LYMAN/DAYTON — Five months after voters gave their approval to make Goodwins Mills Fire-Rescue a municipal entity, it’s still a corporation.

An advisory committee began working in January to develop a plan that would make Goodwins Mills a municipal department, operated by Lyman and Dayton, and voters approved the plan in June ”“ which included hiring a full-time fire chief in September and an additional full-time firefighter in January 2011.

Neither position has been filled, however, as the changeover is stalled, undergoing review by town attorneys. Selectmen in both towns have raised concerns with the wording of the interlocal agreement that would delineate how the towns would share oversight of the fire department.

“We haven’t made a lot of progress since July 1,” said Dayton Selectwoman Theresa Greeley, at the Oct. 19 meeting of both towns’ selectmen boards. “We set money aside, but things aren’t clicking.

“In looking at the contract, we (Dayton selectmen) have a lot of questions and concerns,” she said.

Selectmen from both towns are scheduled to meet with legal counsel Monday night to review the interlocal agreement. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at the Dayton Municipal Building.

Fire Commission Chairman George Sutton, at a commission meeting Tuesday, expressed frustration that the interlocal agreement hasn’t been signed and that the process isn’t moving forward more quickly.

“We work for the people of these two communities and we don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere,” said Sutton.

The towns have had the interlocal agreeement for more than a year, said Sutton, and it was used as talking points in presentations to both towns before the vote last summer.

“We thought it was a go,” he said.

During the October meeting, the two selectmen’s boards discussed concerns with the authority of the fire commission and omissions from the agreement. According to the current unsigned agreement, hiring and firing of the fire chief and all fire department employees is under the purview of the commission.

However, selectmen from both towns have expressed a desire to give the towns, rather than the board, ultimate say over hiring, firing, and labor and contract negotiations for the fire department, as well as possible acceptance of new towns into the agreement. Concerns were also raised about the lack of a cost sharing formula for the towns and a policy for the removal of fire commission members.

Until the agreement is signed, the six-member fire commission ”“ made up of three members each from Lyman and Dayton ”“ cannot move forward with hiring of the two positions approved by voters in June.

According to legal counsel, the fire commission can do certain legwork, but cannot act officially or enter into a binding agreement until both boards have signed the interlocal agreement, said Sutton.

Lyman Selectman Leo Ruel said at the Oct. 19 meeting that he wants the fire commission to prepare all the necessary documents and sign over authority to the towns at one set date.

“I believe that’s the way it has to happen, it can’t be piece here, piece here,” he said.

However, Dayton Selectman Ted Poirier expressed frustration with this “all or nothing” approach.

“You can’t do that with something like this,” said Poirier, last week. “No one seems to want to agree. It’s not right ”“ the voters voted for this thing and we need to get it done.”

Greeley said that if the boards sign the contract “we’ll be breaching it because we cannot fulfill many of the parts of this contract the way that it’s written”¦”

In addition to concerns of authority, the two towns requested in September that the commission submit its bylaws; a written statement on dissolving the fire department corporation; verification that a recent federal grant for expansion at the fire station would not be voided by the dissolution of the corporation; detailed financial statements; fire department policies; job descriptions and pay rates; and a list of all licenses that would need to be changed over.

According to the selectmen’s clerks in both towns, that information had not been received as of Nov. 22. At the Fire Commission meeting Tuesday, members noted that some of that information has already been made available, while some of it cannot yet be submitted.

“We have a set of bylaws that we’ve drafted, that are ready to go to the selectmen, but we put everything on hold pending a letter of authority from the selectmen, because right now we can’t do anything without the selectmen giving us some kind of authority,” said Sutton.

Sutton said Tuesday that a letter from November 2009 shows that the Goodwin Mills Fire Department Corporation would support turning over its assets to Dayton and Lyman to become a municipal entity. Fire Chief Rodney Carpenter read a letter from the Goodwin Mills Fire Department corporation stating it would agree to have a fire chief appointed by the two towns.

Carpenter said he is still awaiting an official answer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on whether the fire department would have to pay back its grant  if it were to become a municipal entity. He said through discussions he has heard it would not have to, but he needs an official letter.

— City Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 322 or kristenm@journaltribune.com. Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.