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Select Board appoints probationary firefighter and reclassifies full‑time posts amid pay-scale review
Summary
The Select Board appointed Kevin Bean as a probationary firefighter, agreed to classify the department’s full‑time positions onto the town pay scale and raised the call reimbursement rate by 2.5%. The board also approved upgrading the fire department administrative assistant’s grade.
The Town of Hampden Select Board on March 17 appointed Kevin Bean as a probationary firefighter and took several personnel and pay‑classification actions for the fire department amid a review of rates tied to a prior Collins report.
The appointment followed a chief’s recommendation that Bean — a certified firefighter and paramedic who lives in town — meet the qualifications for a probationary hire. The board approved the appointment by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.
Board members spent the bulk of the meeting discussing where the new full‑time firefighter positions should sit on the town’s established grade‑and‑step chart, a framework produced after the 2021 Collins study. Members said the Collins report established recommended rates and that those rates have been escalated by annual cost‑of‑living adjustments in subsequent years.
After examining the printed charts, the board directed that the full‑time firefighter supervisor be classified as grade 5 (with the current holder placed at step 2 based on longevity) and that the regular full‑time firefighters be classified as grade 4, with individual step placements determined by years of service. The board also voted to make the fire department administrative assistant a grade 4, aligning that role with other department administrative assistants.
Separately, the board voted to increase the call‑in reimbursement paid to on‑call personnel by 2.5 percent but did not change the call‑budget line item at that time; members said the town could transfer funds if the line is overspent.
Board members and the fire chief discussed recruitment, cadet training arrangements with neighboring towns, and the town’s history of hiring part‑time and full‑time responders. Members emphasized they wanted to place the new positions on the official chart rather than leave them off as they had been previously.
The board authorized the town administrator to update the payroll columns and resubmit the adjusted figures to advisory for budget review.
Less critical budget and operational details — including whether hires could be credited for prior experience or start above step 1 — were left to personnel procedures and future administrative determinations.
