headlines after Gralinski came under fire for equating American flags flying on the back of fire trucks to ISIS fighters driving pickup trucks in the Middle East at a board meeting after a video of his comment surfaced online. He has since said he regrets his comments and could have used a better choice of words.