Were Fire Fighters Refused Re-Appointment Denied Their Due Process Rights?
Some former members of the Groton Fire Department are questioning whether three members of the Call Fire Department were denied their due process rights as outlined in the Groton Charter and specified in Massachusetts General laws when they were not re-appointed to fire fighting positions held for many years.
These Groton residents and former members of the Department reference page C:10, Section 3.2, subsection (d) of the Groton Charter which adopted Section 42 of Chapter 48 of the Massachusetts General laws for the Groton Fire Chief's duties and responsibilities. The Groton Charter reads: "The fire chief shall serve under section 42 of chapter 48 of the General Laws."
Section 42 of chapter 48 of the General Laws reads in part that the Fire Chief, "shall appoint a deputy chief and such officers and firemen as he may think necessary, and may remove the same at any time for cause and after a hearing." [bold added for clarity]
These former members argue that two of their members did not receive a hearing and none of them received an explanation [cause] for not being reappointed to their long-standing positions and, therefore, they were denied their rights under the law and the Groton Charter.
Contacted by the Herald, Selectman Chairman Josh Degen said that town counsel had said that the right to a hearing and to know cause for removal does not apply to annual reappointments.
When asked to comment on Degn's assertion, recently resigned West Groton fire fighter James Horan disagreed, saying "The attorney I spoke to said the law is clear: the town and its manager have violated state law."
He added that annual re-appointments to the call fire department had not been made within the memory of the most senior members of the call department. He asked rhetorically: "How could these re-appointments be 'annual' if they have never been made?"
Horan went on to say that he had forwarded the question [whether a hearing and cause for removal are required for annual re-appointments] to the Massachusetts Attorney General for clarification.
