Groton - Two Poquonnock Bridge Fire District board members on Thursday filed complaints with Groton Town police after a sign posted to recruit volunteer firefighters was taken down, and then someone published the volunteer recruitment phone number on Craigslist as a source of free firewood.

Board President Alan Ackley said that on Nov. 1, board members hung a 3-by-8-foot banneron the front of the vacant fire station at 13 Fort Hill Road, above the bays for firetrucks.

Ackley said they attached the banner to the building with bolts and screws, and needed a bucket truck to do it.

But Carl Kiely, a member of the executive board of the fire company that owns the Fort Hill station and leases it to the district, said no one asked permission, and the sign defaced the front of the building.

"They should not have put the banner up without talking to us, and they never should have put it up in the manner they did," said Kiely of Poquonnock Bridge Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 Inc.

He said the executive board decided to take it down but couldn't get the bolts out, so a company member climbed a ladder and cut the banner free. It was then turned in to the fire chief.

Ackley said he called police but initially decided not to file a complaint. Kiely said he spoke to police, who decided it was an owner-tenant issue.

On Thursday, however, Ackley filed a formal complaint with the Groton Town police about removal and damage of the sign.

The sign included a phone number established specifically for recruitment, and someone posted it on Craigslist, offering free firewood.

Ron Johnson, the district board member in charge of volunteer recruitment, was then inundated with calls from people asking for free firewood. Johnson filed a separate complaint Thursday, Ackley said.

"I cannot confirm or deny (a complaint) because we do not comment on active, ongoing criminal investigations," Groton Lt. John Varone said Thursday.

Kiely said he knew nothing about the Craigslist posting. Poquonnock Bridge Firefighters Union President Mark Murphy said he heard about the sign being taken down and returned to the fire chief, but nothing about Craigslist.

"I can't picture anybody from within the union stooping that low to that level," he said.

Poquonnock Bridge is recruiting volunteers, with the approval of district voters, because it has been in financial crisis for more than two years. The district, the largest of nine fire districts in Groton, closed the Fort Hill station in November 2013 to save money. On July 25, the board laid off nine firefighters. It had four vacancies at the time, raising the total staff cuts to about 42 percent of the force.

Word of the layoffs led to a protest of more than 100 people, labor complaints and legal action by the union. In addition, Poquonnock Bridge Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 Inc. sent a letter to the fire chief and the district board in April, saying it was dissatisfied with the upkeep of the firehouse property, which was leased to the district.

District board member Ron Yuhas said the district did some maintenance work but hasn't had much money. Yuhas said the plan now is to turn Fort Hill into a space for district-recruited volunteers.

On Nov. 1, the board moved Acting Fire Marshal Kale Kiely from Fort Hill to the district's main station on Long Hill Road. His former office may become a volunteer office.

"In the long term, who knows how it's going to turn out? But we're doing what the public wanted us to do," Yuhas said.

In September, the district board and union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the help of a state mediator. It would have put the nine firefighters back to work.

The union gave up a lieutenant's position, its request for six firefighters on duty per shift and cost-of-living adjustments for retirees, among its concessions, Murphy said. The four-year labor contract would expire in 2016, if approved.

But the fire district board then rejected it last month during a meeting that was not publicly advertised. Board members later voted to reconsider that rejection.

The district board meets next at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Fort Hill station. Although the agreement is not on the agenda, Yuhas said he believes the board will vote on it.

If approved, the agreement would go to a special meeting of district voters to approve or reject a budget increase. The annual contract cost was not available, but the district's current budget of $3.9 million is about $800,000 less than the previous fiscal year, which included the nine career firefighters and items that are no longer funded.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim