Fire Departments Should Account for Spending, Public Safety Commissioner Suggests

At the Public Safety Commission meeting on Monday, commissioner Gary Allyn reported on revisions to the Public Safety Commission Rules and Procedures document that he expected to be approved at the January meeting of the commission.  

Allyn said that the revised document will include a requirement that the volunteer fire departments in town make an accounting of expenditures for money allocated to them by the town as part of the budget process.

He also recommended that the commission schedule meetings once each quarter at a local fire station as a commission outreach to the public.

***

Also at the meeting, Commissioner Russ Wehner recommended that that the revised rules and procedures document contain guidelines on how the commissioners should handle citizen complaints about department individuals presented to them outside commission hearings.

Town councilor Candy Buebendorf suggested that the town council should consider writing guidelines on the issue into the town's code of ethics so that the same standards would apply to all departments.

***

Montville Police Lt. Leonard Bunnell reported that he was moving forward with overdue letters and certificates of recognition for police department staff who deserved to be recognized for their efforts.

After the meeting, Bunnell said that there are a number of  individuals who should be recognized for their efforts going back as far as 10 years. He said recognition was delayed because of the workload carried by his department.