East Lyme ― With the creation of a municipal fire department in his preliminary 2024-25 budget proposal and the imminent announcement of an acting fire chief, First Selectman Dan Cunningham is forging ahead with the creation of the consolidated East Lyme Fire Services.

Cunningham at Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting announced he will be appointing an acting fire chief and acting assistant fire chief to oversee two independent fire companies and the independent ambulance service. Then he will work to codify the move through a new town ordinance officially establishing the fire services department.

Budget documents show the plan is to promote the town’s fire marshal to fire services chief and deputy fire marshal to deputy chief, but Cunningham so far has not publicly named the chosen officials.

In a phone interview Thursday, the first selectman said he expects to make the announcement early next week.

Fire Marshal Bill Bundy and deputy fire marshal Erik Quinn did not return calls for comment.

The $1.9 million fire services spending plan Cunningham is proposing includes $117,000 for the combined fire chief/fire marshal position and $105,000 for the deputy fire chief/fire marshal. That’s up from $93,830 and $68,000 allocated for the respective positions in the current fire marshal budget. It would also add one full-time firefighter, bringing the town’s total to 11.

Finance Director Kevin Gervais on Thursday said the proposal would establish a new schedule assigning four full-time firefighters to each 24-hour shift, with 48 hours off. Union negotiations are ongoing.

The annual budget process requires approvals by the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and voters at a referendum.

Cunningham said the town charter as he understands it gives him the power to establish the temporary positions.

He pointed to language allowing the first selectman to “hire and dismiss employees of the town” as long as he gives notice to the Board of Selectmen “at its next meeting.” The board can overrule any hire by a majority vote at the following meeting.

The independent Flanders Fire Department and Niantic Fire Department, as well as East Lyme Ambulance, operate separately from each other and the town. The chiefs of the two fire companies don’t report to the town, though full-time firefighters hired with taxpayer dollars report directly to the first selectman on a day-to-day basis.

“Right now I'm acting administrative fire chief, so it's really appropriate to have an actual fire chief that will manage the financial aspects of it and also be the chain of command for the paid firefighters,” he said.

The move comes after former First Selectman Kevin Seery in October abruptly dropped his proposal for an ordinance establishing the municipal fire department after backlash from volunteers who said they weren’t included in the process.

Cunningham told selectmen his goal is “to be inclusive of all the players” in the existing framework, which combines full-time employees, part-time employees and volunteers.

He said his plan going forward is to reach agreement on language for a draft ordinance before presenting it to the Board of Selectmen for approval. Only then would a permanent chief and assistant chief be appointed.

“I’m trying to do it in a way that is in my authority by delegating my responsibility, but not actually creating a new position before we have an ordinance,” he said.

The preliminary Fire Services budget being floated by Cunningham is made up of line items previously allocated separately to the Flanders and Niantic fire departments, leaving only $6,000 in each fire company’s spending plan to cover station supplies and replacement of mission-specific equipment.

One of the recommendations of a 2017 study from JLN Associates of Old Lyme was to hire a full-time career fire chief that would oversee both fire departments, emergency medical services, the fire marshal's office and emergency management.

The chief consultant at the time stressed that the study was not suggesting one fire department be created. He recommended taking the existing structure the town has had for years and installing a person at the top to take care of the challenging issues that may be difficult for volunteers with full-time jobs to deal with.

Cunningham characterized the streamlined oversight as a way to improve morale.

“Sometimes there’s turf wars,” he said of the dynamic between paid and volunteer firefighters. “I’m trying to allay those fears and let all the parties know I’m going to try to be fair. We have to do what we have to do to have a modern fire service.”

Flanders Fire Department Chief Chris Taylor was placed on administrative leave on Jan. 19 while a complaint involving workplace harassment is investigated. Cunningham said the inquiry by part-time town hall employee Don Steinhoff, who is an attorney, is pending.

The first selectman said the situation with Taylor is not related to the timing of this new administrative structure.

Acting Flanders Fire Department Chief Kendall Janus on Thursday said he’s supportive of the steps Cunningham is taking toward the creation of the Fire Services department.

“It’s definitely time for something to change with volunteerism being down as far as it is,” he said. “It definitely needs to happen.”

He declined to comment on the current morale “because the investigation on Chris (Taylor) is still ongoing.”

As for the details of a new ordinance to codify the new department, Janus said he needs more details about what it will look like. He was among those opposed to the draft produced under Seery’s administration.

“The ordinance they drew up was really contradicting itself,” he said. “It gave power, it took power, and it was really kind of a messy thing.”

e.regan@theday.com