Groton — Peter Legnos, who resigned from the Poquonnock Bridge Fire District board last month, said the fire district system is broken and the town needs to step in and do something.

"It's really a townwide problem," he said of the failing system in Poquonnock Bridge. "It's not just a Poquonnock Bridge problem. And someone has to have the political courage to fix it."

In the last two months, the longtime fire chief retired, two board members resigned and the district lost its lease on one of its two fire stations. Poquonnock Bridge must vacate the station at 13 Fort Hill Road by Jan. 2. A Superior Court judge also ruled that a disputed 10-year labor contract between the board and union is invalid, leaving the two sides to renegotiate. The district board had to hire a new labor lawyer because the last lawyer no longer wished to represent it.

Allegations of favoritism have surfaced. The district board recently named a new board member, Susan Aguiar, who works part-time for board President Alan Ackley at his package store. Board member Randy Ackley, Alan Ackley's cousin, was elected at the district's annual meeting.

"I do not think an employee of another board member of the chairman is wise (to appoint)," said Joan Steinford, a former member of the Representative Town Meeting and resident of Poquonnock Bridge. "There's a conflict there. The chairman is her boss as an employer. And under other circumstances, you do what the employer wants you to do."

Given all the trouble Poquonnock Bridge has had, Town Manager Mark Oefinger said he doesn't understand why the board wouldn't solicit multiple candidates and make the process as open as possible.

"This could be the best person in the world, but why would you even go there?" he said.

But Oefinger said he doesn't believe the town can help the fire district.

"I think it is bad, but I've thought it was bad for well over a year. My perception is people are trying to do harm to a district. To what end, I don't know," he said.

"If people are really upset about this appointment, the residents of the district need to start showing up and being vocal," he said. "It needs to play out, and the members of the district need to take control of the situation."

Both the board and the firefighters' union have behaved pretty badly at times, Oefinger added.

The Town Council last year began calling in the fire district boards and chiefs that cover different parts of town before giving the districts pilot money to protect town-owned property.

Poquonnock Bridge was scheduled to go before the council on Dec. 23, but the meeting was canceled.

The fire district receives about $154,000 in pilot money.

The council last discussed Poquonnock Bridge during the summer, after the president of the Old Mystic Fire District wrote that the lack of sufficient emergency response that would occur after layoffs "borders on the criminal."

But the council was advised by Town Attorney Eileen Duggan that it did not have to step in. Councilors also met with a lawyer in executive session in August.

Ackley could not be reached Monday.

Legnos, owner of the engineering and manufacturing firm LBI, Inc., said he resigned from the board because he didn't feel it was doing any good. He said his own business is expanding and he wasn't comfortable being absent from fire district meetings while decisions were made.

He said he'd be better off serving on a board where he could be productive, like the Economic Development Commission.

He said criticism of Ackley is "mudslinging" and Legnos has had some of it himself.

"There's been a lot of just plain, nasty, mean," he said.

The disputed 10-year labor contract would have given firefighters annual pay raises of 3 percent along with other benefits, but was ruled invalid because negotiators never sought approval of the money needed to pay for it, as state law requires, a Superior Court judge ruled. With the contract invalidated, both sides must renegotiate.

"You can't do things you can't pay for. It was kind of railroaded in, and the people of the district are aware of that, and they're pretty angry," Legnos said. That may be "the straw that broke the camel's back," he said of the district.

From a public safety standpoint, Poquonnock Bridge acts almost as a "catcher's mitt for fire service in town," but the burden of paying for it falls on working-class taxpayers with the least ability to pay, Legnos said.

Fire Captain Tim Driscoll started a couple of days ago, serving as acting chief for the next 90 days, until a new chief is found.

"I'm just trying to keep everything status quo," Driscoll said Monday. "Keep the public safe and keep the firefighters safe."

The district continues to run with a minimum of three firefighters working per shift, rather than the five it had before layoffs. The board laid off nine firefighters last summer to save money.

Board member Ron Yuhas said he agrees the tax unfairness in Poquonnock Bridge must be corrected. But the fire district must deal with its own problems, he said.

"I'm hoping we can fix it," Yuhas said. "Until this district gets its own house in order, we can't go to the town."

d.straszheim@theday.com

@DStraszheim