(Sp. Laws 1935, No. 454, § 1.)
There shall be a Fire Board in the City of Norwalk, which shall consist of two resident electors who shall be appointed by the Mayor and shall serve without compensation. Not more than 1/2 of the members of said Board, with the exception of the Mayor, shall be members of any one political party. The Mayor of the said city shall be, ex officio, a member and chairman of said Board. Within 10 days from the passage of §§ 1-333 to 1-337, the Mayor shall appoint two members of said Board to serve until the first Wednesday following the first Monday of October, 1937, and biennially thereafter, the Mayor shall appoint two members to serve for two years, and each such member shall serve until his successor shall be appointed. Said Board shall annually elect a Secretary from its members. Two members of said Board shall constitute a quorum and a concurrence of two votes shall be necessary for the transaction of business. Said Board shall hold meetings at least once each month and at such other times as it may determine. Special meetings of the Board may be called by the Mayor or by two members upon reasonable notice to the Mayor or the other member. Said Board shall have control, management and supervision of the firemen of said city and all property belonging to or used in the Fire Department. Said Board shall have the power to purchase all supplies and equipment necessary for the management of said Department; to appoint, remove, suspend, discipline and punish and to prescribe the duties of all officers and members, whether regular, supernumerary or call, of said Fire Department and fix their salaries and compensation and to make rules and regulations as it may deem necessary, consistent with the provisions hereof, for the regulation and government of said Department. It shall enforce and carry into effect all ordinances and bylaws of the Common Council and all laws of the state with reference to the safety of said city. It shall keep and preserve detailed records, files and minutes of all its proceedings and of all work, property and expenditures of said Fire Department, and said files, records and minutes, or certified copies thereof, shall be accepted as evidence in all courts and proceedings. It shall have the power to summon and examine witnesses as in civil actions and compel the production of books and papers, and administer oaths to such witnesses, and may require of any officer or board of said city all information and copies of records, books and papers relative to the public business in connection with said Department. It shall render monthly detailed statements and reports to the Common Council of its proceedings and of all disbursements and contracts made in said Department during the preceding month; shall render annually to said Common Council and to the Board of Estimate and Taxation a full statement of its disbursements and expenditures in said Department during the preceding year, with a report of the condition of said Department, and an estimate of the necessary expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year.
(Sp. Laws 1935, No. 454, § 2.)
Said Board shall not abolish any office in the Fire Department
during the incumbency thereof of any appointee to such office, nor
shall it remove, expel or reduce in rank any officer or regular or
permanent member of the Fire Department except for cause found after
hearing. Notice of any such removal, expulsion or reduction in rank
shall be given by the Board in writing to the officer or permanent
member concerned, and any such officer or permanent member aggrieved
by such removal, expulsion or reduction may, within 10 days after
receiving notice of such action by the Board, appeal therefrom to
the Superior Court in and for the County of Fairfield, which shall
hear such appeal and render judgment thereon. The power to fix the
number and designation of all officers and members of the Fire Department
shall be in and exercised only by the bipartisan Fire Board, and the
number and designation of all officers of said Department shall continue
as at present until said Board shall take action in the premises.
Said Board shall have the power to retire any member of the Fire Department
for mental or physical disability and place his name on the retired
list and such member shall not thereafter be entitled to pay or compensation
from the city unless assigned to duty by the Fire Chief of the Fire
Department. His pay for the time so assigned to duty shall be that
of a regular member of the force.
(Sp. Laws 1935, No. 454, § 3.)
Said Board shall administer the Firemen's Benefit Fund
established under the provisions of an act approved May 21, 1925,
as amended by section four of an act approved June 16, 1927.[1]
(Sp. Laws 1935, No. 454, § 4.)
Said Board may employ clerks for its own work and the clerical
work of the Fire Department, and may fix and pay their salaries.
(Sp. Laws 1935, No. 454, § 5.)
All appointments to be made by said Board shall be based upon merit and fitness for the duties pertaining thereto and, in no degree, upon political affiliations or consideration. In carrying out the provisions of this section, said Board may adopt such provisions of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes as it may deem advisable and, on or before September 1, 1935, the merit system shall be in effect in said city.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 1; Sp. Laws 1945, No.
242.)
There shall be in the City of Norwalk a fund to be known as
the "Firemen's Benefit Fund," which fund shall consist of (1)
any property specifically devised or given for the benefit of disabled
firemen of the permanent force and so designated; (2) any money derived
from entertainments or testimonials conducted under the heading or
title of the "Firemen's Benefit Fund"; (3) any rewards, fees,
gifts or acknowledgment of service, designated and presented to the
Fire Department or any member thereof on account of special service,
except as shall be allowed by the Board of Public Safety of said city
to be retained by a member or any similar grant by the Council of
said city; (4) a monthly assessment of 1% on the salaries of members
of the permanent force who were appointed before July 1, 1945; (5)
a monthly assessment of 3% on the salaries of the members appointed
to the permanent force after July 1, 1945; (6) such as the Board of
Estimate and Taxation may, upon recommendation of the Council, appropriate
from time to time; (7) any money collected from members of said permanent
force by way of a fine or forfeiture of pay imposed or ordered, and
all money deducted or withdrawn from the pay of such members on account
of lost time or for breach of the rules of the Department; (8) the
income and interest from all property and money belonging to said
fund; and (9) an annual appropriation to said fund by the City of
Norwalk of an amount not less than 3% of yearly salaries and compensation
of the contributing members of the Fire Department. Any property given
to the Fire Department on account of services rendered shall, unless
otherwise specifically directed, be made part of a fund selected by
the Volunteer Fire Company or companies engaged in any special act
of said service for which any reward may be given, while said class
of volunteer fire service may continue.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 2.)
When the Council shall determine that the class of volunteer service shall be abolished and the manual force placed upon an entirely paid basis, § 1-338 shall apply to the members constituting such paid force.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 3.)
The Board of Public Safety of said city shall be a Board of
Trustees of said Benefit Fund, and the Treasurer of said city shall
be the Treasurer of said fund. All orders drawn on said fund shall
be signed by the Chairman of said Board and countersigned by the Secretary
of said Board. Said Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings
of said Board and of all action taken by it with regard to said Benefit
Fund.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 4.)
Said Board of Trustees shall have general charge of said Relief
or Benefit Fund, with the items of all the receipts and disbursements
on such majority, direct the Treasurer to invest any portion of the
same in bonds of the City of Norwalk or in any securities authorized
by the laws of the state as investments for trust funds or to deposit
the same or any portion thereof in any savings banks or trust companies
of the state. Said Board of Trustees shall annually, or more frequently
if required, report to the Council the condition of said Benefit Fund,
with the items of all the receipts and disbursements on account of
the same. If said Benefit Fund shall be found, at any time, to be
insufficient to meet the requirements made upon it, the Board of Estimate
and Taxation, upon application made to it by said Board of Trustees,
or by said Council, acting at the instance of said Board of Trustees,
shall make an appropriation to supply such deficiency, and any prospective
deficiency in said fund may be provided for by said Board of Estimate
and Taxation in its annual appropriations for the Fire Department.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 5.)
In addition to the regular Fire Department of said city, composed
of the permanent men and the officers of said Department, there shall
be an honorary grade known as "The Veteran Reserve," to which said
Board of Trustees may, at its discretion, by unanimous vote, transfer
any member of the regular force of the Department who shall, from
age or disability incurred in the discharge of perilous duty or in
long and faithful service, become permanently disqualified for the
more active duties of the regular grade; provided the pay of any member
of the said Veteran Reserve shall be regulated by said Board of Trustees
in accordance with the amount of duty performed and shall not be less
than 1/2 of the compensation previously received by such member while
in the regular Fire Department Service and provided any member of
said Veteran Reserve may be removed in the same manner as a member
of the regular Fire Department and provided no transfer to said Veteran
Reserve shall be made except on the certificate of such Medical Examiner
as said Board of Trustees may appoint. All members so transferred
shall be subject to the orders of said Board of Trustees, which may,
at any time, require any such member to be reexamined, and in case
he shall be reported capable of performing duty, may by an affirmative
vote of a majority of its members, the Mayor to compose one of such
majority, restore him to the regular Fire Department.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 6.)
Said Board of Trustees may, by a unanimous vote, as a reward
for conspicuously meritorious service, retire from duty any member
of the regular force or the Veteran Reserve Force after 25 years of
continuous service in the Department, upon the certificate of such
Medical Examiner as said Board of Trustees may designate, showing
that such member is permanently disabled, physically or mentally,
so as to be unfit for any fire duty; provided such Medical Examiner
shall further certify that, in his opinion, such disability is due
either to the natural infirmities of old age or to injury received
or exposure endured in the performance of duty in the Fire Department.
Such member shall be entitled to receive from said fund, during the
remainder of his life, unless removed from the retired list, after
notice and hearing, by the unanimous vote of said Board of Trustees,
a sum equal to 1/2 of the yearly compensation received in service
before retirement as a regular member of the Fire Department, such
sum to be payable in monthly installments. Said Board of Trustees
may, by an affirmative vote of the whole number of its members, retire
any member of the Fire Department who, while in the actual performance
and by reason of the performance of such duty and without fault or
misconduct on his part, shall have become permanently disabled, physically
or mentally, so as to be entirely unfitted to perform such duty; and
such member so retired shall be entitled to receive from said fund
during his life, unless removed from the retired list, after notice
and hearing, by the unanimous vote of the members of said Board of
Trustees, a sum equal to 1/2 of his previous compensation received
per annum, to be paid in monthly installments. Whenever said Board
of Trustees shall remove a former member of the Fire Department from
the retired list, said Board shall make and keep on file a written
statement of the causes for having made such removal.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 7; Sp. Laws 1941, No.
419, § 1.)
When any member of said Fire Department shall have been killed
while in the actual performance of duty, or shall have died from the
effects of an injury received or illness contracted while in the actual
discharge of such duty, said Board of Trustees shall direct a sum
equal to 1/2 of the yearly compensation received in service as a regular
member of the Fire Department, to be paid from said fund, in monthly
installments to the widow of such firearm, or if he leave no widow,
or such widow shall thereafter die or remarry, to his child or children
not over 18 years of age, after the death or remarriage of such widow;
provided such annual payments to such widow shall cease if such widow
shall remarry, and such payments to any such child shall cease when
such child shall attain the age of 18 years. In case such deceased
member leave neither widow nor child under the age of 18 years, the
Board of Trustees shall direct the whole of such sum to be paid to
the parent or parents or dependent of such member, if such parent
or parents or dependent, prior to his death, shall have been dependent
upon him for support.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 8; Sp. Laws 1933, No.
329, § 1.)
Said Board of Trustees may, of its own violation, and shall,
at the request of any member of said permanent force, or any member
thereof who shall have served in said class of service continuously
for a period of 25 years and shall have attained the age of 60 years,
place such officer or member on the retired list. Thereafter, such
retired officer or member shall be entitled to receive from said fund
during his life an annual sum, payable monthly, equal to 1/2 of his
pay at the time of his retirement.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 9.)
Said Board of Trustees may, at its discretion, order any member on the retired list, except such member as shall have been retired under the provisions of § 1-345, to be examined by a Medical Examiner to be designated by said Board, and if such member shall be reported capable of performing fire duty, said Board may, by an affirmative vote of a majority of its whole number, the Mayor to be one of said majority, restore such member either to the regular or to the Veteran Reserve Force.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 10.)
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 11.)
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 12.)
All of the accumulations deposited in the firemen's benefit fund at the time of the passage of §§ 1-338 to 1-356, from whatever source derived, are transferred to and invested in the Trustees of said Firemen's Benefit Fund, to be held, managed and disposed of as herein set forth, and all acts of said Trustees in reference thereto are ratified and confirmed.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 13; Sp. Laws 1933, No.
329, § 2.)
The term of service of any member of the permanent force of
the Fire Department of said City of Norwalk who shall have resigned
and shall have been immediately reinstated as a member of said permanent
force of the Fire Department, shall be considered as a term of continuous
service for the purpose of receiving any benefits under any pension
law or firemen's fund law affecting such member. Any member of
the permanent force of said Fire Department who shall have resigned
from said Department where no charges were pending against him, and
who shall, afterwards at any time, be reinstated as a member of said
permanent force of said Fire Department, shall be entitled to have
his two periods of service in said Department considered as a term
of continuous service for the purpose of receiving any benefits under
any pension law or firemen's fund law affecting such member.
(Sp. Laws 1931, No. 37, § 14.)
When any member of the permanent force of the Fire Department who shall be on or shall be eligible to be placed on the retired list, by reason of the provisions of § 1-345, shall die while on or eligible to be placed on the retired list, the Board of Trustees of the Firemen's Benefit Fund shall direct an allowance out of said fund equal to 1/2 of the salary of such deceased fireman, to be paid to the widow or dependents of such deceased fireman.
(Sp. Laws 1941, No. 419, § 2.)
When any member of the Fire Department shall die, after having
served continuously for a period of 20 years or more, exclusive of
the time served as a volunteer, or callman, the Board of Trustees
shall direct an allowance out of the Fireman's Benefit Fund equal
to 1/2 of the yearly salary of such deceased fireman to be paid in
monthly installments to the widow of such fireman or, if he leave
no widow or said widow thereafter dies or remarries, to his child
or children not over 18 years of age; after the death or remarriage
of such widow, provided, in case of any fireman who shall have died
while a member of the Veteran Reserve, such allowance shall be 1/2
of the pay which such deceased fireman was receiving immediately prior
to being placed in such Veteran Reserve, and provided in case such
fireman leave neither widow nor child under the age of 18 years, the
Board of Trustees shall direct the whole of such sum to be paid to
the parents or parent or dependent of such deceased member, if such
parent or parents or dependent, prior to his death, shall have depended
upon him for support.
