MATTHEW VAN DUSEN
Herald News

A Ridgefield volunteer firefighter got so drunk while dressed as Santa Claus for a Christmas Eve 2009 community event that he was taken back to the firehouse, which he trashed in a rage.

In Secaucus, three volunteers allegedly led the harassment of a gay couple that lived beside the firehouse. In a widely publicized case, the couple won a $2.8 million civil rights judgment, plus $2 million in legal fees, against the town in 2006.

The Secaucus firefighters agreed to leave the department in 2008, but the Town Council has authorized a legal review of the incident that could result in them rejoining the force.

The Ridgefield firefighter, Brian Kettler, faced a suspension and sanctions, but at least one councilman argued that he would have been kicked off the force altogether if it wasn't for his political connections.

The separate events have prompted critics to question if towns can make punishments of volunteer firefighters stick, especially when council members are often firefighters, too.

"It's shocking to me really that they would even consider [reinstatement]," said Neil Mullin, the Montclair attorney who represented the gay couple in the civil rights case against Secaucus. The alleged harassment occurred from 2001 to 2004. "It was only because of a conspiracy of silence that these guys were able to avoid criminal prosecution."

Firefighters and town officials respond that the punishments prove they are serious about departmental discipline. But they also argue that the sanctions can be too harsh.

The debate is at its hottest in Secaucus.

In early 2010, more than 500 residents petitioned the council to allow the disgraced firefighters -- Charles T. Snyder, Charles F. Snyder and Charles Mutschler -- to return to the force years after they signed an agreement to resign.

The three men could not be reached for comment.

The current mayor and council -- most of whom were not in office when the incident occurred -- hired a lawyer in May 2010 to investigate the resignations and look at the implications of reinstatement. Mayor Michael Gonnelli said he has received the report from attorney Edward DePascale and the council will hold a special closed-session meeting on Tuesday to discuss his findings. The contents of the report will not be disclosed until after the council review.

Mullin said the legal review merely provides political cover for Gonnelli and the council to bring the firefighters back.

He sent a letter to DePascale expressing his clients' dismay.

In the letter, he alleged that the expelled firefighters, and others under their command, had thrown used condoms on his clients' porch, pounded on their home and threatened to kill them repeatedly.

Gonnelli, who was also the chief of the Secaucus volunteer department until Jan. 1, said he could have chosen to reinstate the firefighters the day he took office as mayor, but instead he asked for an investigation by an outside law firm. The council authorized the investigation at the end of May.

"If it was a farce, [the investigation] would've been over in a month," said Gonnelli, who was on the force during the incidents but not present.

Discipline Varies

There is no state-supplied road map for towns to follow when dealing with disciplinary problems.

Volunteer fire departments are generally non-profit corporations with independent constitutions and rules administered by the members, said Lisa Ryan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Affairs.

Disciplinary issues in Ridgefield, for example, are decided by the three firehouse chiefs and an attorney. The accused firefighter can appeal the ruling to the mayor and council within 10 days, according to borough ordinance.

But punishments are complicated by the political connections of fire companies.

Kettler was suspended from the Ridgefield department for a year starting in March 2010 as a result of the Christmas Eve incident at Engine Company 3. Kettler will also be on probation for two years after he returns, meaning he cannot hold a rank.

In an interview, he said he had been drinking that night and he became emotional after receiving a phone call. He broke a window, flooded the bathroom and threw trash outside the firehouse, according to court records.

"What I did was totally wrong. I never should have drunk that much," he said. He added that he sought alcohol and psychiatric counseling after the incident.

Still, he protested that the two-year probation was "too severe a punishment" and he hoped to appeal it to the fire chiefs and, possibly, the mayor and council.

Republican Councilman Angus Todd, who was the liaison to the fire department in 2010 but not a firefighter, said he believed Kettler should have been expelled from the department for his actions.

Todd said Kettler "has a lot of friends" who have protected him from more severe punishment, including Democratic Councilman Javier Acosta.

Acosta, who is a firefighter in Engine Company 3, said Kettler's punishment was spearheaded by Borough Administrator Gary Bonacci, a Republican appointee, who made "a huge thing about" the incident.

Kettler was convicted in Central Municipal Court in Hackensack of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct and fined $500 for his actions. The judge also ruled that he forfeited both his membership in the fire department and his job at the Department of Public Works, but that ruling was overturned in state Superior Court.

Kettler's lawyer in the trial and appeal was local Democratic Chairman Stephen Pellino, who is now the borough attorney.

Acosta and other borough Democrats voted to reinstate Kettler to his DPW post earlier this month.

'We're in public eye'

In one recent instance of firefighter misbehavior, the punishment was swift and final.

A Wallington volunteer at a firehouse party on New Year's Eve 2009 lit an illegal firecracker that shot through an apartment window and ignited a baby's nursery.

The firefighter who lit the fuse, Ronald Serafin, was kicked out of the department.

"We actually cleaned up our image," said David Popek, a longtime Wallington firefighter who previously served as the business president of Hose Company 3, where the New Year's party was held. "We respond harshly and are pretty stern with any wrongdoing since we're in the public eye."

That was one reason, Popek said, that Serafin, a Clifton resident who had recently joined the department, was kicked off the force after lighting the firecracker that landed in the second-floor apartment of Steve and Grace Minazaganian.

Serafin did not appeal his expulsion.

No one was hurt by the rocket, which ricocheted around the room of the Minazaganians' baby, Charlize, before igniting a small fire.

Serafin pleaded guilty to criminal mischief in Municipal Court and paid a $300 fine. He did not return phone calls seeking comment.

An investigating committee decided to expel Serafin from the department and issued suspensions to about 15 others who were present at the party, Popek said.

Popek noted that he, himself, was suspended just for being present at the party where the fireworks were set off.

"If you do 500 great things, one lapse in judgment will capture everybody's attention," Popek said.

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January 30, 2011