Norwich — After another contentious debate, the City Council late Tuesday rescinded a June 21 ordinance to establish a fire services director and voted to reconsider a rejected ordinance to raise retired volunteer firefighter pensions.

The council again argued the merits of creating a fire services director position, recommended in an outside consultant’s study of the city’s fire services, before voting 4-2 to scrap the June 21 ordinance creating the position. Aldermen continued to debate fire services issues when considering a resolution that would direct City Manager John Salomone to meet monthly with the city’s one paid and five volunteer fire chiefs, ultimately voting 4-2 to refer the issue to the council’s Public Safety Committee.

Although the council voted 5-2 on June 21 to approve the fire services director ordinance, the position was left unfunded in the 2021-22 budget.

The debate over the fire services director was renewed when initial supporter, Republican Alderman William Nash, proposed revising the approved ordinance to change the focus of the position from solely a fire services director to an assistant city manager.

Nash repeated his proposal to assign one person to oversee the at-times contentious fire companies. But his support for the ordinance shifted during the June 21 debate to consider making the position a lower-cost assistant city manager who could take on other tasks once the fire services issues are addressed.

Democratic Aldermen Joseph DeLucia, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, and Derell Wilson argued vehemently against scrapping the ordinance, saying it would be better to leave the position intact for future city councils to consider funding, perhaps as early as next spring.

Council President Pro Tempore Mark Bettencourt, an initial supporter of the position, said he was “torn” on the idea to scrap it or rework it as an assistant city manager. He said leaving it unfunded makes the entire debate moot.

“I think the position is worthy, but we didn’t fund it,” he said, “So I don’t think anything we do here tonight matters a whit, because it’s going to be another year before we discuss it.”

Bettencourt recommended revisiting and "tweaking" the failed ordinance that would have raised retired volunteer firefighters' pensions. That move, which would have cost average homeowners in the volunteer districts another $3 a year in property taxes, was defeated June 21 in a heated partisan debate. The council majority Democrats argued it would not be fair to raise volunteer pensions at a time when city employees are being asked to raise their contributions to retirement plans that offer lower benefits.

The council voted 4-2 Tuesday to scrap the fire services director ordinance, with only DeLucia and Wilson voting to keep it intact.

After a second lengthy debate, the council voted 4-2 to refer a resolution to the Public Safety Committee that would direct City Manager Salomone to meet monthly with the six fire chiefs to work on fire service issues raised in the consultant's February report.

Some aldermen had objections to wording in the initial resolution and argued against a requirement for Salomone to notify the City Council by email anytime a meeting is canceled. Mayor Peter Nystrom called it “micromanaging” and said it crossed the line from the council’s role of setting policy to controlling city administrative duties.

“We have made it clear to Mr. Salomone how important this is,” Alderwoman Stacy Gould, a volunteer firefighter for East Great Plain department. “And I believe that he’s heard us. We’ve made it clear to the chiefs how important this is to us."

c.bessette@theday.com