A Special Town Meeting will be held Friday November 21, 6:00 p.m., at the DPW Garage on Silverbrook Road.

The warrant will include several items important to the Town, but major issues will relate to the Sandisfield Fire Department.

Town residents will be asked what kind of emergency services they want for their town and how serious they are about paying for them. They may be asked again whether or how the Town should take ownership of the Town's two firehouses.

In answer to one question in a recent survey by the Planning Board, whether residents would be willing to pay more for increased ambulance and fire coverage, 65 percent of some 120 respondents said "yes". The STM will test that response.

Unfortunately, conflicts over the fire department have ricocheted back and forth in our small town for two straight years.

Most residents may be ready to move on from this anger and get on with what we have to do. We've got a lot to deal with.

Our New Chief

It's true that our new Fire Chief, formerly of Connecticut, was arrested in September in Hartford for tax issues related to his former landscaping businesses. He was arraigned in Norwich October 17. A citizen reported the arrest to the Select Board at its regular meeting October 13, before the arraignment. At the same meeting, another citizen produced a list of the Fire Chief's creditors totaling some $193,000 based on available court information. The Select Board said they had been aware of these issues during the Chief's job interview.

According to The Berkshire Eagle, which detailed the arrest in two consecutive front-page articles, the Chief was charged with several counts of failing to file payroll taxes, personal income taxes, and sales taxes. He was released from custody on $25,000 nonsurety bond, promising to return to court November 6th in Norwich Superior Court.

One Sandisfield Select Board member, defending the chief, said, "If I owed the IRS $150,000, does that make me a bad tree guy or a good tree guy? Still a good tree guy - just got to pay my taxes."

I am very proud of those who are committing their time to making sure Sandisfield is in good hands. This department went from responding to roughly three out of ten Ambulance calls six months ago to responding to 100 percent of calls.

With an aging population and considering our proximity to our mutual partners, I would say this is one of the best public safety accomplishments of our town since I have been involved.

Volunteers are training and gaining confidence and abilities while our hired per diems hold down the fort. This is leading the way for a new group of trained volunteers to take the reins.

Thank you to all the volunteers that stayed and to those who recently joined in your selfless act of unity and protection!

These commitments and accomplishments should not be lost in the rhetoric of an angry few.

A Little Recap

Sandisfield's long firehouse story began in the late 1980s with the construction of Firehouse #2 on Rt. 57 and the creation of the Sandisfield Fire Department, Inc. SFDI is a nonprofit formed for financial reasons to aid in the construction and chartered to support the fire department. However, rather than turning the building over to the Town as originally intended, SFDI became the face of the Sandisfield Fire Department and in fact assumed control and "ownership" of the facility.

By some twisted rationale, SFDI has since leased the building to the Town. When the lease terminates next June, SFDI is seeking a rental increase from $10,000 per year to $20,000 - and possibly even more following recent "negotiations."

The culminating chapter possibly began two years ago. It's been a long story of conflict, resignations, accusations, and hard work by many individuals.

In October 2023, Sandisfield's tanker truck was totaled in Tyringham while enroute to a reported fire in Otis. The driver, the Town's Assistant Fire Chief, was being guided from a separate car by the Fire Chief at the time. After the crash, they said they had been guided to Tyringham by instructions from another fireman.

As most readers will remember, ensuing events included the resignation of the then Fire Chief, who happened to be, until as recently as this summer, president of SFDI.

When the Town applied for payment of the truck's insurance policy (for which it had been paying the premiums), SFDI cross-applied, insisting the insurance payment should instead be paid to SFDI as the "owner" of the truck. The payment issue is still not resolved.

More recently, last summer, the Assistant Fire Chief was suspended by the Select Board over issues related not to the fire department but his parallel role as Sandisfield Police Chief. Even more recently, his employment by the Town was terminated following a long investigation into fire and police payroll issues.

Since 2023, the Select Board continued its responsibility of operating emergency services for the Town, using acting and interim chiefs before hiring a chief from out of town who resigned after only a few months due, he said in an interview with The Berkshire Eagle, unresolvable conflicts with SFDI.

And Since Then?

Since then, negotiations between the Select Board and SFDI have either not taken place or resulted in demands but not agreement.

Since then, the Town has formally severed relations with SFDI.

Since then, SFDI changed its board of directors from several family members and has appointed new members, including a new president.

Since then, after the Town's new Fire Chief was hired in June, accusations of interference flew, a cellphone recording was played at a Select Board meeting.

Since then, four civil lawsuits were filed between town residents or toward the Select Board. Bundled by the Berkshire Superior Court, the suits will be heard in December.

Since then, nearly all of the Town's fire and EMT volunteers resigned.

Since then, the new fire chief has proceeded to rebuild emergency services in Town, hiring per diem employees, enlisting and training volunteers, and providing service 24/7.

Since then, the Select Board has stood firm in support of the new chief, although more aware of his potential for conflicting choices.

And continuing, during the last two weeks in October the Select Board held three executive sessions regarding personnel issues and one on Nov 4th regarding criminal conduct. Results of these executive sessions can be found at www.sandisfieldma.gov./townnews.

What's Next?

The Town and its Fire Department have to get on with rebuilding and maintaining its emergency services, just what the Select Board and our current Fire Chief are attempting to do. For citizens, you and me, let's attend the coming Special Town Meeting - on Zoom if you can't be there in person. Let your opinions be heard. And however the votes go, let's get out of the way and let people get on with their jobs.

Bill Price, Editor