Mayor Joseph Polisena wasn’t about to let Tim McLaughlin leave town after serving as Johnston’s Fire Chief for the past seven years without doing something special..
So the mayor decided to have a surprise sendoff party for his chief inside the Johnston Senior Center, which was once home for visiting celebrities who performed at the El Morocco Supper Club on Hartford Avenue.
With the work of his administrative aid Janet Whiteley, Polisena filled the lobby with local and state dignitaries from the fire fighting fraternity, political arena and most of all McLaughlin’s family, including his father John J. McLaughlin, 86, a former lieutenant with the Pawtucket Fire Department where it all started for Rhode Island’s new State Fire Marshall 35 years ago.
Polisena’s surprise plan worked to perfection. The Mayor asked Johnston Building Inspector Ben Nascenzi to call JFD Chief McLaughlin saying there was a mechanical fire in a plug inside the Executive Director’s office and to meet him there.