Report examines shared fire chief for New Salem and Wendell

New Salem and Wendell, neighboring Franklin County towns that already shared a town coordinator, earlier this year began sharing the services of a fire chief.

The arrangement, which is the subject of a recent case study by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, was devised following the retirement of Wendell Fire Chief Everett Ricketts. Rather than replacing Ricketts, who had served as fire chief for almost four decades, the two towns worked out an arrangement under which New Salem’s fire chief, Joseph Cuneo, works 19 hours in each of the two communities, which are similar in size and population.

As a cost-saving measure, Cuneo’s role is structured as two 19-hour jobs, one in each town, rather than a full-time position that would entitle him to health insurance and other benefits.

Nancy Aldrich, the town coordinator for both communities, has a single full-time job. She said she hopes that eventually Cuneo’s position will receive benefits as well.

The current arrangement “is a big first step,” Aldrich said. “But I don’t think it’s all the way where I would like it to be.”

Aldrich praised Cuneo’s work, particularly his attention to safety issues, such as working with building inspectors to make sure that buildings have emergency-exit lights that meet building and fire codes.

“These are things that sometimes get overlooked in smaller towns,” she said.

Ted Harvey, the regional project planner with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, said that Aldrich reached out to the organization about sharing the fire chief position.

“They saw the writing on the wall, to their credit, that this was a necessity,” Harvey said.

The case study, “Town of Wendell Transition to Shared Fire Chief,” can be downloaded at http://frcog.org/town-wendell-fire-chief-transition-shared-chief.