Westfield Resident Questions SAFER Grant Application, Staffing Levels

At the Westfield Town Council meeting held Tuesday, Sept. 11, Westfield resident John Blake raised questions regarding the town's application for four Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants.

Last week it was announced that the grants, available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which would have provided for the hiring of up-to four firefighters for two years at no cost to the Westfield taxpayer, did not come through. 

Blake asked why the grants were not acted on. When no one offered an answer, Mayor Andrew Skibitsky told Blake to continue.

Referring to comments made by Westfield Councilman Keith Loughlin, vice chair of the public safety committee, in which he stated that the public safety committee is comfortable with current staffing levels of the Westfield Fire Department, Blake said, "May I ask why we would apply for grants to increase staff with which we were comfortable?"

Blake noted that grants were also denied to hire additional police officers, yet new officers have been hired. He asked the difference between the two departments.

"That's the decision this council made, Mr. Blake," Skibitsky said. 

Blake also asked what standards were being used to determine that staffing was "adequate."

"Did we make an application based on layoffs or did we make the application for grants based on attrition, through retirements and death?" he asked.

Blake added that due to the size of the town, he does not believe that the town would lend itself to a volunteer department. 

"I would suggest that their late arrival does not bode well for their ability to contain fires," he said. "I take my hat off to anybody that volunteers in such a manner but I don't think a volunteer fire department is one upon which I'd like to depend for the maintenance of my home."

Blake stated that towns such as Springfield that are choosing to use more volunteers are finding themselves paying hefty homeowner's insurance premiums far in excess of the taxes they would pay to maintain a paid staff. 

Blake also believes there has been an abuse of the mutual aid statute which is resulting in non-emergency calls leaving departments like Westfield understaffed and "passing the buck onto neighboring towns" because they are "too cheap" to pay for the service themselves.

He called mutual aid a wonderful aim that should be followed in emergencies rather than a crutch to avoid paying additional taxes. 

Town Administrator Jim Gildea said the town applied for the grants because it had the opportunity to obtain funds from federal government to augment staff. He said the town applied to "bolster" the department and to suggest that there is a problem with the staffing "is not necessarily true."

Gildea said that there are currently four seven-man platoons as well as the fire chief and deputy chief and this is the lowest level that the town has determined staffing will go. 

The police department acquired some new hires because staffing levels had fallen below a 52-member force. Gildea said the department has had a lot of turnover in the last two-and-a-half years and the town is hiring to replace not add officers. 

"Public safety remains a priority," he said. "We have 28 firefighters that protect this town 24/7 in addition to a deputy and a chief. Our guys do a wonderful job."

Gildea said Westfield is very fortunate to be able to continue to maintain a paid department and added that the days of hiring someone to fix the problem are long over.

"The taxpayers can't support that anymore," Gildea said.

Loughlin said the council has to make "tough decisions" as residents ask for more police officers, firefighters and road repairs. The councilman said he "strongly disagreed" with the characterization that mutual aid is a last resort. As towns are facing increasing budget pressure, mutual aid has become something that is relied upon, he added.

"We are doing whatever we can to reduce the tax burden on the Westfield resident while maintaining essential services and we will continue to do so," Loughlin said.