The verbal fire sparked with an Alna selectman’s insistence on legal counsel for an agreement between the town and fire department continued to smolder Monday night.
Newly elected Selectman Tom Smith basically said he just wants to do it right and feels uncomfortable when people say it is not necessary.
“I want to do due diligence,” he said.
At an April 30 meeting, Smith stated he wanted the fire department to consider giving the firehouse to the town.
“I feel boxed in,” he said, trying to explain his reasons for wanting a legal opinion on the agreement. “I want to make sure we dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’.”
Former Selectman John Green also agreed the town should have a legal opinion on such an agreement.
A contingent of fire department members, including Fire Chief Mike Trask, went to the regular meeting of the board Monday night to express their own feelings about a “perpetuity of use” agreement, including a volley of objections to involving an attorney in the process of hammering one out.
“We’ve always had just a handshake in the past,” said Roger Whitney, assistant fire chief.
Whitney said he felt any progress toward healing of old wounds, between the fire department and town that took place when people supported the article for the addition, might be jeopardized if differences continue the way they have since the town meeting decision.
Comments about the fire department’s ownership of the facility and the $200,000 loan to fund a new addition, in part for municipal meeting use, stirred the pot before the atmosphere cooled down a bit toward the conclusion.
“If they take town money, then they are an arm of the government, the MMA (Maine Municipal Association) says,” First Selectman Billie Willard said.
Willard expressed her opinion of being comfortable with the things the way they are with the volunteer fire department owning the building.
“You’re not doing what they asked you to do at the town meeting,” Fire Chief Mike Trask said.
Willard argued the board had done what the people asked for. “The loan is secured,” she said. “There’s nothing that’s going to stop that loan.”
Both Willard and Smith, with some persuasion from Willard, agreed the legal opinion on the agreement should not interfere with going ahead with the bidding process for the new addition.
According to the article in the March town meeting warrant, the town and the fire department have to enter into an agreement, and the same article also states simply, “Ownership of the building and addition shall continue with the Alna Volunteer Fire Dept.
A main concern members raised centered around the operation of the fire department and fears the town might interfere. A multitude of state/federal requirements for equipment and training make the department’s own control of its operations necessary, they say.
An overwhelming number of hands went up in favor of the article with only a few dissenting votes at the town meeting, fire department members pointed out Monday.
During the heated discussion, Kathy Pendleton, president of the fire department board, got a ‘no’ answer when she asked if the attorney reviewing the agreement would also represent the fire department. The attorney can only represent one party, Willard said.
Pendleton reacted with a promise that the fire department would also obtain its own legal advice. “We’ll make sure we dot every ‘I” and cross every ‘T’,” she said.
