NORWAY — Retired town firefighter Gaynor Fitch was recognized by the Board of Selectmen and fire Chief Dennis Yates for his 20 years of service to the department during Thursday night’s board meeting.
The Army veteran and former captain of Engine 3 was presented a jacket by Yates bearing the Norway Fire Department’s emblem and a special badge by Selectmen Chairman Mike Twitchell.
In other action during the brief session, Town Manager David Holt said former Highway Department employee Arthur Hatch has been rehired after leaving earlier this year to work for the Oxford Highway Department.
Hatch left when faced with a layoff during the early months of the budget building process this past spring when the town faced a major cut in state money.
“He was a great asset,” Selectman Warren Sessions.
Although all town departments, except one, agreed to take a 5 percent cut to meet the expected state revenue cuts earlier this year, most, including the Highway Department job, were restored at a special town meeting at the end of June.
At that meeting, voters agreed to add $213,062 to the 2013-14 municipal budget, the amount of state revenue sharing restored by the Legislature when it overrode Gov. Paul LePage’s state budget veto on June 27.
The move to restore some of the smaller budget cuts made at the annual town meeting June 17 also came after the majority of voters rebuffed the recommendations of selectmen and the Budget Committee at the annual town meeting.
Voters approved $207,764 more than selectmen recommended and $166,566 more than the Budget Committee in the proposed budget to restore a full-time position in the Police Department, a full-time position in the Highway Department and create a full-time fire chief position. Hatch’s job was advertised after the money was restored.
The Norway Memorial Library also was recently able to retrieve 10 furlough days it scheduled to cover the anticipated $12,755 budget cut in their department.
Holt also told selectmen that the towns of Paris and Norway have agreed to act as “backups” for each other if one of their code enforcement officers is out for an extended period of time.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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- Norway Selectmen Chairman Mike Twitchell, left, presents retired firefighter Gaynor Fitch, center, with a badge honoring his 20 years of service at Thursday night’s board meeting. Fitch is wearing a jacket presented by fire Chief Dennis Yates, right.
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