BERLIN – Town officials agreed to use federal relief funds to supplement Berlin’s annual grant to the Berlin Fire Company.
The Berlin Town Council last week voted unanimously to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to close a gap in the fire company’s budget. If the council hadn’t agreed to use the funding, which is eventually intended to be used for capital purchases, the fire company would have only agreed to a contract through Jan. 31.
“The only available cash we have for 12 months is cash we’d like to buy air packs with but you’re saying your operations are more important right at this moment and we’re hearing that,” Mayor Zack Tyndall said.
Berlin Fire Company President David Fitzgerald told the council that while the EMS contract with the town was in order and approved as expected, the contract with the fire company would only provide service until Jan. 31 rather than through June 30, the end of the fiscal year. He said that was because the town was not providing the fire company enough funding to operate for a full year.
“I cannot allow in my best judgment to advise my clients to sign a contract that they cannot comply with,” said Joe Moore, the fire company’s attorney. “If we signed a contract committing them, meaning the fire and rescue service, to June 30, we can’t comply with it.”
He said that after Jan. 31, the fire company would continue to respond to calls in Berlin but would bill the town for the services provided on a per diem basis.
“We’re entitled to reasonable payment for services we’re obligated to provide,” he said.
Councilman Dean Burrell addressed the perception within the community, referencing the fire company’s new station on Route 50 and its headquarters on Main Street.
“How can a fire department have two stellar departments and still be crying broke?” he said.
He said town officials needed to be able to have candid financial discussions with fire company leadership.
“If we’re going to have these meetings, they need to be worthwhile. You come up here and you provide numbers of runs and that kind of stuff, but I don’t get a good feeling of where your spending is and what you need,” Burrell said. “And now you are saying your attorney cannot advise you to sign a contract that you’re not going to be able to fulfill and you’re going to invoice the town for service? How did we get here?”
Moore said if officials felt the fire company was doing anything improper, they could pay for an audit of the company’s financials. He said that even with the Jan. 31 date the fire company would still respond to calls in town limits.
“All I said was that rather than us saying you find your own way to respond after Jan. 31, the only way we can continue to do it without saying we’re not going to do it because our money has run out, is to bill you on a fair and equitable basis,” Moore said.
Tyndall pointed out services wouldn’t change at the fire company even if the town didn’t fund past Jan. 31 because the company still needed to serve Worcester County.
“The level of service and apparatus you need is not strictly for Berlin,” he said.
Moore said the town had the services of the fire company’s 55 volunteers.
“They don’t get paid,” he said. “What we have done is we have struck a budget that is to our best judgment a reasonable cost of providing services in town to the town. The county is a different situation. All we have said is we are simply asking you to reimburse us for the fair cost of providing those services.”
Tyndall said the town had more than $200,000 in ARPA funding set aside for the fire company and could use that to extend the contract to the June 30 date. He said that would give the town time to find additional funding and would ensure service for the entire year.
He added that the contract process this year with the fire company had been long and complicated, as drafts of the contract that were shared between the two entities changes were not properly tracked.
“Consistently this year we have received multiple versions of the contract without clearly articulating what those changes are,” he said, adding that it overloaded town staff time as they were forced to review the documents for any changes.
As far as the use of ARPA funds to ensure coverage through June 30, Fitzgerald said fire company membership would have to approve that proposal when it met July 10. The council voted unanimously to use the ARPA funding to supplement the operating budget for the fire company so that an updated contract could be provided for fire company membership to review.
Natalie Saleh, the town’s finance director, criticized the fire company’s presentation. She said when town departments had been told they needed to cut their budgets they didn’t tell the council they were going to stop services part way through the year.
Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols agreed.
“It’s very disrespectful,” she said.
Saleh said the situation was unheard of.
“Per diem will become an extortion,” she said.
