One of the last questions Chichester voters will consider at town meeting next Saturday concerns the structure of the fire department and who hires firefighters: the fire chief or the Board of Selectmen.

From the selectmen’s perspective, they want to bring the fire department into the same structure under which all other Chichester departments function.

“For hiring and firing, departments bring forward a candidate, and then the Board of Selectmen handle it,” chair of the board Stephen MacCleery said.

For others, the question would continue to draw tension between the department and selectmen.

Last August, former fire chief Alan Quimby resigned from his position saying, “This decision is based on an apparent hostile work environment I believe exists between the Board of Selectmen and the Fire Department.”

Looking at other towns in the Suncook Valley, nearby Pembroke has a similar structure that grants the town’s fire chief hiring and firing power. In Epsom, Pittsfield and Allenstown, the fire chiefs bring their recommendations to the board, which makes the final decision. Both structures are allowed under state law, RSA 154:1.

Chichester Deputy Fire Chief Paul Sanborn, who began at the department in 1971, said he will not be voting for the article to pass. He believes the current structure serves the department well in finding the best candidates.

“The fire service is a pretty tight-knit group, and we know who a lot of these people are before they even come in the door,” Sanborn said. “We know whether they might have a history of good or bad at another agency, and that helps us in our assessment of whether or not they would be a good fit in Chichester.”

Sanborn worries that if the chief brings potential appointments to the board, the department’s recommendations may not gain approval.

“That would be my concern – I’m not speaking for the fire chief or the fire department – either that it wouldn’t be heeded or would be circumvented,” Sanborn said.

Fire Chief Tim Robinson, who is not a town resident, wasn’t as worried.

“Departments do it both ways,” he said. “I can see how there are benefits and drawbacks to both, pros and cons to how we do it now and pros and cons to how other departments do it the other way.”

The possible change in structure for the fire department was a point of discussion at the town’s budget hearing early last month. Resident Brittany O’Donnell, who has family in the department, voiced concerns about the warrant article giving selectmen “totalitarian authority.”

The board faced further scrutiny at a meeting on Feb. 25 when over 100 residents packed Grange Hall to voice their frustrations over a lack of transparency regarding decisions around increased town salaries, including that of the newly rehired town administrator, whose salary grew by $31,000. At the meeting, around three dozen residents participated in a heated public comment section, including lifelong resident Chris Weir, who challenged the selectmen to resign.

“The Board of Selectmen have the final say in town, and they are elected to do so – until they don’t,” Weir told the Monitor. “Then there are laws of which the voters or the legislative body at town meeting have the final authority. So our current board of selectmen assert authority and have asserted authority that they do not have.”

At the contentious selectmen’s meeting, former selectman Dennis Call raised his voice at the board.

“Now, I know we’ve got problems in town with certain departments, but don’t use the excuse that it’s their fault,” Call said at the meeting. “It’s your fault because you guys don’t want to meet. You don’t want to talk to departments.”

The fire department has undergone significant changes in the past year, notably with Quimby’s resignation as chief in August and the hiring of current chief Robinson.

Selectman Michael Williams said the warrant article will permit the board to deal with problems as they crop up.

“Over the past year, we’ve had a couple of personnel issues with people at the fire department where we haven’t been able to adequately address it because we are not in charge of the personnel at the fire department – only the fire chief is in charge,” Williams said. “We’ve had a resignation of the fire chief, and we’ve had some other issues, and we wanted to bring the fire department into conformity with every other department in our town where the head of the department brings forward recommendations for hire and fire, but it’s actually the Select Board that is the hire and fire authority.”

Public records show police investigated two incidents with the department last spring, one involving a firefighter who was driving a department vehicle that crashed into a tree in the woods. The other incident pertained to the proposed trade-in of a different fire department vehicle, led by Sanborn, for what the board of selectmen deemed was below the vehicle’s value. Neither incident led to any criminal charges, according to documents obtained by the Monitor.

MacCleery and Williams said these incidents influenced the warrant article since the fire chief – not the board – held the power of disciplinary action in these situations.

“In almost every case we have had other incidents like that, the department head will come to town administrator, let her know there’s a problem, and then the board will consult with the department head and we figure out how to move forward as a group on any disciplinary action, what type of action needs to be taken, and we move forward with natural progress escalation to correct the problem,” Williams said. “The board is actively involved during all other employee disciplinary matters.”

Sanborn said it felt “disrespectful” that the board was “trying to blame things on the department that aren’t so.” He added that it takes a special level of commitment to be a first responder.

“The board of selectmen has publicly stated that there are problems within the fire department that they are trying to correct,” said Sanborn, emphasizing that his statement reflects his opinions and not any department standpoint. “Overall, the fire department operates pretty smoothly. There have not been a lot of problems in the department overall more than any other agency. I think they’re trying to portray the fire department as dysfunctional. And it’s not.”

Overall, he said he feels the town treats the department well.

“They’ve given us the tools we’ve needed to do the job, and we appreciate that,” Sanborn said.

For more information about the town warrant, visit chichesternh.org. The town will hold a school district budget meeting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 8 at the Chichester Central School. Town elections will occur on Tuesday, March 11 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with voting at Grange Hall. Chichester’s town meeting will happen on Saturday, March 15 at 9 a.m. at the Chichester Central School.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@ cmonitor.com