With the exception perhaps of Haverhill fire Chief Richard Borden, there can't be too many people in Haverhill who would oppose an impartial management study of the city's fire department.
June was a particularly bad month for the department. Thirty Haverhill firefighters are on suspension for receiving EMT recertification without going through the proper training. Barely a week later, word broke that firefighter Kevin Thompson received paychecks while spending four months in a New Hampshire jail — unbeknownst to his supervisors, including Borden and Mayor James Fiorentini.
Mayor James Fiorentini called on the City Council Tuesday night to support the study.
Even before the meeting, Council President Michael Hart and members Robert Scatamacchia and Mary Ellen Daly-O'Brien told Gazette reporter Tim McCarthy that they are in favor of the audit.
Firefighters union president Greg Roberts declined comment about the issue, but union leadership has said in the past that it welcomes an outside look at the department's management.
Public support for the study no doubt is the result of several high-profile examples of mismanagement at the fire department.
Just before last fall's municipal elections, Fiorentini released a report by a private investigator, who followed several firefighters while they were out on sick leave.
Fiorentini brought the firefighters before a disciplinary hearing after the private eye recorded one attending a hockey game and another spending the day running errands.
Earlier this year, a busy Broadway intersection went several days without traffic signals because the fire department employee in charge of repairing them was on vacation — and no one else was assigned to cover his duties.
But the study can do more than look at whether there's something broken at the top.
The study can also determine whether the fire department is using its manpower most effectively and whether its fire stations are in the right locations for the best response times.
And speaking of manpower, Daly-O'Brien notes another good reason for a close look at the management and hiring practices of the Haverhill fire department — the lack of women in any department roles.
Councilors have another good reason to support the audit.
Like the Cloran report did for the police department 15 years ago, a fire department audit could point out the benefits of removing the chief's position from Civil Service protection.
That move eliminates some of the "good old boy" network, Daly O'Brien said, with special emphasis on the "boy."
Once the city put most of the Cloran — named for its author — report's suggestions into practice, complaints about favoritism were eliminated.
The chief's job was opened to a nationwide search for the most qualified professional to run the department, not the person who has lived in the city the longest or whose family connections gave the appearance of an "in."
We commend Fiorentini for seeking the study, we just wish he'd done it sooner.
