TURNER – Selectmen may hold a meeting to discuss Monday’s unscheduled vote “not to reappoint” Fire Chief Steven A. Fish, following Tuesday night’s Volunteer Firefighter Association meeting during which members called the action inappropriate and without due process.
While voting near unanimous support for their chief, members decried the board’s unanimous decision, saying they would be contacting town officials to demand an open, townwide meeting to discuss the board’s action and ask reconsideration of their decision.
Selectmen made their decision “not to reappoint” on a motion made by Selectman Dennis Richardson under an “other items” line on the board’s agenda, which did not include discussion of appointment of any municipal officials. Normally, appointments to one-year terms are made about this time of year, before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
The vote on Richardson’s motion was 4-0, with the Chairman of the Board Lori Fish absent. She is the wife of Chief Fish.
Selectman Fish did attend Tuesday night’s association meeting and spoke harshly of the board’s action. She called the unscheduled, unexpected vote at a meeting from which she was absent “convenient.” She added that it “seems like backdoor politics,” and charged that three of the four selectmen voting not to reappoint Chief Fish should have recused themselves from the vote “because they have shown personal bias against Steve” on more than one occasion.
Late Wednesday, Town Manager James Catlin said that members of the board are talking with a legal office to arrange a meeting with legal counsel. Catlin said the board wants to get itself on sound legal footing, then schedule a meeting for the board, the association and the public to discuss the appointment of a fire chief.
As of late Wednesday, there was no word on when any of these meetings might take place. A further complicating factor for the selectmen is appointing legal counsel. Normally, the town is represented by the Auburn law firm of Skelton Taintor & Abbott. That cannot happen in this instance, as that firm is legal counsel to Chief Fish, according to Catlin. The manager said the selectmen are contacting the Portland firm of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson to arrange for counsel.
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