Fired Orrington Fire Chief’s Appeal Heard Tonight By Town Council

The appeal to the town of Orrington by recently fired Fire Chief Michael Spencer will be heard at a public Town Council meeting tonight.

Spencer was fired in April, after having spent a week on paid administrative leave. A previous town hall meeting attended by the public netted no answers to the reasons behind the move. But the town's attorney told those in attendance that it was a 'personnel matter' and that Spencer had 10 days to file an appeal. That appeal will be heard tonight at the meeting that's scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Town Manager Paul White has had little to say about his decision to fire the Chief. But Spencer says it all started with a dispute over on-call hours for overnight ambulance service. White told Spencer that he wasn't going to pay for volunteers to be on-call overnight. When Spencer disagreed, saying that it would leave him as the only person available for middle-of-the-night medical emergencies, he was put on paid administrative leave.

Spencer has said that his firing came after an unauthorized sojourn to the public safety building in Newport. He and White are both on the Orrington Public Safety Building Committee, which is working to replace the current structure. The visit was considered unauthorized because Spencer was on administrative leave. His termination papers claim that he was fired because of the trip and because he allegedly made derogatory remarks about White while there.

An appeal was filed with the town and will be heard tonight at a Town Council meeting, with the council acting as a grievance committee. The hearing will be open to the public, per Spencer's request.