Commission chairwoman Priscilla Chesky said termination and suspension of Moran are among options.
William P. Moran, a Holyoke deputy fire chief who had been acting fire chief, is on paid administrative leave.HOLYOKE – Termination and suspension are among the options Thursday when the Fire Commission discusses Deputy Fire Chief William P. Moran, who is the subject of a criminal investigation, an official said.
“There’s a host of possibilities facing the board regarding the Moran situation that range from termination to any kind of suspension,” commission chairwoman Priscilla F. Chesky said Tuesday.
The commission meeting is at 9 a.m. at Fire Department headquarters, 600 High St.
The Moran matter likely will be dealt with in a closed-door meeting, Chesky said.
Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said June 27 he has instructed the State Police to apply for a criminal complaint against Moran. Mastroianni said an investigation found Moran ordered a fire truck dispatched to a phony call at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside on June 15.
A traffic accident resulted when vehicles traveling in the opposite direction of the fire truck on Homestead Avenue pulled over but one vehicle failed to stop and struck a stopped vehicle. A woman in the accident was taken to the hospital with treatable injuries, police said.
Attorney Jeffrey S. Morneau, representing Moran, declined to comment when asked whether Moran made a fake emergency call to Fire Department dispatch, as Mastroianni said.
“We’re not going to comment on that. We haven’t been provided the (dispatch) tapes or any of the sources of the investigation,” Morneau said.
Regarding the district attorney’s decision to seek a criminal complaint against Moran, Morneau said, “We’re disappointed that that’s the decision. But we’re going to go through the court process. Billy’s going to go through the court process.”
Moran, who worked on Mayor Elaine A. Pluta’s election campaign, is a 27-year veteran. He had been acting fire chief since September until the Fire Commission put him on paid administrative leave June 17. He has had other disciplinary problems.
Mastroianni said the complaint application charges Moran with two misdemeanors: communicating false information to an emergency response facility and being a disorderly person.
The next step is for a district court clerk magistrate to decide whether to issue a criminal complaint against Moran after lawyers make arguments at a show-cause hearing that officials said has yet to be held.
After the June 15 incident, the Fire Commission put Moran on paid administrative leave in an emergency meeting.
The commission voted 2-0 on another personnel matter related to Moran in another emergency meeting held behind closed doors June 24. Chesky declined to comment on reports that the commission with that vote suspended Moran for five days.
According to Mastroianni, Moran placed the fake call to the Fire Department dispatcher on a city-issued cell phone when he was at a restaurant and saw two firefighters from Station 6, which is around the corner on Homestead Avenue, enter a nearby establishment.
“Chief Moran then told those he was having lunch with to come to the window of the restaurant in order to see the firefighters, who had walked to lunch previously, run back to their station,” Mastroianni said.
Marilyn Garcia, 42, of Holyoke, the driver of the vehicle that struck the stopped car in the incident involving the fire truck that was dispatched on the phony call, was given a citation for following too closely, acting Police Chief Frederick J. Seklecki said. The citation includes no fine and essentially establishes that Garcia was at fault, Seklecki said.
Garcia was treated for injuries from the accident at Holyoke Medical Center and released, he said.
Chesky said the commission must make a decision about Moran, regardless of what happens with the district attorney’s request for a criminal complaint, because the Fire Department cannot afford in terms of personnel and payroll to maintain the current situation indefinitely. Deputy Fire Chief Robert Shaw is now acting chief.
The mayor appoints the three-member Fire Commission, which includes Juan A. Pedrosa and William N. McCoy, along with Chesky. But it is the commission under city law that is authorized to hire, discipline and fire the chief.
Elaine PlutaPluta said Tuesday she won’t give the commission any orders about Moran or even discuss what should be done with him.
“No, I wouldn’t do that....I wouldn’t ask for special favors for anyone from the Fire Commission no matter what their status was with my campaign,” Pluta said.
Also, Pluta said, while Moran’s brother, Timothy Moran, who also is a deputy fire chief here, was her campaign manager in 2009, William Moran’s campaign role was minor.
“As far as working on my campaign, his part was so minute. He was not in the decision-making team. All he did was stand out with a campaign sign for me. A couple of times, he watched over campaign headquarters for me while his brother, Tim, had to work,” Pluta said.
Also, Morneau said that a report on the website of television station CBS3 Springfield that cited unnamed sources in saying Moran shredded his personnel file was untrue. He said online and other discussions about the report were damaging to Moran’s reputation.
“It didn’t happen, it never happened, it’s a completely false allegation that is absolutely not true,” Morneau said.
Chesky and City Solicitor Lisa A. Ball declined to comment on the TV station’s report.
The Fire Commission under previous Mayor Michael J. Sullivan demoted Moran to captain in 2009 for what officials at the time said was conduct unbecoming a firefighter. Moran denied that, and he was reinstated to deputy chief last year after an agreement between his lawyer and the city.