By FRAN RYAN
Contributing Writer
Daily Hampshire Gazette
WORTHINGTON — Tempers flared at last night’s Select Board meeting as residents and firefighters expressed anger about how and why an investigation of the Worthington Firefighters Association is being pursued.
Members of the Fire Department became aware of the investigation last week, leading to the resignation of Fire Chief Richard Granger and Assistant Fire Chief Rick Scott. Firefighter Mike Frazier yesterday described the investigation as a lack of trust and the “last straw” in a long line of acrimonious interactions between the Select Board and the Fire Department.
Since last week, five more firefighters have quit the department. They include emergency medical technician Ginger Scott, Granger’s two sons, Cameron and Taylor Granger, and his father, Gary Granger. Frazier resigned during the Select Board meeting Tuesday.
The investigation began in April 2014 when Select Board Chairman Christopher Powell — who said he was acting as a resident — contacted the state attorney general’s office regarding questions on the disposition of government surplus equipment acquired by the Firefighters Association, a private nonprofit that raises money and support for the Fire Department.
The Select Board had already been discussing the status of the Firefighters Association as a private nonprofit, and its failure to file tax forms required for nonprofit status since 2009.
This resulted in questions about who was overseeing the purchase, use and disposal of the government surplus equipment and where the dividing line was between a private group and a town department.
Select Board members Evan Johnson and Richard Wagner said Tuesday they had wanted to pursue the issue “in house” with the Firefighters Association and the Fire Department.
“This happened while we were in the middle of an internal investigation. We came in one night and found out Chris had done this,” Johnson said, referring to Powell’s contacting the attorney general’s office. “This is not how I would have wanted this to go.”
Powell, however, said his fellow Select Board members were not moving quickly enough, and he went to the authorities on his own.
Firefighter Tyler Limoges said Tuesday, “The town needs to understand what this means, what they have lost. They have lost a fire chief and assistant chief and two EMTs.”
Resident Mark Lemmier told the Select Board, “I have a problem with the way this was done, the way you couldn’t get together and work for us. I respect all three of you, but you just didn’t look at the bigger picture, and what it meant to the Fire Department and the town.”
The Fire Department is now down from 20 to 13 members and will be more dependent on mutual aid from 10 other Hilltowns in the event of emergencies.
David Celino, the chief fire warden for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, on Tuesday gave the Select Board a list of the government surplus equipment acquired by the Worthington Firefighters Association.
The equipment he listed is a snowmobile, two trailers, a 2½-ton truck, a backhoe and a trailer/compressor.
Celino said the equipment came from the Federal Excess Property Program, and its distribution is overseen by the state DCR.
“Once the town is in the program, our relationship is with the fire chief, not the Select Board,” Celino said.
Celino said that the DCR checks in every two years with departments throughout the state that have government surplus equipment.
“This is not an uncommon situation and it is often an oversight with equipment that has been in the department for a long time that falls through the cracks with the turnover of people in the department,” Celino said. “Our job is to protect the integrity of the program.”
Celino said he will meet again with the Select Board at the fire station March 6 to make sure the inventory in Worthington is complete.
