By Matthew Spolar
The Concord Monitor
ALLENSTOWN, N.H. — Allenstown’s fire chief promised last night to crack down on on- call firefighters who aren’t pulling their weight.
“We need 30 active members, not just people who are there for the fun and games,” fire Chief Dan Hart said at the selectmen’s meeting.
Of the department’s 30 on-call members who respond to emergencies overnight and on weekends, Hart said about 10 to 12 “are doing all the work.”
“The rest are just members — they’re not responding,” he said.
The selectmen gave their support to changes Hart proposed to the department’s standing orders to ensure all on-call members are active.
Hart said he will do a review of each member’s performance from last year and meet individually with all firefighters who were not up to par, which could be as many as two-thirds of the group. He said the “usual” reason that on-call firefighters give for not responding is that they are working second jobs.
Going forward, Hart said the new rules will demand that all members sign up for at least four on-call shifts per month and meet minimum training requirements.
Those who don’t comply will have to leave the department or be relegated to a support position, an unpaid position in which members can help out with nonemergency functions.
Hart said about six or seven on-call members have expressed an interest in dropping down to support status. Meanwhile, Hart said there are about four or five certified firefighters on a waiting list to become active members of the on-call group.
Earlier in the meeting, the selectmen approved in a 2-1 vote a request from police Chief Shaun Mulholland to begin the hiring process for a nighttime police secretary. Selectman Roger LaFleur voted against the proposal.
The part-time position would be staffed from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, which the chief said would save money on calls during those hours that currently go to a dispatch center.
On Friday, the position would be staffed from 4 to 7 p.m., bringing the weekly total to 19 hours. At 20 hours, the town would be required to provide a benefits package for the employee, Mulholland said.
The nighttime secretary would make $11.75 per hour — the full- time secretary makes $16.50, Mulholland said — and would be paid from an existing fund that was created when the nighttime position was eliminated about two years ago due to uncertainty about the budget.
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