LYNNFIELD — The Select Board has given Fire Chief Glenn Davis a raise.
The raise bumps Davis’ base fire chief salary from $146,000 to $151,840 for a one-year term effective Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023, and also results in an increase in Davis’ annual stipend as emergency-management director, which is set at the rate of 8 percent of Davis’ fire chief salary. That stipend is now $12,147, bringing Davis’s total compensation to $163,987.
The original contract provides that the chief’s salary during the first year of the term of the contract (Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2022) is $146,000 and that in each succeeding year of the term, the salary shall “not be less than said sum” and is “subject to negotiation with the town.” The contract also requires any increases must be “reasonable in light of the chief’s performance reviews.”
Town Administrator Rob Dolan said at the board’s last meeting May 22 that he fully supports the amendment to the contract.
“We took a real solid look at other chiefs in the region and we’ve come to an agreement where the chief will be in the middle of North Shore communities under 20,000,” said Dolan. “With his experience with a fire station being built, I think it’s imperative that we continue to have a chief with so much knowledge and experience as Chief Davis. I think this contract is fair to the taxpayers and to him.”
Select Board Chair Joe Connell acknowledged that the next couple of years will be “very, very busy for Chief Davis.”
“We have an outstanding fire chief and I think that this contract reflects a fair deal for both the taxpayers and the chief himself,” said Select Board member Dick Dalton.
Select Board member Phil Crawford agreed with Dalton’s sentiments and thanked Dolan for “getting this done.”
“I certainly agree that Chief Davis deserves a new contract,” Crawford said.
