Some Town Workers Unhappy With Prospect Of Extra Fire District Work

As legislation that would transform the East Greenwich Fire District into a town fire department wends its way through the General Assembly – with a House hearing Wednesday – Town Manager Bill Sequino acknowledged some of his department heads are less than happy with the prospect of the additional work the merger will bring.

"Some of my people may not want to take on more work," he said late last week. 

The East Greenwich Fire District and the Town of East Greenwich are two distinct municipalities, each with its own taxing authority. and the establishment of a town fire department. Such a change can only be accomplished at the state legislative level. Bills were introduced in March to both houses of the General Assembly that would do just that.

The state Senate Finance Committee took up the Senate bill last Wednesday; the state House Municipal Affairs Committee will hear the House bill today (April 10), at around 4 p.m.

During the course of discussions since the referendum about making the Fire District part of the town, little was said about the extra work that would come along with that. Fire District Commission Chair Bill Daly, who opposes the merger, raised the issue most forcefully at a meeting with the Town Council and state legislators March 4.

Here's the exchange between Daly and Town Council President Michael Isaacs at that meeting:  

Daly: I've been in human resources for 40 years. I know when you increase people's responsibilities, you re-evaluate their jobs and there could be some increased salaries as a result of these people taking on more responsibilities – $5 million more in responsibilities. You know, that's a good 10 percent of your budget.... Any savings may be offset by any increases in staffing of town departments.

Isaacs: I absolutely, categorically disagree with everything you are saying. You have contractual relationships that will no longer exist. If nothing else, we're not going to have two legal counsels, we're not going to have the treasurer that you have. We're not going to have two auditors. Those are areas where there will be clear savings. We're not going to have commissioners. We're going to be combining insurance policies. Those are areas where, clearly, there will be savings.

Daly: You don't think you'll be adding any responsibilities or any additional accountability to the current staff?

Isaacs: I think that that is an absolute red herring. For you to speculate that we're going to start raising – what you're suggesting here is that all the department heads and Mr. Sequino are going to get raises after this. That's just a red herring that you're trying to throw on the table to interject something into this debate that has no basis in fact whatsoever.

Daly: I've been around here for a long time. I've seen job evaluations where people have taken on 10 percent more responsibilities and there have to be studies.

Daly was referring to his desire to have a study conducted of the possible ramifications of merging the Fire District into the town before pushing legislation.

The legislation before the General Assembly is not law – yet. It needs to be approved by both Senate and House committees to be able to be voted on in the full House and Senate. 

But when outlining his proposed 2014 budget during a hearing Monday, Sequino said, "We expect it to pass."

It seems clear he's beginning to plan for what comes next.