SEARSPORT, Maine — Searsport has a new fire chief after former Fire Chief Jim Dittmeier’s resignation was accepted earlier this month by the Board of Selectmen, according to Town Manager James Gillway.
Dittmeier submitted his resignation in May for personal reasons after serving as chief for nearly five years, Gillway said Thursday. He had asked that town officials allow him to stay on as chief until September so he could finish some projects, but after meeting in executive session June 5 the board decided to accept the resignation effective immediately.
Andrew Webster, who had been the assistant fire chief for a number of years, is the community’s new interim fire chief.
Dittmeier had attracted criticism for making public remarks in support of a proposed liquid propane gas terminal project that has generated much debate and disagreement in town. He also had criticized opponents of the project.
Gillway said that many residents made negative remarks about the former chief during the public comment portion of the selectmen’s meeting earlier in June.
Some alluded to a rumor they had heard that Dittmeier said he would not put out fires at houses with “Thanks But No Tank” signs outside.
Gillway said that the rumor was nonsense and wanted to put a stop to it.
“Jim Dittmeier, if nothing else, was always professional and responsible at all hours of the day and night,” he said.
Heavens to Betsy, you cannot say a darn thing without someone being overly offended. The guy has a right to support whatever he wants in his personal life (as long as it’s legal), and he has the right to make a joke (even if in poor taste) without losing his job. But hey, at least town managers aren’t getting fired left and right, seems to be fire chiefs are the ones being picked on now…watch your backs police chiefs you might be next…or public works directors, maybe? Oh an since when should someone lose their job because of a rumor? This isn’t middle school anymore selectmen, popularity shouldn’t matter as long as the job is getting done well.
Dittmeier used his government facebook acct to attack critics of the DCP tank. Gillway is wrong – Dittmeier DID issue those threats to have the fire department be late at fires if they were of property owned by tank opponents. He did his best (worst) to stir up anger and division. The town was merciful by letting him quit instead of being fired.
I can’t believe anyone would even start to think he would follow through with those so called threats….Ron go back to defending Dennis, the child killer,it is obvious you believe anything…….
looks like its ok for dittmeier to voice his opinion but not ok for ron to have one about dennis dechaine
Convicted child killers need hugs too,I’m sorry Ron.
thats ok. be a biatch if it turned out he was innocent–im sure you would post your appology
Since when does the government issue Facebook accounts??? The man is entitled to his opinion just as you are. How he signs his name on Facebook is his business and not yours? You have lost more than you may know. As a professional myself in the hazardous materials arena, I have seen nothing that he has posted on this forum that is not factual. There are however many who oppose the facility who are speaking out of ignorance and personal interest. I do not live in Searsport, but the ridiculousness of some of the claims would be funny if they weren’t so pathetic.
government entities have facebook accounts—how about this, he says we wont show up to the anti tank people fires and one of them says, thats ok, when you finally do show up, i’ll shoot you–is that ok with you?
As a member of the town’s fire department I take great pride in my job and service to my community. I also take great displeasure in reading comments like this one, as well as down the page a bit from Mr Huber’s good friend Tabor. First off, Chief Dittmeier NEVER issued any sort of threat, promise or other comment about not responding to a fire call to someone’s home that was an opponent of this project. Second, how someone could think that even if it had been said, that Chief Dittmeier could in anyway make the fire department “late” in arriving at a call, or even stop apparatus from leaving the stationS. I stress the “s” at the end of stations because there are two in this town, and as they are about 7 miles apart it is quite impossible for someone to be in both places at once to stop a response.
As I said at the June 5th selectman’s meeting, we don’t have time to stop and think about who lives at what house number and then to take the time to determine whether or not we like that person. All we know is that there is an emergency at a certain address and it is our duty to get there as quick and safely as possible and mitigate whatever the problem may be.
Another victim of the liberal Machine. This guy had the nerve to have an opinion contrary to the Lib/Progressives in his community and he had the Gut’s to voice them. Now they had him fired. Typical behavior from these folks. I’m not a fan of our overly litigious society but, if the law allows, I hope he spends a comfortable retirement off from the Backs of this Town’s folks once the lawsuits are settled..
I have done training at his station (not for his crew), he wasn’t a socialable person; in fact I was urged to bring my complaints about him to the town manager (I didn’t..). Searsport is better off…and he was a volunteer chief, no MPERS money for him !
and he was about saving lives, not being sociable. Don’t like the guy, fine, but really. “He doesn’t talk to me so I’m going to report him?”What are we , in kindergarden?
but when he uses a government facebook acct and not his personal acct ,there is a difference–he should have had his say on his own account
oh, and the liberal machine comment, just a load of bs
Before you weep for this man, consider that as a paid municipal official he did something possibly even more obnoxious and unprofessional than using a fire department Facebook page to disparage in the rudest terms the many people in town concerned about the safety and economic implications of this mammoth refrigerated gas tank.
Not content with venting his spleen on Facebook against many of the very people who as taxpayers paid for the services of a man presumed to be a professional, Mr. Dittmeier also used a website thoughtfully provided by DCP Midstream, the outfit that wants to build the tank, as a platform calling upon supporters to boycott the many small businesses in town whose owners are perhaps understandably opposed to this unprecedented development.
Searsport has alot of other things to worry about as well, lets start with the tax payers money that is being miss used by other town employees, i feel thats more important then a few comments of facebook account, granted he shouldn’t not of placed them on a town account but why is it that a town truck has been seen at a methodone clinic on the weekend in bangor being driving by a town employee supervisor & using town equipment for his personal use?!?! THATS WRONG, i’ve called the town office before & they didn’t want to be bothered & still sae the truck & equipment at his home after my call was placed… maybe the selectman need to be aware of this because if the employee is allowed to miss use town equipment & money why can’t US as taxpayers use it as well… just a thought…
A picture would be nice.
Very true Searsport1 a pictures is worth more then words, hopefully it will not have to come down to doing so but as a member & taxpayer of the community myself & others will be keeping an eye out for the chance to do so if needed. Lets hope the town manager will have a chat with his employee in regards to using the towns equipment for his own personal use in the future. And if that employee happens to read these comments keep in mind that the towns people are aware of what is going on & hope NOT to see it happen again..
We should clear a couple very important things up. Andrew Webster was the Assistant Chief for 18 months, not “a number of years” as was reported. Chief Dittmeier NEVER made any comments about not responding to calls at a home with a TBNT sign out front, or the home of a known supporter of TBNT.
He took his job very seriously and dedicated much of his time to making sure that the department has the tools, training and personnel to effectively serve the town. Over the five years of his term of Chief, he brought the department ahead by leaps and bounds. MUCH more than any previous fire chief had done for the Town of Searsport. He made sure that the department was equipped and trained to handle Ethanol fires, one of the fuels stored in town that brought its own special hazard. He was always looking for ways to improve the department to better serve the town as well as surrounding communities. I think that the people of Searsport owe this man a huge debt of gratitude for the service that he gave. He may not have been polished and politically correct but he got the job done and lead a well trained team of dedicated men and women.
What a messed up town.
WOW…
hey, if he really was being a sterling employee as some here seem to imply it would have taken more than a few complaints to rid the town of him
I am a retired full time fireman who has been watching this spectacle for several months now. I don’t care either way which way the town goes with this tank-it’s none of my business. However, this fire chief embarrassed the entire profession with his comments and behavior. He has no business being in charge of any department. When you are a department head there is no such thing as speaking for yourself. You are on call 24/7 and everything that comes out of your mouth is coming from the Fire Chief-that’s the way it is and if you don’t like it, you don’t take the job.