Jack Lakowsky
The Day, New London, Conn.
MONTVILLE, Conn. — The Town Council was set to discuss Monday a former Chesterfield Fire Company EMS captain’s letter questioning the station’s ability to properly do its job.
Before the meeting Monday, former Capt. Stephanie Kneier, who remains a volunteer with Chesterfield, said she made her concerns public to draw more attention to the ongoing shortage of emergency service volunteers and to weaknesses in the station’s leadership.
Both in her letter to the Town Council and her Aug. 10 resignation letter, Kneier said Chesterfield’s reliance on out-of-town volunteers causes crew shortages for the Chesterfield ambulance and fire services.
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Those who are in town and are able have other commitments or are just not motivated to come out,” Kneier wrote in the newer letter. “Leadership members who are qualified either do not live in town or do not have the time to volunteer.”
Chesterfield Fire Chief Keith Truex could not be reached to comment Monday.
Mayor Leonard Bunnell said the town has hired 16 paid firefighters and emergency medical responders to help make up for the volunteer shortfall.
“It’s a plight affecting the entire nation,” Bunnell said of the volunteer shortage on Monday.
Bunnell said the town wants to bolster the number of both its paid and volunteer responders. He said he and other town officials are trying to devise a training and recruitment program aimed at young adults.
“I’m not sure what else the town can do,” Bunnell said.
Kneier wrote that when she started as captain, a title she held for two years, she “freely admits” she didn’t quite know what she was getting into, but that she “did go out and independently take ownership of the title” and her duties.
Kneier said she created inventory lists and brought all equipment up to state standards and obtained several different credentials, including a paramedic qualification.
Overlooking issues
Kneier said in her resignation letter that Chesterfield leadership is overlooking or excusing “several critical issues.”
First, she said, is the issue of recruiting members who live too far away to effectively serve the station and the community in its charge.
“This creates a misleadingly robust roster that masks the reality of a non-functional, in-town response crew,” Kneier wrote.
Kneier also alleged there was no thorough review of the service’s finances before shifting to paying night crews, and that leadership has put off such a review.
Another issue is that leadership disregards standard operating guidelines and, in meetings, Robert’s Rules of Order, which has “eroded organizational integrity. There are persistent leadership oversights, Kneier said, including a lack of Hazmat training and purchasing equipment without proper clearance.
Examples of these, Kneier wrote, calling an emergency meeting with less than three hours’ notice during a severe snowstorm, favoritism toward certain members and the reinstatement of repeatedly disciplined members “out of staffing desperation,” which degrades morale.
“Rather than addressing these structural flaws, leadership appears willing to tolerate them to maintain the appearance of a functioning department on paper, Kneier alleged in the second letter.
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