Town Council Strikes Down Fire Department Grant
The Southington Fire Department will not be receiving a $3 million SAFER grant from FEMA, after the town council voted five to four Tuesday night to turn down the award due to fiscal concerns.
The question of whether to accept the federal money inspired impassioned testimony from firefighters and intense debate from the council. Democrats David Zoni, Christopher Palmieri and Kristen Guida joined Republicans Tony Morrison and Jim Morelli in voting no. Republicans Paul Chaplinsky, Joshua Serafino, Jennifer Clock and Michael Del Santo voted yes.
“The theme of tonight is, we are literally playing with fire, and it's not if, it's when,” said Clock.
Among the ‘yes’ voters there was a common theme: the belief that more firefighters are needed for the south side of Southington. Company Three, which is located on Clark Street, is only staffed part-time due to staffing shortages. That leaves a significant portion of Southington without a nearby, full-time station that can respond quickly to emergencies.
“When Company Three is closed, the entire south side of town goes from a four- to eight-minute response time to 11, 12, 13, 14 minutes. A $400,000 house on Main Street pays the same taxes that a $400,000 house on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike pays, and they're getting significantly less service when Company Three is not staffed, which is 75% of the time,” said Serafino.
Guida explained that her ‘no’ vote was based on a belief that the department should be able to operate with a large volunteer base. Newington, which she used as an example, is a 100% volunteer operated department.
“20 years ago, we did have a pretty robust volunteer fire department, and I think we need to bring that back,” said Guida. “If you look across the 169 municipalities and towns in the state of Connecticut, there are several municipalities that do run solely on volunteer fire departments. I'm not negating the efforts of our paid firefighters; they do an amazing job. But I think to help offset that and augment our services would make us a more economically sound community.”
Morrison explained that his ‘no’ vote was based on the concern that the town would need to pay additional expenses due to a cost cap unexpectedly set by FEMA, who awards the grant.
“The overtime number in the budget right now is $688,000, and I don't see that going down. I don't think it's going to be a negative number on that, so we're looking at $807,000 just for the first year,” said Morrison. “So we're talking a considerable amount of money every year, leading up to $2.45 million in the last year, which is year four. We're a fiscally responsible town, and we do very well with our finances. I think we're well-managed financially. I don't see much fiscal responsibility for this one.”
In June, the council voted seven to two to approve the grant application, so the denial of the grant upon receiving came as a surprise to Fire Commissioner Tim Wilk. Wilk said that he had been hopeful the grant would pass, and even after learning about the cost cap from FEMA, he was optimistic the council would see the need.
In a recent interview with the Outsider, Wilk deemed the grant “monumental” and said FEMA had clearly recognized that Southington needed the ability to have more firefighters on staff. Watching it be struck down in the town council vote, he said, was difficult for the department.
“I thought that we had clearly articulated the need. It was spelled out in a number of different ways, and we thought that with FEMA chippin in, and by clearly explaining and demonstrating that gaping hole, it might have been enough,” said Wilk.
Before the vote, deputy chief Daniel Comen of the Southington Fire Department, who wrote the application that won the grant, implored the council to vote to accept it. The grant would have facilitated the hiring of 12 additional firefighters. It was the only SAFER grant awarded in Connecticut, the largest in New England, second largest in the Northeast and 11th largest in the country.
“Tonight's decision is more, much more than accepting $3.03 million in federal money. It is about the level of fire protection and emergency services that we believe every resident of Southington deserves,” said Comen. “This grant represents an extraordinary opportunity, being that Southington received the only fiscal year 2025 SAFER award in Connecticut, and one of the largest awards in the country. That level of federal investment reflects the significance of the needs that we identified.”
