The Federal Emergency Management Agency has offered Middleboro a $2.2 million grant that would increase the ranks of the Fire Department and help reopen stations in the north and south ends of town.
Fire Chief Lance Benjamino was notified by U.S. Senators John F. Kerry and Scott Brown that he was the only chief in Massachusetts to get a FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant.
The $2.2 million grant will put 16 more firefighters on the force and allow Benjamino to open north and south stations full-time. Presently, south station is open about 60 percent of the time while north station is permanently closed due to budget cuts.
The catch – the FEMA grant runs out in two years, but the town is required to keep the new hires for a third year. Benjamino said the grant will cover personnel for two years and by the third year the ambulance service should be able to pick up the majority of the costs. He said a town-run ambulance is the only way to pay for the personnel once the grant runs out because it will likely be self-funding. Get the rest of the story at EnterpriseNews.com.
Update: Middleboro’s Board of Selectmen voted 3-1 (Steven P. Spataro voted in opposition and Ben Quelle abstained) to accept a two-year federal staffing grant that would allow Benjamino to reopen the north and south stations full-time, contingent on concessions from the firefighters’ union. Get the rest of the story at EnterpriseNews.com.
Final Update: Middleboro’s Board of Selectmen vote unanimously to decline the SAFER grant from FEMA. Get the rest of the story at EnterpriseNews.com.
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- The SAFER Deal Is Done
- Middleboro Finance Committee Delays Vote On Federal Grant
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ahhh the ugly town ambulance issue
to make this work all new hires would need a paramedic cert, and paramedic cert should be required for advancement
the problem is the union last in first out
the people who are paramedic cert as new hires would need to be let go if there was a budget cut
that would mean we would need to outsource the ambulance service or feed dollars to the fire dept for wages
the ambulance service made sense when we were looking at funding from a casino, but not with out it (just ask for the Matrix Study report the town paid for)
the only way this would work is if there was a need to lay off un paramedic certed personnel would go first no matter what their seniority is