Union president: Town is on a witch hunt

This story appeared in the Derry News and was written by Eric Parry, Staff writer

DERRY — Firefighters Union President Gary Williams said the town is embarking on a witch hunt by hiring an outside company to investigate the town's fire department.

At last week's Town Council meeting, Councilors Kevin Coyle and Janet Fairbanks asked Town Administrator Gary Stenhouse to hire an outside firm to investigate the police and fire departments. Fairbanks asked to have the fire department analyzed to see if there are wasted resources.

"We feel Councilors Coyle and Fairbanks have an axe to grind with the fire department," Williams said.

Williams said he didn't think an outside company's investigation would find anything out of the ordinary at the department.

Fire Chief George Klauber did not return phone calls to comment on this story.

Last week, Coyle said he believes the fire department is overstaffed by at least four firefighters.

The fire department outnumbers the police department 85 to 74, and Stenhouse said that in his experience in municipal work for more than 20 years, police departments usually have more employees.

Coyle requested an outside firm be hired to investigate complaints of low morale at the police department. The Derry Police Patrolman's Union has been complaining of morale issues at the department for years, and the council has never addressed the issue, Coyle said.

Coyle, who is a prosecutor for the Londonderry Police Department, said the Derry Police Patrolman's Web site is very critical of the department's management, and he said he's concerned the town has lost 10 veteran police officers in the last year.

Police Chief Edward Garrone said this week that he has heard of a possible investigation but has not been told anything by Stenhouse yet.

"Morale is a state of mind, and you can put your mind where you want," Garrone said. "Quite frankly I'm proud of this department, and I would invite an outsider to come in and take a look."

Coyle acknowledged the state's retirement system has changed to limit benefits, but he said that's not a logical explanation for the exodus, since both departments are in the same retirement system, and Londonderry has not lost a single firefighter this year.

"The townspeople should understand they cannot lose 12 seasoned police officers (1/5th of the department) and not have a drop in the quality of service they receive until replacement officers are fully trained," the union's Web site reads from a July 18 update.

"These people are flying out the door, and there's a reason for that," Coyle said Wednesday afternoon.

Mike Houle, president of the Police Patrolman's Association, said he's happy that the council is taking up the issue and hopes the loss of veteran officers shows there are problems within the department.

Houle said a previous morale investigation conducted by former interim Town Administrator John Moody last summer was incomplete, and he hopes the Town Council will spend money for an outside company to examine the problems.

"We feel the morale investigation that Mr. Moody did was a farce," Houle said, noting only the police chief and two captains were interviewed for the report.