An end of an era

Dan Crowley’s article on the Florence Road fire and the Fire Chief’s trip to the hospital kinda put the period to the end of the Brian Duggan era at the Northampton FD.  He came to Northampton in what I think was the second term of Mary Ford ,on the heels, ironically enough, of a 1997 study by Municipal Resources Inc. that recommended a new chief.  When he arrived the department was still quartered in the old firehouse. The prior chief was Larry Jones, who tried but couldn’t cut it.  The department was riven with factional politics, the rank and file and the deputies vied for political support from the council, and it was not a pleasant place to work. Duggan came in as an enforcement officer to get the men out of politics and into the twentieth century.  He did that job well. He got new equipment for the department, got us into the EMT business, and put a lot of needed attention on training.  And in a way, the Crowley story shows how well he did his job.  Today’s Northampton’s Fire Department, a disciplined effective department putting out a small fire with dispatch, hampered only by this guy Duggan blundering around the fire scene, and getting himself hurt for no apparent reason.  

This is will be my last posting for some time on Fire Department affairs. I am turning over my files to the Mayor with the hope that it will aid the kind of thorough impartial investigation that the union called for.  In a plot laden with irony it turns out this is the kind of investigation that Brian Duggan makes a good living from.  All across New England during the last six years or so, he’s been the main fire project manager for Municipal Resources Inc (MRI).  If a community like Northampton is having trouble with their department, they will hire MRI to study the department and make recommendations for training, equipment, promotion needs, discipline, etc.

He and his team come in, talk to the selectmen and city council, the firepeople, your business leaders, etc.  Hold a public meeting.  Gather tons of information, compare your department with other similar communities (so-called bench-marking), and hold meetings to discuss his findings.  Some of the qualifications that MRI lists on the website resulted from courses that we funded, and the positions that he keeps in statewide organizations were made possible through our taxpayers paying his airline tickets, car mileage and salary.  

On September 22, 2010, Chatham MA. signed a contract with MRI  to conduct a four month $19,775 study of its department and its capital needs, develop a master plan,and draft “plans for a strong partnership between the community and the emergency services organizations.”   The completion date for the final report was to be February 28. 2011.  They didn’t made the deadline, due to weather problems, delays in furnishing materials, and Brian having to finish up ongoing work he had with other communities. The final report is dated July 8th, 2011.   I think that the community was very happy with his work: when I contacted the local fire chief and the head selectperson, Florence Seldin, I got a pretty frosty reception. I had to resort to freedom of information requests, which produced a forty-odd pages of emails that document the heavy air traffic between Northampton and Chatham.  On December 10 Brian got the four notebooks of data he needed from the Chief, he forecasts that MRI will make their first field visit in January.  On January 4th, Duggan emails Chief Ambruscoe that “as long as we don’t have a snow or ice event, we are on for January 12th. Keith Hoyle, Pete Finely, and I will be  there at 10:30 and we will  plan to spend the rest of the day with you.  Pete Finely will need a room for both the night of the 1th and the 12th, could you make the reservation...?”  


The schedule sent involved a kick-off meeting with the selectmen, lunch with the Chief, tour of the community, and a wrap up meeting at 5pm.  Pete Finley was to spend the second day on site.  Chatham made reservations in the Hampton Inn in Yarmouth.   The plans went by the tubes when a winter northeaster loomed.  A conference call between the team members and Chatham was arranged and went off at 11:00AM Wednesday, January 12.  Duggan emails Ambruscoe on Thursday, January 13 at 1:33 pm:

“We got 16” of snow. I declared a state of emergency an hour after we ended our conference call. If you can develop the list of communities we will format the spreadsheet and then ask you to make calls to get the data. I am leaving on vacation and will touch base when I return on January 25th. “

The meeting was then rescheduled. 

From Florence Seldin to Michael Ambruscoe, dated Feb 7,2011.

“Brian Duggan of MRI is requesting March 8th and 9th for the study as indicated below. The way in which he is planning the visit looks like March 8th for interviewing the board and other you previously arranged as well as a public meeting in afternoon or evening or whenever you see best. The second day would be site work with the department. They will be reviewing the entire operations of the department and one of them will ride along on incidents  to review emergency operations....”

B. Duggan Sunday February 6th 2011

 to Michael Ambruscoe

I have checked with my team  and we need to move our proposed dates slightly.  Pete will arrive at the hotel on March 8th.  He will spend all day on March 9th AM and PM in Chatham doing a community meeting and interviewing.  The remainder of the team will meet Pete at the hotel for a briefing on the evening of March 9th and spend all day March 10th doing site work.  Does that revised schedule work for you? 

Florence Seldin to B. Duggan

March 9 at 7:56pm

Brian

I wonder if there is a convenient time next week when you and I could talk about (the) fire department study.  Thanks.

B. Duggan to Florence Seldin, March 9 at 9:14 pm

Florence:

I will be in Chatham all day on Thursday.  If we can’t meet in person feel free to call my cell phone on Monday. 

Saturday April 23rd, 3:12pm 

From: B. Duggan

To:    Michael Ambruscoe

I have the benchmarking, thank you for your diligence in rapidly gathering this data. The next step will be our final single day field visit. Would May 13th work for you? 

Unknown date

From B. Duggan to Seldin

The draft of the study is almost complete.  The tornado response set us back a few days. I should be able to convert it to a PDF and e-mail it to both you and Chief Ambriscoe on Monday evening as I originally promised.  

Brian Duggan. 

From:  B. Duggan, Friday at 3:00pm, 3:04pm

To: Florence Seldin cc: Peter Finely

Florence

Pete Finely has checked his calendar and he is all set to deliver the final presentation on July 12th

Brian Duggan

****

 I have a total 51 e-mails between Duggan and the town.  He seems to have done most of his communicating at night and weekends. The report itself, including appendices, was 187 pages. It recommended a south substation, manned 24 hours a day, a brush truck, replacing the current fire station, and acquiring additional equipment.  How many total full days Brian Duggan spent in Chatham, and what vehicle he used to get there and back is unclear.  Ditto for how many hours it took him to compile the report, and whether the work was done on his “off” time or his salaried 40 hour time.  The emails suggests , however, that he spent Tuesday night March 9, Wednesday, March 10, and Thursday, March 11  in Chatham.   He filed no notice with the Mayor’s office that he was going to be out of the area, and according to the auditor, the city paid him for a full 40 hours.  

Manchester-By-Sea and Tilton New Hampshire   


A  check with the auditor indicates that Brian Duggan was paid  for 68 regular hours  and 12 hours of  comp time for the week of August 11 to  August 16, 2008, a total of 80 hours. Brian Duggan had two MRI jobs that we know about for that week, Manchester-By-The-Sea and Tilton N.H. We don't know exactly how many hours he billed MRI for his time that week, but on Monday afternoon he and  Keith Hoyle probably would have had to leave Northampton about four to make the seven o'clock presentation to the board on the work that MRI was going to do for the board.  Then on Friday night he  made a presentation to the Board of Selectmen up in Tilton New Hampshire, about three hours away.  Tilton is near Lake Winnipesaukee.  Duggan and Kevin Hoyle  presented their findings on the study and took questions from selectpeople and townspeople.  The meeting adjourned at 9:50 pm.  One assumes that they stayed at a motel that night, and drove back to Northampton the next day.

If we assume that the work was done on his own time, this would make Chief Duggan logging fourteen hour days for the city and MRI, every day of that week.   Further investigation needs to be done, but my feeling is that the City of Northampton has been subsidizing a private for-profit organization, and unwittingly, perhaps, enabling them to be more competitive with their pricing. We are subsidizing MRI through paying Chief Duggan when he is working for MRI   There needs to be full disclosure by MRI of all the work done by Chief Duggan over the last six years, and this needs to be cross-checked with pay records and mileage on his vehicle. 

MRI knows that the Chief has full time job working for the City of Northampton. On their website they list him as a resource and senior partner. 

Brian P. Duggan - Advisor: Emergency Communications, Fire Safety and Emergency Medical Services, Organizational and Management Studies

Brian P. Duggan now commands the Fire Department in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he has instituted substantial changes to modernize the entire department including equipment, facilities, personnel, and training.... Chief Duggan has served as a subject advisor to MRI since 2002 and will occasionally work on a project team.

 Municipal Resources Incorporated, however, has used Brian Duggan as a workhorse of their program, ignoring his duty to give a good 40 hour a week obligation to Northampton.  He has been Project Manager on many projects.  So far I have verified fifteen of them.  Some of them, like Norwood, Chatham, Manchester-By-Sea, Tilton New Hampshire, North Reading, and Kennebunk Me. involved compiling extensive research and preparing 100 plus page reports.   

This merger seems to indicate that Brian Duggan is not only an employee of MRI, he might  hold some shares in the corporation. 

 “MRI (merged with Brian P. Duggan LLC) has completed for Massachusetts communities ( our emphasis) in the past three years: thirty-five in the past three years. 

(Manchester-By the Sea proposal for services, March 2009)

The spirit of Massachusetts Conflict of Interest laws is stated here. 

“The conflict of interest law, Chapter 268A of the General Laws, requires that state employees give undivided loyalty to the state and act in the public interest rather than for private gain.  This law sets a minimum standard of ethical conduct for all state employees and officials.  The law and the Ethics Commission, which enforces the law, were established to foster integrity in government and promote public trust. The purpose of the law is to ensure that public employees’ private financial interests and personal relationships do not conflict with their public obligations. The law governs what you may do on the job, what you may do after hours or “on the side,” and what you may do after you leave public service.”

MRI has built its reputation by providing quality consulting service to cities and towns. However, by using Brian Duggan so extensively, they have damaged the effectiveness of our department.  The Conflict of Interest inherent in the Fire Chief wearing two hats and working under two contracts is seen most clearly when he is scheduling and carrying out field visits for MRI.  His prime allegiance is to the MRI client.  The Chief has had a policy of  concealing the extent of his  outside work. He did  not make public his committment to the federal government that carries him out of the city two weeks out of every six for two years.  He does not seem, in the case of the Chatham, to consult with the chief executive or his fire station chain or command before he makes committments.  His outside work as a consultant seems to come first.  He  is essentially playing Russian Roulette with our public safety by being a part time police chief who is being paid for full time work responding to calls and being on the scene to evaluate our emergency operations.  If the Chief had put his full energies into the Northampton Fire Department, we would not be here today, where the work force that he commands has no confidence in his leadership.  

Mike Kirby