RICHARD ANDERSON
SOUTHWICK – A request for $2,500 from the Board of Selectmen Gift Account to host a thank you party for the Southwick Fire Department (SFD) was approved 2-1 last night, with reluctance from Joseph Deedy.
Fire Chef Richard Anderson made the request to help pay for a pig roast for the employees, dispatchers and volunteers of the department. He said the SFD had about $1,900 in it’s own gift account, but it would not cover the cost of the event set for July 20 at Louie B’s.
JOSEPH J. DEEDY.
Deedy said he took issue with the amount requested.
“I don’t think my wedding cost that much,” Deedy said. “So you need your $1,900 plus this?”
Anderson said he wasn’t sure they would need the entire amount, but he wanted to make sure expenses were covered. He said any money left over would be returned.
Deedy said the $10 per person staff holiday party caused a major problem and the pig roast would cost roughly $50 per person, including spouses.
“It’s a huge number,” said Deedy.
TRACY L. CESAN
Anderson argued that the party was mainly for the SFD volunteers. He said there are only four full-time firefighter/EMTs and he included dispatchers because of their work answering calls. The rest, he said, are volunteers.
“A study was done in 2001 that showed these volunteers save $1 million a year,” said Anderson.
Deedy said he agreed the volunteers deserve appreciation, but the numbers were hard to swallow.
Selectman Chairman Russell Fox said the thank you party was “a great idea.”
RUSSELL FOX
“We have some tremendous volunteers,” he said. “They’re out doing drills every Monday, going out in the middle of the night and putting their lives in danger – I don’t mind kicking in some money.”
Fox and Anderson pointed out that the funds were not coming from taxpayers, but from funds donated for the board to use to benefit the community as it sees fit.
The Board of Selectman Gift Account currently has approximately $15,000.
Deedy agreed to the request as long as the SFD used its gift funds first, then tapped into the board’s funds.
“This is something special the chief wants to do,” Fox said.
Selectwoman Tracy Cesan stepped away from the table during the discussion because she is a SFD employee. She requested to speak as a citizen during the debate, but was denied by Fox.
Cesan said the difference between the holiday party and the pig roast was that the holiday party was for town employees and the pig roast was a thank you for volunteers who get a very small stipend. Volunteers make just $12 per call, said Cesan, regardless of the time spent on the call.
“If the employees want to make two dollars an hour, I will be happy to throw them a party with $2,000 out of my own pocket,” she said.
Also during the meeting the board tabled discussion of a letter that was not signed but was apparently written by a town employee requesting a party for the employees that cost the same amount as the pig roast.
“It has come to the attention of some employees that a request has come from the Fire Department for the Board of Selectmen to fund a pig roast in the amount of $2,500.00 out of their gift account,” stated the anonymous letter.
“I have been asked by employees to inquire if the board will be hosting a summer picnic for remaining departments, boards, committees and commissions and volunteers either in the amount of $2,500.00 (or more considering the amount of people would increase),” the letter concluded.
The typed letter was not signed and ended with “Thank you.”
The board did not discuss the letter or take any action on it.
