By Daniel Drainville
The Day
NORWICH, Conn. — The Yantic, Taftville, Laurel Hill and Occum volunteer fire departments announced Thursday that they will not move forward with mediation efforts to resolve the two lawsuits they’ve filed against the city.
Justin May, the spokesperson hired by the four departments amid their ongoing feud with the city, released a statement Thursday afternoon on behalf of the departments.
| EARLIER: Conn. city, FD agree to mediation in dispute over shutdown
The statement said despite the departments’ best efforts, the city, led by City Manager John Salomone and City Fire Chief Sam Wilson, has not come to the table in good faith, and has not presented any meaningful solutions for the volunteer departments and Norwich taxpayers.”
One month ago, attorneys for the departments and the city agreed to enter the mediation in an attempt to resolve their ongoing feud rooted in the city’s August 2025 establishment of Unified Command policy. This led to separate lawsuits filed on behalf of the four departments by Attorney Mark Kovack.
The policy established a single command structure with Wilson at the top, and standardized training, communications and emergency response protocols for both paid and volunteer fire services in the city.
The first lawsuit was filed Feb. 20, on behalf of Yantic Fire Engine Co. No. 1. It came after the city obtained an injunction on Feb. 10 to repossess five city-owned fire trucks from the department, the day after shutting it down. The second was filed Feb. 23, on behalf of all four departments. It alleges that Salomone and Wilson exceeded their city charter authority by establishing the policy.
The volunteers’ Thursday statement said those lawsuits will now continue.
“In our view, the City, the City Manager, and Chief Wilson acted illegally when they failed to ensure that major policy changes reflected the will of the voters and complied with the City Charter,” the Thursday statement said. “We look forward to making our case in court.”
On March 31, a single mediation session was held between the two sides and involved representatives of all four departments. A second was tentatively scheduled for April 7. But Kovack had said in a March 18 article in The Day that volunteers would continue the mediation only if they felt meaningful progress was being made. He added the departments would not agree to leaving Yantic shut down.
The Thursday statement indicates they did not feel progress was being made.
It further stated the volunteers are “disappointed that the City Council and legislators for the city have not stepped in to help the two sides find a solution that preserves the city’s volunteer departments and saves the taxpayers millions of dollars each and every year.”
The city responded with a statement from Salomone.
“The City of Norwich was ready and willing to attend our next planned mediation on April 7 , and the volunteer departments have chosen to walk away from the negotiating table. We’re extremely disappointed in their decision. The City entered this process in good faith at the encouragement of ( New London Superior Court Judge Daniel Shapiro ), with the singular goal of reaching a resolution that prioritizes the safety of our residents and our firefighters.”
According to the volunteers’ statement, since the beginning of the dispute, they have “sought a lawful, sustainable path forward that preserves local coverage, maintains depth, protects public safety and taxpayers, and allows the Norwich community to make the ultimate decision.”
The city has repeatedly stated that it has put forth a contract that would allow all volunteer departments to continue operations, “so long as they agree to simple, nationally accepted safety standards for firefighters” — language that refers to its reasoning for implementing the Unified Command policy.
“It is frustrating and perplexing that these departments would place their own operational autonomy ahead of basic safety standards,” the city statement read.
The volunteers’ statement claims that “Chief Wilson’s ultimate goal is an entirely paid, unionized career department in Norwich, and his actions — along with the City Manager and City Council — are responsible for millions of dollars of new expenditures to accomplish their agenda.”
No city officials have indicated any desire to transition to a fully paid department. Salomone and Wilson have stated repeatedly that the city values its volunteer firefighters and wants them to be a permanent part of Norwich’s fire service.
The city’s statement said that by abandoning mediation in favor of litigation, the volunteers have “walked away from a collaborative path toward enhanced public safety.
Since the shutdown, the city department has been operating a makeshift substation in Yantic at the 50 Clinton Ave. Public Works garage, staffed at all times by two paid firefighters and a paid lieutenant, who stay in a trailer in the parking lot. The cost of the substation is estimated at $100,000 a month.
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