Williamstown Fire District Inks 3-Year Deal with New Chief
Jeffrey Dias of the Onset Fire Department has signed a contract to become Williamstown's fire chief.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Prudential Committee ratified a contract to make Jeffrey Dias the successor to Chief Craig Pedercini, who retired from the post on Monday.
"It's very sad to leave someplace you've been the better part of three decades," said Dias, currently the deputy chief and a long-time firefighter in the South Shore community of Onset. "But I'm very excited. A lot of big things are going to happen in the future."
The five-member Prudential Committee, which oversees the district, selected Dias on March 12 from among three candidates it interviewed earlier in the month.
Last week, the committee held an executive session — a rarity for the body — to discuss the negotiation of the contract. And on Tuesday, at a special meeting, the board voted to approve the deal.
Dias agreed to a three-year deal with a $125,000 base salary and 3 percent cost-of-living adjustments in years two and three.
"We are very excited to have Chief Dias lead the department forward as we look forward to the completion of our new station and the future of the Williamstown Fire Department," Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi said on Thursday.
The new station, which officials hope to be operational by the end of the calendar year, is one change the district knows is coming.
A potential change that the district also has had on the radar for some years is the possibility of increased staffing — specifically, moving on from a model where the chief is the only full-time position.
For years, Prudential Committee members have discussed the possibility that at some point Williamstown may have to transition away from a model that relies almost exclusively on call-volunteer firefighters.
And Dias and the other finalists for the position were asked whether they knew anything about making that transition.
At the time, Dias, said there are things a fire department can do to delay that step, and he repeated that notion in a telephone interview on Thursday.
"My intention is to maintain the [current Williamstown] model as long as we can," Dias said. "There's a bunch of steps between where they are now and hiring full-time staff. There are a lot of steps we can take that are considerably less costly to improve the services."
One feature designed into the new fire station is space for "bunk rooms" on the second floor. The interior walls and furnishings to actually create sleeping areas were cut out of the scope of the project in the value-engineering process.
But the space remains.
Dias declined to predict what kind of timeline the district could face for when it needs to hire additional full-timers.
"Honestly, I haven't even gotten my feet wet there yet," Dias said. "None of us has a crystal ball. We're going to have to spend significant time evaluating the department and the level of service provided. I don't see any reason we couldn't sustain the current level of staffing for some time.
"As long as we can sustain the call-volunteer staffing model, we will. When the time comes we can't, we'll cross that bridge with the taxpayers and do it with data and good solid facts, not with opinion. Ultimately, the taxpayers will decide the level of service they're willing to pay for."
He did agree that the support the town showed on the question of whether to bond the $22.5 million fire station project is an indication of support for the fire service.
"It seems like the taxpayers are very civic minded and show a great deal of support to the fire department," Dias said. "I don't see that changing.
"I'll do the best I can to forge community bonds between the fire district and the town. You'll probably hear from me on a regular basis. I believe in a robust public relations campaign. And I'm a big believer in transparency and constant information."
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