After a year without a permanent fire chief, the Oak Bluffs select agreed to restructure the duties of the city’s fire department at a meeting on Tuesday evening.
Selectmen approved an organizational chart compiled by Erik Blake, Director of Public Safety and Police Chief, and civil engineering consultant John Schilling.
The new organization will include a chief fire officer who oversees a deputy chief fire officer, an ambulance coordinator and an administrator. Currently the department consists of a fire chief, a deputy chief and a deputy chief, followed by captains and lieutenants. On the EMS side there is a first and a second lieutenant.
The most important change in the restructuring would be a full-time deputy fire chief. The proposed position of deputy fire chief is currently held by three different fire brigade members. The deputy head would be responsible for department training, fire inspection, and code enforcement. The position would also represent a potential path for a future fire chief.
“Looking at the current structure and the gaps and funding, the picture came together pretty quickly. There are many resources here, but they have to be brought together in a coherent river, ”said Schilling.
Blake and Schilling were given the reins to shape the fire department after an investigation into the fire department’s billing practices with their off-island rescue service and the departure of former fire chief John Rose. Rose, whose tenure shared the Board of Selectmen, was the subject of an MCAD complaint which claimed he had mistreated former fire department manager Cynthia Hatt by “relentlessly sexually molesting her and creating a hostile work environment”.
The city settled with Hatt and paid her a lump sum of $ 97,500 through city insurance. Rose got its own payoff. He received 50 percent ($ 65,882.70) of his annual salary as part of a severance agreement with the city. He also received full retirement benefits.
Meanwhile, the city received 14 applications for the position of fire chief after completing a month-long recruitment phase on Friday.
Selectmen will work with an interim panel composed of Schilling, Blake, Edgartown Fire Chief, Alex Schaeffer, Deputy Fire Chief Manny Rose, Firemen James Maseda, Will deBettencourt and John O’Donnell, EMS member Lt. Matthew Bradley, and City Administrator Robert Whritenour.
In other matters, select individuals unanimously approved Gail Barmakian as the representative of the newly formed coalition to establish Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank. Barmakian will act as the liaison between the coalition and the board.
The coalition wants to create a housing bank modeled on Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, which will be funded from a transfer fee for real estate transactions. The housing bank will not propose using existing city revenues like the short-term rental tax or the Community Preservation Act funds.
Housing Bank would not build apartments, but would provide seed capital for development projects.
This is the third attempt by a residential bank in Martha’s Vineyard. The first was approved by all six island towns and island brokers in 2005, but was shot down by state lawmakers when the Massachusetts Association of Realtors opposed it.
The second attempt came in 2019 after the extended room excise tax on rentals like Airbnb and VRBO. This proposal called for 50 percent of the new tax revenue, but was swiftly rejected by the townspeople selected before it was defeated by every town at the annual town councils.
Selectmen unanimously appointed Deborah Potter to another three-year term as city clerk.