RICHARD ANDERSON
SOUTHWICK – Fire Chief Richard Anderson met with Board of Selectmen to discuss goals for the coming year and the department in general.
Anderson told the board he thinks the department has “a lot of things to hang our hat on.”
“We’ve put on 20 additional personnel and our EMT and EMS is at a level of service we’ve never had,” Anderson said. “Today we were called in to Westfield and we were the first in – it was good recognition.”
Anderson recapped the department’s equipment and grant use, including two laptops and community education grants. He said ambulance service fees from the town’s two ambulances bring in $320,000.
“We haven’t had to call for mutual aid ambulances because of our staffing, and I’m really proud of that,” Anderson said.
He said code enforcement is something they need to work on, as well as computerizing the entire department.
Providing service, however, does come at a cost.
Selectman Chairman Arthur Pinell noted that the department’s budget has been on the rise.
“I think when you first came on as chief you were heavily addressing the operational needs,” said Pinell, adding that he sees a shift to address more personnel-based issues. “It’s starting to push on the budget side.”
Pinell said Anderson is looking for a lot of funding and “we’re going to do the best we can with the budget.”
Selectman Russell Fox said his one criticism would be to watch the overtime use. Anderson said much of that was due to the holiday time off given to the firefighter volunteers. Anderson acknowledged the budget concerns and said he wants to create the best department he can.
“When I took over, we were in a bad place,” he said. “I was deputy chief and I didn’t even know. But when the tones go off, the budget doesn’t exist – you have to have the equipment you need and the people to run it, or people die.”
