City Council blasts Flanagan over plan to cut firefighters during debate on early retirement home-rule petition

Herald News Photo | Jo C. Goode

Jo C. Goode
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Mar. 11, 2014

FALL RIVER — With about 100 grim-faced firefighters and family members looking on, the City Council blasted Mayor Will Flanagan for his plan to slash fire department personnel by 34 percent with the pending expiration of the SAFER grant and what they asserted was mismanagement of the city’s finances Monday night.

“This administration has got to get its act together,” said City Councilor Daniel Rego, “accountability needs to be held.”

Rego said it is Flanagan who should be sitting before the council with an explanation.

Flanagan took the 213-member fire department — as well as many others, including members of the council — by surprise when he announced at the end of last month in that in fiscal 2015, he would cut 60 firefighter positions, leaving a complement of 153.

Until December, firefighters said Flanagan had promised the city would fund a fire department of 200 firefighters.

Two years ago, after receiving what was at the time the largest ever SAFER award, Flanagan pledged that he would work to fund the fire department without relying on grants.

City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros, who represented the administration at the meeting, said the financial team didn’t know there was no adequate funding for the fire department until they started preparing the budget in January.

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