With not enough cash to make payroll, the firefighters of the Coventry Fire District have gone unpaid now for more than a month.
Several meetings were set up in order to help sort out a laundry list of problems in the district, but Sunday’s meeting never actually happened because an argument broke out.
The board was trying to go into executive session to interview candidates for an open board seat when fire union President David Gorman interrupted with a point of order.
“Why would you interview an elected official behind closed doors?” Gorman asked. “It makes no sense.”
A back-and-forth yelling match ensued, with one person calling out, apparently to board chair Frank Palin, “Go join the circus, you clown!”
“If you continue to disrupt the meeting, I’ll call the police,”
Palin responded.
Sunday’s situation is just the latest in an ongoing dispute between the firefighters and the board – the firefighters haven’t been paid since August.