A dispute between the City of Norwich and the Yantic Volunteer Fire Company remains unresolved after the volunteer department accused city officials of “negotiations through the media” following the release of details of an interim offer to restore the company to active service.
In a statement issued Friday, Yantic said city officials publicly characterized unfinished discussions before the department had received a written agreement, been asked to sign terms, or been given a deadline to respond.
The city had released details of a verbal offer made to Yantic Chief Bobby Allen and Deputy Chief Frank Blanchard during a breakfast meeting the previous week. The proposal would allow the department to reopen temporarily while pending litigation over Norwich’s unified command policy continues.
Yantic was shut down in February after failing to agree to the August 2025 unified command policy. The policy created a new command structure with Norwich Fire Chief Sam Wilson at the top and standardized training, communications and emergency response protocols for paid and volunteer fire services in the city.
The lawsuit, filed in February by the Yantic, Taftville, Occum and Laurel Hill volunteer departments, argues that City Manager John Salomone and Wilson exceeded their authority under the city charter when establishing the policy.
“The city has once again chosen to conduct negotiations through the media, rather than complete the private discussions already underway,” Yantic said in its statement.
According to Yantic, the parties had spent hours in discussion and agreed that additional meetings were needed to clarify unresolved issues. The department said Allen contacted Salomone on the morning of July 9 to request another meeting, but later that day was approached by media outlets seeking comment on the city’s release.
Yantic said the city’s statement presented “its own characterization of unfinished negotiations” and suggested the department had not formally responded to an offer it had never been formally asked to accept or reject.
“Private discussions appear productive until details are selectively released to the media and used to portray Yantic as unwilling to cooperate,” the department said. “Meaningful negotiations require candor, confidentiality and good-faith communication, not public deadlines and press releases created after the fact.”
The city’s offer would reportedly return Yantic to active status within five days of a signed agreement and restore frontline emergency vehicles to the dispatch system. It also included financial relief, station upgrades, relaxed purchasing restrictions, and concessions on internal discipline, membership records, and joint purchasing and communications committees.
In exchange, Norwich has maintained that Yantic must operate under a unified command structure during emergency responses. City officials have said a single chain of command is necessary to support consistent emergency response and fireground safety.
Salomone acknowledged that the offer had been made verbally, but said he left the meeting with the expectation that Allen and Blanchard would take the proposal back to Yantic’s membership for support.
Emails reviewed as part of the dispute show Allen and Blanchard presented the offer to the department, but Allen later told Salomone the parties should try to schedule another meeting to find common ground.
Subsequent emails show Salomone expressing frustration that Allen had not addressed what the city considers the central issue: whether Yantic would agree to operate under the unified command policy.
“Every time that we seem to have something towards an agreement you withdraw from meaningful dialogue,” Salomone wrote to Allen. “It was clear to everybody when we adjourned the three-hour meeting that the key to this was unified command and executive orders. You have not answered us on that so how can we negotiate further?”
Yantic said it remains prepared to continue discussions aimed at restoring the company to service while protecting public safety, respecting the city charter, and addressing the concerns of its members.
