SANFORD, Maine — The Fire Chief and City Manager in Sanford say an unexpected cut to the city's budget Tueday night is a public safety threat.
The budget advisory committee originally presented its recommended budget to the council without any cuts to the fire department.
But Mayor Tom Cote, who is also the chair of the city council, made a motion for an amendment to de-fund the city's Fire Marshal position.
Patrick Lotter is Sanford's Fire Marshal. Lotter is responsible for many tasks including fire investigations, dealing with contractors and potential builders and fire education in schools and businesses.
The city council voted 6 to 1 in favor of cutting the position.
It was a move that blindsided City Manager Steven Buck and Fire Chief Steve Benotti.
They say this decision will not only cost the city money, it will pose a public safety issue as well.
"Without this position in the community there is no one to oversee aspects of fire suppression systems, proper code enforcement, people who no longer have to pull permits or have oversight of those permits which they have to pull" Chief Benotti says.
Cheif Benotti says "The city adopts codes and ordinances for a reason and we need someone to enforce those codes and ordinances the city adopted. We do that to make sure we're a better, stronger community and a safe community. We want to bring in good strong businesses and people who want to raise children here."
City Manager Steven Buck says he is upset with the decision and is now dealing with the ramifications of it. And what the loss of this position means to the city.
In a statement Mayor Cote says...
"The Sanford City Council continues to work towards a balance of funding a reasonable level of service while keeping property tax increases at a manageable level for our residents. While it's extremely unfortunate to reduce staff in any department, it is also difficult to justify funding a Fire Marshal position that has redundancies at the state level and ancillary responsibilities that can be absorbed by other local staff members. It was a difficult decision and one that was not taken lightly."
The Sanford Fire Department was also supposed to get two new fire fighter positions this July. Those positions were cut, as well.