SOUTH THOMASTON, Maine — A mediation session between South Thomaston and two former firefighters accused of unjustly enriching themselves with nearly $15,000 earmarked for a new fire truck will be held next month.
Mediation is scheduled for June 4, according to attorney James Strong, who represents South Thomaston. The session had been scheduled for May 6 but was postponed because of a scheduling conflict, Strong said.
The town filed the lawsuit in February against former Fire Chief Wayne Brown and former firefighter Colin Grierson.
Brown and Grierson, through their attorney Walter McKee of Augusta, have argued the town has no standing to file the lawsuit, denied the town asked them repeatedly for the whereabouts of the missing money, denied they had been evasive and denied they had been made aware the money was to have been used by the town to purchase a pumper truck for the department.
The funds in question had been in bank accounts controlled by the South Thomaston Firemen’s Association, according to the town’s lawsuit. The association voted in May 2007 to dissolve and have any money it had go to the town for the purchase of a fire truck.
The lawsuit further claims that on July 15, 2010, Brown withdrew a total of $14,783 from the association’s accounts.
The town also referred the matter in April 2014 to the Maine attorney general’s office for possible criminal charges, but no charges have been filed.
Brown was a member of the firemen’s association until it disbanded. He was fire chief until 2006, when he resigned.
Brown previously told the Bangor Daily News he does not recall whether he withdrew the money. Grierson, who also was a member of the now defunct association, told the BDN last year he does not know what happened to the money.
The association’s money was raised in a variety of ways, such as by doing controlled burns of fields and catering meals for local events. The money was used for coffee and doughnuts for firefighters when they fought fires, but the overwhelming bulk was set aside for fire equipment.