By Anne M. Amato
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
SHELTON, Conn. — An ongoing feud between the Board of Fire Commissioners and Mayor Mark A. Lauretti could leave the city Fire Department without a chief.
While Lauretti on Wednesday said he approved the temporary reappointment of Chief John Millo, whose two-year term expired June 30, Commissioner Justin Sabatino said he has not been officially notified of that.
Until he is notified, Sabatino said he considers the chief’s term expired. “As far as I am concerned, he is no longer the chief, and some of the fire captains feel the same way,” he said.
“We’ll also be asking him to hand over the keys to his car,” Sabatino said.
But he added that the lack of a fire chief will not create any problems with public safety.
“Ninety percent of the time, firefighters respond without a chief,” he said of the volunteer department.
Sabatino said the department’s two assistant chiefs will now be in charge at fire scenes; the chief’s administrative duties will be handled by the commission.
Millo has been serving as acting chief since July 1 and planned to stay on until a new chief was approved by the mayor.
But while commissioners recently selected Mike Ulrich as chief and Fran Jones as deputy chief, Lauretti has refused to approve these selections until the chief’s position is given authority of day-to-day operations of the fire department. “The chief has to run the department without any interference,” the mayor has said.
“This is just a disagreement about a job description -- that’s all it is,” Lauretti said. He said he planned to continue to “approach this the way I approach everything else.”
Lauretti said that means “doing what is in the best interest of the residents of the city of Shelton.
“I am bound by our charter regulations and that’s what I have to follow.”
Millo said Wednesday he was not aware of the fire commission’s Aug. 15 decision to not extend the three reappointments. “If they’ve changed their mind about my reappointment, then so be it,” he said. “They are obviously in disagreement with the mayor.”
The commission has also decided not to recognize the temporary reappointment of Fran Jones, who has served as the fire department’s training officer for the last five years.
Jones was at City Hall Wednesday returning the department’s training equipment.
“I was instructed to hand it all in,” Jones said. “I guess you can say this situation is a mess.” Lauretti said the Fire Commission has no authority under the City Charter to act on its own. “Things must be done correctly,” the mayor said. “They can’t arbitrarily decide something.”