Poquonnock Bridge Fire District votes to rehire two of nine laid off firefighters
Groton - The Poquonnock Bridge Fire District Board voted unanimously Thursday to return to work two of the nine firefighters laid off by the district last July, Board Member Ron Yuhas said.
Representatives of the union and board had signed a tentative agreement on Sept. 9, 2014, following a series of meetings between the two sides and a state mediator.
“We discussed the original (tentative agreement) and decided financially we could bring two of the nine guys back,” Yuhas said.
The fire district has been running with a minimum of five firefighters on duty at all times, which has required the department to call in firefighters on overtime, Board President Alan Ackley said after a Town Council meeting earlier this week.
Yuhas said he believes the two firefighters will be called immediately.
“We’re going to bring them back as soon as we can,” Yuhas said Thursday night. “There’s a process we have to go through as a district, but they may be back as soon as tomorrow.”
“We can work it into the budget,” he said. “It actually will cost a little less (than paying overtime) if the figures are right.”
Settlement talks to try to reach a new agreement with the union began shortly after the district board challenged, in Superior Court, the union’s 10-year contract with associated raises that had been signed by a previous district board in 2012. It had passed by a 2-1 vote.
d.straszheim@theday.com
Twitter: @DStraszheim
Stories that may interest you
Vigil against racism to be held in Norwich
The public is invited to gather Monday evening for a vigil to stand against racism in the wake of the racially motivated shooting of 10 Black people at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood May 14.
Municipal meetings
Municipal meetings for the week beginning Sunday, May 22, 2022.

'It’s hard to do violence against those of us we know'
Southeastern Connecticut Black leaders saddened, angered by racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, N.Y.

Norwich woman eyeing recovery from landmark surgery
In first procedure of its kind in Connecticut, a Groton ophthalmologist implanted an artifical iris in a patient's damaged eye.
READER COMMENTS