SHUTESBURY — After five months of contract negotiations, Fire Chief Walter Tibbetts has given town officials an ultimatum — meet his request for a pay raise or he will retire at the end of July.
And in an act of solidarity, all 10 of the department’s firefighters have pledged to resign if that request is not met, leaving the rural town without a fire department.
Tibbetts, 55, delivered a letter of retirement to the Selectboard on Tuesday following months of failed negotiations for a raise in salary as part of a new three-year contract, according to Town Administrator Rebecca Torres.
Tibbetts’ salary for fiscal year 2018 was $55,409 and he requested a $10,000 raise. The board countered with a $5,000 raise.
“I’m sorry that it ever had to come to that,” Tibbetts said about turning in his letter of retirement. “It’s not a situation that I wanted to find myself, the department, or the town in. My hopes were that it was never going to end anywhere near where it has. My intentions were just to get reasonable compensation for the job and all the requirements that come with the job now — it’s changed over the last few years.”
The Fire Department announced Tuesday night that all 10 firefighters would resign as well, due to a lack of a new contract for the chief, effectively folding the department on July 31, according a statement on the Shutesbury Fire Department/Emergency Management Facebook page.
Members of the Selectboard did not comment on how the board reached its decision not to meet Tibbetts’ request. Chairman Michael DeChiara said via email the board is still determining what, if any, information it can share before its June 26 meeting.
Torres said the town does not yet have a plan on how to move forward in terms of Tibbetts’ letter of retirement.
“This is an unprecedented situation and you could hire people, you could have an agreement with another town, but these would not be overnight things,” Torres said. “There would be planning, meetings and discussions about what is the appropriate level of service that a small town requires.”
Tibbetts said he did not realize his retirement would result in the resignation of the rest of the firefighters and that he was surprised by the stance they took. A week prior to handing in his retirement letter to the board, he had told firefighters that negotiations were not going well and if things did not change, he was considering retiring.
Contract negotiations have been ongoing since January, and those talks came to a head at the Selectboard’s June 13 meeting when all 10 firefighters stated in a signed letter that they would resign if Tibbetts did not get a new contract.
A week later, Tibbetts handed in his retirement letter following a closed-door negotiation session with the Selectboard. He said he had drafted the letter just hours before the meeting and only handed it to the board members after sensing they would not budge.
The fire chief’s job description had not been updated in over 12 years, Tibbetts said, and over the past five months the job description has been re-written to better “define what the job entails now.” He said his responsibilities doubled in that process and he is looking for fair compensation in recognition of that.
Training firefighters to deal with the opioid crisis as well as for active shooter situations, also known as hostile mass casualty incidents, has become part of an increasingly demanding job, according to Tibbetts. The Fire Department has gotten a higher volume of calls, he said, with the average jumping from 120 to 160 in recent years.
Additionally, the chief is the town’s emergency management director, meaning he is responsible for planning the procedures and coordinating with other public safety officials in case of a natural disaster or other emergencies.
According to Tibbetts, he is currently making $21,000 a year less than Police Chief Thomas Harding, a “significant” amount less than Highway Department Superintendent Timothy Hunting and less than the town administrator.
“I was just asking for what I felt was fair compensation,” Tibbetts said. “I’m not asking for an increase each year. I’m trying to bring what I felt was fair compensation for the work and the amount I give to the town above and beyond to what even the expanded job description brings.”
Tibbetts is also the president of Franklin County Fire Chiefs Association and the chairman of the Franklin County Emergency Communication System Oversight Committee.
The statement posted by the Shutesbury Fire Department Facebook read:
“We the firefighters who fiercely stand behind our Chief gave [the Selectboard] a letter informing them that if he resigns, we will as well. The town officials had a choice and made a decision. So it is with broken hearts that we must inform you that as of July 31, 2018 the Shutesbury Fire Department is no more.”
The department is made up of 10 on-call volunteers who are paid hourly per call, with Tibbetts being the only salaried position. He has been at the department for a total of 39 years, serving as chief for the past 23 years. The position became full time in 2009. Tibbetts’ father also served on the Fire Department.
Volunteer firefighter Mark Foster said he and the rest of the firefighters are willing to take the chance of resigning because they feel “solidarity” with their chief.
“We are not looking for anything for ourselves. We just want one thing: We want our chief to be treated fairly,” Foster said. “They want to test our resolve and they’re doing it to the wrong people.”
Resident Susan Watkins of Leverett Road believes town officials should “give (Tibbetts) the money.” Her husband, Mark, volunteered for 15 years at the Fire Department before leaving 10 years ago. She said it’s already hard enough for the department to get volunteers and believes the town should be supporting the fire chief.
“Things move slow in town and of course he deserves a raise,” Watkins said. “It’s a hard job and he does a lot of things and he’s been living here all his life. … I’m pretty proud of the firefighters joining together in solidarity for Walter.”
Tibbetts said “my biggest regret of this whole thing is that it affects the safety and well-being of the citizens of the town of Shutesbury.” He said he is still hoping to resolve the problem with the town.
He mentioned that if the negotiations cannot be worked out with the board, he will make his final plea for the firefighters to stay, although he cannot guarantee they will listen.
If Shutesbury’s Fire Department folds, it could mean other towns would be responsible for responding to fire emergencies there. Amherst has a mutual aid agreement with Shutesbury, and Amherst Fire Chief W. Tim Nelson said his crew would continue to honor that agreement.
“In the short term, it will not have such a great impact on us. … That’s something (Shutesbury) has to work on and do what they believe is right for them,” Nelson said.