State Sen. John Velis
Reminder Publishing file photo
WESTFIELD — It’s been said that words matter, and in the case of creditable service legislation filed by state Sen. John Velis, changing “the” to “any” will affect call firefighters across the state if adopted by the House and signed by the governor.
“We’ve been fighting for this for a long time,” said Russ Anderson, who spent 17 years as the fire chief in Southwick and Granby, Connecticut.
The change Velis filed legislation for will allow call firefighters to move from one department to another without losing creditable time that is used to calculate retirement pension compensation.
“This legislation ensures that firefighters who become full-time can receive creditable service for their time as call firefighters regardless of what Fire Department they worked at,” the Office of Senator Velis posted in a statement.
In plain language: A part-time call firefighter, who was with the Granby Fire Department for five or more years, can take five of the years accrued with them if they are hired full-time at another department.
Currently, that is not allowed by state law because of one word, “the,” which means the only way a call firefighter can accrue five years of service is if they stay at that department.
If they were to take a full-time position at another department, they would start from zero.
Westfield Fire Chief Patrick Egloff said that happened to a firefighter who was hired by the department from another department and wasn’t allowed to bring his service time with him.
Because of that, he said, the firefighter eventually went back to their original department.
Velis is seeking to change the “the” to “any.”
The current law reads: “the retirement board shall credit as full-time service not to exceed a maximum of five years that period of time during which … a reserve, permanent-intermittent or call fire fighter was on his respective list and was eligible for assignment to duty subsequent to his appointment; and provided, further, that such service as a permanent-intermittent or call fire fighter shall be credited only if such permanent-intermittent or call fire fighter was later appointed as a permanent member of the fire department.”
Egloff and Anderson said, if the legislation is adopted, it could help with retention rates and recruitment of firefighters.
“That would definitely help,” Egloff said.
The Westfield Fire Department has struggled with hiring and keeping firefighters.
A new Civil Service program called the “Local Registration Program” lets municipalities appoint entry-level police and fire positions through the local registration program without taking the exam and waiting for an opening.
Interestingly, the current restrictions do not apply to police officers who move from one department to another.
