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Saturday, May 18, 2013

By Janet Hefler
Published: April 23, 2009

With attention focused on town department budgets at Tisbury's annual town meeting last week, fire Chief John Schilling took the opportunity to provide voters with an extensive explanation of his department's fiscal 2010 (FY10) budget.

"It's come to my attention through articles or letters to the editor in the paper and letters to various town officials that there are some questions from the members of the community regarding the budget of the fire department, and specifically, the line item for the stipends payable to the fire department," Chief Schilling said. "But the real questions aren't related to the firefighters and their stipends, they're related to the fire chief's stipend."

Although the fire department's FY10 budget is level-funded with FY09's, Mr. Schilling said the issue of his pay increase dates back to the FY09 budget, when his pay was increased to $52,806 a year from $17,250 in FY08. The town considers the position part-time.

The Tisbury selectmen commissioned a study of the town fire department's organization, staffing, operations, and management, following a request by Chief Schilling in January 2007, for an article on the annual town meeting warrant to establish the fire chief's job as a full-time, salaried position.

Mr. Schilling said that in addition to being on call six days a week, the fire chief's job demands extensive record keeping and performing an increasing number of federal- and state-mandated inspections.

The feasibility study by consultant Charles D. Hale of Resource Management Associates recommended that the selectmen consider moving the town to a full-time chief. The selectmen agreed to place an article on the April 2007 annual town meeting warrant to fund the position with $35,305, in addition to the chief's then salary of $17,500.

Although town meeting approved the article, funding was tied to a Proposition 2.5 override, which failed. Mr. Schilling said he and the two assistant fire chiefs subsequently met with the selectmen to agree on a financial and competency plan for employees, to address the department's needs, as well as shift coverage and allow time off for the chief.

While addressing those issues, the department also instituted new policies for department membership criteria, attendance, job descriptions and qualifications, training incentives and goals, along with stipends based on rank, Mr. Schilling said.

"When we redid the stipend plan, the fire chief received a raise in the stipend plan to $52,806 a year," Chief Schilling explained at town meeting. "Now, we did not create a new position - we did not create a full-time, salaried employee position for the town of Tisbury."

The fire chief is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 316 days a year, Chief Schilling said, and the position has no benefits associated with it and no sick time, personal time, or vacation time.

"When we worked out our shift coverage plan between the chief and the two assistant chiefs, we negotiated a deal that the assistant chiefs were willing to cover up to 98 12-hour shifts in the course of a year, to give the chief time off," Mr. Schilling said.

They are compensated an additional $100 per 12-hour shift when they cover the chief's shifts, which brings their base pay up to about $10,900 a year on average, he added.

Chief Schilling said some people asked why Tisbury is handling his salary differently than other towns. According to town officials in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, Edgartown Fire Chief Peter Shemeth, receives about $26,000 a year, and Oak Bluffs Fire Chief Peter Forend $12,000 a year. Both are considered part-time.

"Our service paradigm was designed to utilize the resources that we have available to us through our personnel," Mr. Schilling said. "I would remind you that no one service model fits every community, because the same people don't serve in each community."

Sue Tonry, who has written letters to The Martha's Vineyard Times objecting to Chief Schilling's pay, objected that voters unknowingly approved the increase, because it was not called to their attention at the 2008 annual town meeting. "At this point in time, I really don't think that job is worth a $35,000 raise," she said, adding that she understood other fire chiefs on Martha's Vineyard would be willing to share the $17,250 part-time job.

Ms. Tonry offered up a written amendment to reduce the fire department's budget by $17,500.

Noting that progression to a full-time fire chief is inevitable, Daniel Feeney, a lieutenant in the fire department, said that nonetheless he too was bothered by the way Mr. Schilling's raise was handled. He said he felt caught in the middle of the issue, because Mr. Schilling is his boss and a friend.

Mr. Feeney put the blame on the Tisbury selectmen for not properly informing the town. "The selectmen of this town decided, made a conscious choice, because he needed a certain amount of money, to give it to him, and then not bring this forward at our last town meeting," he said.

Selectman Tristan Israel agreed that the selectmen should have called attention to the salary increase at town meeting. However, he said, "There was nothing diabolical here. We did open sessions several times with TV cameras."

Noting that he knows what it takes to run the Tisbury fire department, after serving 23 years as its chief and 45 years as a member, Richard "Dick" Clark received applause after telling voters, "I would strongly recommend that you defeat the amendment and pay the position what it's worth."

Voters approved the fire department budget intact, after defeating Ms. Tonry's amendment.