East Bridgewater Struggles to Fill Fire Chief Position After Top Candidate Withdraws

East Bridgewater Schools Face $1.5 Million Budget Gap, Town Considers Options

EAST BRIDGEWATER - March 19, 24, and 27 - The Select Board faces a critical decision on how to proceed with hiring a new Fire Chief after their top choice unexpectedly withdrew his application.

During a special meeting, Town Administrator Charlie Seelig presented several options to board members after the candidate they had selected declined the town's offer.

"We're at this point where we have a few different options," Seelig told the board, outlining possible paths forward including interviewing a previously overlooked fifth candidate, selecting from the three remaining finalists, or reopening the search entirely.

The board unanimously voted to interview the fifth candidate who had participated in the assessment center but wasn't initially advanced to the interview stage.

The search for a replacement for retired Fire Chief Tim Harhen began with approximately 20 applicants. Working with Jack Parow of Parow Associates, officials narrowed the field to six candidates for the assessment center, though one dropped out before that phase.

"After the assessment team finished its scoring, the recommendation from the firm was that we interview four of the five candidates," Seelig explained. "There was, while it was a small difference in scores between the first four and the fifth candidate, the first four were very tight group around a certain scoring point."

The board interviewed all four finalists two weeks ago and met again last Friday to make their selection. That candidate, identified during the meeting as Chuck Allen, declined the position on Monday.

Vice Chair Peter Spagone expressed disappointment about losing their top choice.

"The gentleman that we selected to me stood far beyond the other three candidates just based on the overall picture, not just on skills of where he's been and what he's done, but management, clerical, I mean, everything," Spagone said. "He had all the boxes checked. It sucks. I don't really have a better word to say than that."

Parow, who attended the meeting, provided additional context about the fifth candidate who will now be interviewed.

"He's a very bright young man. He's 13 years on the job, he's a captain," Parow said. "He did do well. He was just off the top."

Parow noted that the candidate lives "in the next town over" and recently reached out to ask how he could improve, which board member Carole Julius praised as showing "great initiative."

The timing of the hire remains a concern for the town. Seelig emphasized that interim Chief Nord is only available for a couple of months, and the deputy chief is leaving by the end of the year.

"We need someone to work with the chief and with Craig for a number of weeks to gain experience about the department's operations," Seelig said. "I think it would be better to have whoever is coming in on a permanent basis be here earlier rather than later in the year."

If the board decides not to hire the fifth candidate, they could consider the three remaining finalists, though Julius suggested there might not be consensus on a second choice.

"Of the other three candidates that we did not choose, I don't think we probably agree on a second choice," Julius said. "I have a feeling we don't have a clear choice."

Other options include reopening the search, with or without an assessment center, or hiring an interim fire chief for a longer period.

"Some towns, just like you have interim town administrators, you can have an interim fire chief, not just for a few weeks as we're having for Chief Nord, but for a longer period of time," Seelig explained.

Parow acknowledged that candidates withdrawing after being selected does happen in hiring processes.

"They'll either go to the number two candidate, they re-advertise and look at it. It all depends on the situation that you have at hand," Parow said when asked about typical responses to such situations.

The board scheduled the interview with the fifth candidate for 4:30 p.m. on Monday, prior to their already scheduled 5 p.m. executive session and 6 p.m. regular meeting.

Chair David Sheedy supported the decision to interview the additional candidate, noting, "I think it would be worthwhile to bring him in. If we can get that done quick, then we'll know where to go for whatever our second option's gonna be."

Following an interview with David Niklason on March 24 the board voted to hold another meeting Thursday March 27 to consider the remaining candidates. At that meeting the board decided to review resumes from late applicants and potentially schedule additional interviews for April 7. Three such resumes were received.

March 24 - The East Bridgewater School Committee is working to close a $1.5 million budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year, with plans to cut 18 positions and potentially eliminate busing for high school students among the options being considered.

School officials presented their budget challenges to the Select Board during Monday's meeting, emphasizing that special education costs and decreasing circuit breaker funding are driving much of the shortfall.

"The majority of our costs, or 87% of our costs, are salary and special education tuitions and transportation," explains John Shea, the school district's financial officer. "We've seen an increase in the number of students requiring out-of-district education and also the increase in the price of those tuitions."

According to Shea, tuition costs for students needing specialized education range from $40,000 to $45,000 for public school programs, $55,000 to $70,000 for collaborative schools, and $75,000 to $191,000 for private day schools. Private residential schools, which some East Bridgewater students attend, cost between $300,000 and $400,000 per student.

The district faces additional financial pressure from a projected decrease in circuit breaker funding, which previously helped offset these expenses.

"For the past nine years, I've been able to prepay tuitions with circuit breaker. I can't do that in fiscal year 26," Shea says. "Any circuit breaker money we receive in fiscal year 25 is going to be spent in fiscal year 25 tuitions."

Assistant Superintendent Gina Williams confirms that 10 of the 18 positions being cut relate directly to enrollment changes, which will increase average class sizes from the current 18-19 students to 21-22 students per classroom.

"With the reductions, class size average would be about 21, 22 students, which was typical pre-pandemic," Williams says. "We're trying to be as mindful of the actual academic learning that's going on in the classrooms and keeping those reductions as far away from the impact of eliminating programming altogether."

The remaining position cuts will affect support staff added during the pandemic, including some nursing positions and roles that address students' social and emotional needs.

School Committee member Gordon McKinnon emphasizes the collaborative approach being taken to address the budget challenges.

"This is the first year I've really sensed a really collaborative effort," McKinnon says. "I know fiscal year 2026 is going to be a challenge for the town in general, and then for all the specific departments, school committee among them."

The district is exploring several options to reduce costs, including potentially reducing the bus fleet from 13 to 12 buses, which would save approximately $19,700 but require changes to school start and stop times and more restrictive bus routes.

"We're pretty lenient with our busing going down a lot of cul-de-sacs," Shea notes. "We're probably going to have to be definitely going to have to be a little more stricter on that if we go to 12 buses."

A more dramatic option involves eliminating busing for grades 7-12, which could save $300,000 to $400,000 but would affect approximately 400 students. They are obligated to provide bussing only for K-6 students greater than 2 miles from school.

"We know cutting out busing for the high school students, our junior high school, that's about 400 riders," McKinnon says. "Although we save us about $300,000 or $400,000, it's pretty dramatic, and I'm sure that would disrupt a lot of the households."

Select Board member Dave Sheedy, who serves on the budget subcommittee with school officials, expresses optimism about closing the immediate gap but concerns about long-term financial challenges.

"I'm pretty confident we'll be able to close the gap, but closing the gap this year, we've just got to think about what's going to happen next year," Sheedy says. "I think it's after year four we fall off the cliff and all the stabilization funds are gone."

Town Administrator Charlie Seelig notes that East Bridgewater is not alone in facing these financial challenges.

"This is not a situation that East Bridgewater has mismanaged the finances to the extent that we're in this situation," Seelig says. "There are towns across Plymouth County, towns and cities across Massachusetts are confronting the same challenges that we are."

The School Committee plans to finalize budget decisions before their April 15 meeting, with officials continuing to look for additional savings.

Other budget challenges facing the town include:

* Rising Plymouth County Retirement assessments, which Shea describes as "going to kill us up to 2031"

* Health insurance costs increasing by 11-12% rather than the projected 10%

* Limited options for increasing revenue without a Proposition 2 1/2 override, which officials believe is unlikely to pass

* Concerns about depleting stabilization funds and potentially affecting the town's bond rating

* The upcoming Central School project, which will require significant funding

The School Committee and town officials plan to continue working together to address these challenges while minimizing impacts on educational quality.

Full March 19, March 24, and March 27 meetings available via EBCAM.