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LONDONDERRY, NH — Two weeks after the resignation of Londonderry’s fire chief, residents of the town spoke about their dissatisfaction on how the whole situation was being handled.
Members of the public, along with members of Local 3160, the Londonderry firefighters union, demanded answers from the Town Council at Monday night’s meeting, showing support for Fire Chief Bo Butler, who submitted his resignation at the Oct. 7 meeting.
“We sacrificed this young man, that’s what we did,” said resident John Grennon. “We look terrible and everybody should be ashamed that he had to make the decision that he made on behalf of his members and on behalf of the residents in this community.”
Police Chief Kim Bernard, who is also the head of the Londonderry Executive Employees Association, took to public comment to clear up some of the statements being made about Butler’s resignation.
Bernard responded to a statement by a Local 3160 representative that Town Manager Michael Malaguti was threatening to fire Butler.
“Bo was never threatened to be suspended for not reducing staffing,” Bernard said. “That was never said. I was there and if you don’t believe the police chief, I don’t know who you’re going to believe.”
Butler resigned instead of deciding to either cut the four on-duty firefighter battalions to 11 firefighters, or to exceed the spending on the department’s overtime budget. In March, the town approved Butler hiring four additional firefighters and designating $495,000 for their salaries.
“It’s not that I can’t give the order to drop services, but that I won’t give the order,” Butler said at the previous meeting. “I am not going to be the chief to violate my own character and my own integrity and my own principle to come in under budget at the cost of (the firefighters’) health and safety.”
The council did not vote on Butler’s resignation at the Oct. 7 meeting.
Bernard continued to discuss the importance of budgeting as the head of a department. He said being under budget was one of, if not the most, important things for him to focus on every year.
“Budgetary responsibility is the sole responsibility of a department head, plain and simple,” Bernard said. “I blow my budget tomorrow, I’m gone. That’s the facts; it’s the way it goes. It’s in the law – you may not like me, I may not do what you tell me, but as long as I come under budget, I’m good.”
Town Manager Michael Malaguti said in a statement that, at the rate Butler’s budget was going, Butler was on track to exceed his budget by $200,000.
In a statement in social media, Christopher Schofield, the president of the Londonderry Fire Department union, said Malaguti and Finance Director Justin Campo were mandating that Butler reduce the staffing and were threatening Butler with disciplinary actions if he did not comply.
At the meeting Monday, Schofield reiterated his statement that Butler was threatened.
“All I’m going to say is Jan. 31, upstairs, second floor of Town Hall, Town Manager’s conference room, Chief Butler in fact 100%, on both my kids, was threatened by Town Manager Malaguti,” Schofield said. “That if (Butler) went over budget, there would be a hard decision to be made. Everybody can read between the lines.”
Malaguti said in his statement that this was false and that he and Campo met with Butler to discuss strategies to fix the fire department’s overtime budget.
Tony DeFrancesco, a member of the town’s Planning Board, said the whole situation, and how it has been handled, is completely humiliating for the town.
“This is a big embarrassment for all of us,” DeFrancesco said. “All of us have egg on our faces. Nobody wins, some are bigger losers than others but we’re all losers on this.”
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