Shelton is entering its eighth month without a fire chief — and city officials continue to fight about who to appoint.
Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti has rejected a second recommendation for Mike Ullrich to be the next fire chief, according to Shelton fire commissioners.
Meanwhile, the president of the Board of Aldermen said aldermen won’t investigate the rejection — as Ullrich requested last month.
“The mayor feels he can not get along with Mike Ullrich as the fire chief and doesn’t want him there,” said Board of Aldermen President John Anglace. “End of story. That doesn’t warrant an investigation.”
Background
The Board of Fire Commissioners had two candidates test for the position of fire chief, after it became vacant in November. The board interviewed both candidates and unanimously picked Mike Ullrich for its recommendation.
In May, the board passed that recommendation along to Mayor Lauretti, who has the final say under the city’s charter.
Lauretti wrote “denied” on the recommendation letter and slipped it back in the commissioners’ mailbox at City Hall.
When asked why he denied the recommendation, Lauretti has said Ullrich is “incompatible,” but won’t elaborate on why.
Lauretti did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
Ullrich last month asked the Board of Aldermen to investigate the denial.
Fire Commissioners Fight Back
After the first denial, the Board of Fire Commissioners voted unanimously to again recommend Ullrich for the chief’s position.
They sent their second letter to Lauretti in mid June.
Commissioner Ben McGorty said Lauretti has said “No” a second time.
When asked if they would stand their ground on the recommendation, McGorty replied: “We have so far.”
The board had scheduled a special meeting Tuesday evening to talk about its next steps, but didn’t have enough members present, so it tabled the discussion to later this month.
The department is rotating chief duties through its four assistant chiefs while it waits for a new chief.
“You’ve got to have a chief,” McGorty said. “You have to have a leader.”
Investigation
Anglace said he plans to tell the Board of Aldermen next week that he doesn’t believe they should investigate the denial.
John “Jack” Finn, the only Democrat on the board, said he will ask Anglace for a meeting to discuss an investigation this week.
“I ask (Anglace) to honor his request,” Finn said, of a letter he plans to deliver to City Hall Wednesday.
“The candidate would like to know the answer to the question (of why he was denied),” Finn said.
That Ullrich is “incompatible” is not enough, Finn said.
“I think he needs more than that,” Finn said.
Anglace said he doesn’t think the board will support an investigation.
“This is not going to happen,” Anglace said. “Either (the fire commissioners) pick somebody else, or they continue to let the assistant chiefs run the department.”
