Donn Dobson’s letter resigning his post as Westbrook’s town fire marshal finally surfaced last Monday, June 26. The resignation memorandum from Dobson was addressed to Robert Hagemeister, chairman of the Westbrook Board of Fire Commissioners, and dated June 16, 2017. 

The state’s attorney's office announced announced on June 16 had reached an agreement with Dobson with a requirement that he no longer work as fire marshal in Middlesex County. Dobson’s June 16 resignation was sent by email from Hagemeister to First Selectman Noel Bishop on June 26.

Bishop said he did not know why the memorandum of June 16 from Dobson to Hagemeister took so long to arrive in his in-box.

Bishop had requested that the Board of Fire Commissioners discuss Dobson’s status at a June 20 Board of Fire Commissioners meeting, in light of the news reports that he could no longer work as town fire marshal. At that meeting, no one present acknowledged that they had either seen or received a written communication from Dobson resigning his post. The board did discuss his status, as Bishop requested, but did not act to make any changes.

It’s Official

Although Dobson’s resignation email was dated June 16, Hagemeister did not respond to the Harbor News' queries on June 16 and again on June 20 asking if Dobson had officially resigned as Westbrook deputy fire marshal.

One reason the fire board took no action was that neither Hagemeister nor Bishop said they had been informed by the state’s attorney of the terms of Dobson’s agreement. In addition, neither acknowledged that they had received any written communication from Dobson regarding his continued status as town fire marshal.

To clarify Dobson’s commitments under the agreement with the state’s attorney, Town Attorney Michael Wells agreed to contact the Middlesex State’s Attorney’s Office on the town’s behalf.

As reported in a June 16 Old Saybrook Police Department (OSPD) news release, the OSPD agreed to suspend its criminal investigation into Dobson in return for Dobson’s commitment to resign his fire marshal posts in Old Saybrook and Westbrook as of June 16.

A New Challenge

By last Monday, Bishop said that Wells had confirmed that the settlement agreement, as the OSPD reported, did require that Dobson no longer work as fire marshal for any town in Middlesex County.

With Dobson now officially gone, the Town of Westbrook faces a new challenge: how to staff the fire marshal function to make sure all of the mandated duties are performed in a timely manner. Right now, the town is left with just one part-time deputy fire marshal—John Planas—while in spring 2016, it had three.

In spring 2016, the  Board of Fire Commissioners had appointed three part-time deputy fire marshals to fill the open slot of town fire marshal. The three were needed to catch up on the work backlog that had developed after former fire marshal George Rehberg had been put on paid administrative leave in February 2016.

Now, with a shortage of help, the town will likely have to play catch up once again.

A town fire marshal's duties are mandated by the state and quite varied in character. The duties include being responsible for enforcing State Fire and Life Safety Code requirements and oversight of liquor license renewals. Fire marshals inspect on a code-directed schedule all facilities used by the public; review construction plans filed with the town for code compliance; inspect sites under construction; and perform fire investigations. All towns must appoint a town fire marshal as required by state law.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Town Attorney Michael Wells attended the June 20 Board of Fire commissioners meeting.