By Jordana Timerman
Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Massachusetts)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
TOWNSEND, Mass. — Selectmen decided Wednesday to reprimand Fire Chief William Donahue for not properly informing the town of his absences, according to town officials.
“Basically it was for not following the protocol for informing the town administrator of who the officer in charge was or who would be the designee in his office,” said Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Robert Plamondon.
Selectmen had met with Donahue to discuss a possible misuse of time on the town clock, Selectman David Chenelle said.
Donahue had taught several days at the state fire academy and claimed to have worked a second shift at the town’s fire department to make up his hours, Chenelle said.
Donahue did not return repeated calls for comment Thursday.
Selectmen said Donahue presented them with affidavits regarding his hours in the town and with screen prints from his office computer showing late hours worked on the days in question.
“What happened is he presented documentary evidence of screen times when he was on his system, which he can only access from his office in town. Solid documentary evidence that showed he was on his system doing computer stuff,” Chenelle said. “Most of them were in the 10:30-11 range.”
But Plamondon said the evidence did not satisfy him.
“I thought his documentation was suspect at best,” Plamondon said Thursday.
Selectmen decided to accept the evidence, having no strong reason to discard it, Chenelle said.
However, they also found Donahue had not properly informed Town Administrator Greg Barnes of days he would be absent -- and decided to reprimand him for it.
A letter from the selectmen voicing concern will be put in Donahue’s employee folder, Chenelle said.
Plamondon said he viewed the chief’s absence as a breech of contract.
Donahue’s contract says the chief is on duty “twenty-four hours a day.”
Barnes said Donahue’s absence does not imply a breech of contract, since he could still be on call.
Barnes said he is confident the chief will notify him about future absences.
“I’ve had assurances from the chief that he will be very careful about where time is being spent,” he said.
“The one thing I do want to stress is that the chief has been generally good since April in notifying me,” Barnes said. “The concerns really preceded that. I’d like to think it’s all a misunderstanding that can be cleared up with further conversation.”
Maureen Denig, the third member of the Board of Selectmen, could not be reached for comment Thursday.