By Kate Ramunni
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
SHELTON, Conn. — A new description for the position of fire chief still isn’t in place, but the position is filled — at least temporarily.
The Board of Fire Commissioners Tuesday officially made former Chief John Millo the acting fire chief until a new chief is in place. Millo retired June 30 of this year and since then the department’s two assistant chiefs have been in command.
“It has gone around and around who is chief and who is not chief,” Commissioner Justin Sabatino said, making the motion to appoint Millo temporary chief.
The problem, the commissioners said, is that without an approved job description, it isn’t clear what is required of Millo. The commission approved a new job description in May and appointed Assistant Chief Mike Ullrich chief in June, but Mayor Mark A. Lauretti rejected that appointment and demanded the board revise the job description.
Lauretti objected to the wording in the description that puts the board, not the chief, in charge of day-to-day operations of the department. The mayor wants the position of fire chief to report to both him and the board, a caveat that many are at odds with.
Over the past four months, it hasn’t been clear what Millo’s status with the department was. While he officially retired from the position, he never submitted the required paperwork, nor did he turn in his fire department car. At one point the commission was considering taking legal steps to get the car back.
Commissioner Merle Chase said it should be assumed that Millo would stay on until a new chief was in place. “We really don’t need a motion,” he said. “He should automatically be chief until he is replaced.”
But Sabatino said he offered his motion to put the controversy to an end.
“We keep going back and forth over this,” he said, “and it really is not productive.”
The board Tuesday also continued to work on getting a new job description in place. The draft of a new proposed description has been formulated but still needs to be tweaked, said board chairman Bob Araujo.
Once that job description is finished, the board will create one for the new position of deputy fire chief, he said.