Fire Services Review Special Committee - Minutes - 05/01/2025

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Fire Services Review Special Committee Minutes—Special Meeting May 1, 2025
Members Present: Robert Tuneski (BoF); Susan Driscoll (RTM); Tim Condon (RTM Public Protection & Safety Comm.);
Matthew Keatley (RTM); Richard Muckle (BoS); Todd Patton (Chief, Goshen Fire Co.); Ronnie Williams (WFD)
Members Absent: Mike Howley (Interim Director, Fire Services); Steven Sinagra (Director, Emergency Management);
Mark Greczkowski (WAS Director of Operations)
1. Call to order: Chair Tuneski called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. Public comment:
3. Previous Minutes: Motion by Keatley, second by Muckle, to approve the March 27, 2025, minutes as presented.
Voice Vote: Unanimous.
4. Consideration of FSRSC’s charge from the RTM (6/7/21):
a. Discuss Draft 1 of first half of report: Chair announced that RTM Moderator Goldstein has expressed his desire to have
the final report presented at the RTM’s June 4 meeting. He asked for members to submit all their comments to him in
the next week so that he can tally comments and requests for additional information for review at next meeting.
b. Initial feedback Draft 1 of second half of report: Chair explained that this version is a template for input, and that while
most information was provided by Director Howley, he also gathered information from the town website and Planning
and Finance Directors, and consulted the IAFC’s Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon reports. Based on comments from people
outside the committee that the first half draft was “sterile,” he altered the style for the second half in order to make it
more educational for the public.
Discussion focused on fleshing it out; Chair noted that Sinagra could contribute information on the communications
upgrades, efforts continue to get response time data from individual stations and response headcounts for incidents. He
noted that there is still much to be done regarding the capital and fleet management plans and suggested we consider
having a structural engineer prepare reports on the Cohanzie, Goshen, Jordan, and Quaker Hill stations. We are also
lacking information on WAS, other than their current ambulance staffing is one 24-hr shift and one 16-hr shift. Condon
noted that draft contains education, but lacks information on decisions or how/why current status exist—for example,
advisory members Patton and Williams could provide insight into the evolution to a 3 core/2 outsider stations system.
He pointed out that in the 1980s response times were “easy” to determine, but now the goal is to determine how long it
takes to get enough responders on scene. Such information, he added, is how we lean in to staffing recommendations.
c. Continue discussion on outside review: Passed over.
5. Next meeting: Consensus to tentatively schedule next meeting for Monday, May 19, at 6:00 p.m. Location tbd.
6. Adjournment: Motion by Condon; second by Keatley to adjourn at 7:04 p.m. Voice vote: Unanimous.
Submitted by
Susan Driscoll, FSRSC Secretary