SWANSEA - Four of the seven members of Swansea's Emergency Management Agency (EMA) resigned on Aug. 4 and 5 following months of tension with other government officials.

Two weeks ago, EMA Director Roland Martineau and three other members, Arthur Irwin, Frank Dias, Sr., and Frank Almeida submitted letters of resignation via e-mail to the selectmen. The resignations effectively serve to disband the organization. Of the three remaining members one is the fire chief and the other is the police chief. The one remaining private citizen, Jordan Khoury, is not enough to keep the EMA as a functioning group, officials say.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Andrew Prete said the letters did not give the specific reason for the resignation. When reached for comment last week Mr. Martineau explained the general sentiment among the recently-resigned group.

Never had a chance

"We were always left out of the loop," said Mr. Martineau.

For over a year now, he said, members of his group had struggled against a host of issues their organization faced. The group has never had access to their own phone or fax machine. The building they were housed in did not have any heat or running water, and the town did not have any extra cash in their budget to fix these problems.

Fiscal issues have been compounded over the last few months, when territorial disputes arose between EMA and other public safety departments, mainly police and fire. The problems came to a head at the July 19 meeting of the board of selectmen. EMA members were scheduled to be re-appointed during that meeting, but nearly weren't when they got into a heated argument with Town Administrator James Kern and Fire Chief Peter Burke. Among other issues, officials debated the importance of the C.E.R.T. (Citizen Emergency Response Training) program, which would have EMA members teaching the public simple safety measures like CPR. They also argued over the town's current emergency management plan. Mr. Martineau accused the fire chief of not providing him with a current copy of the plan. Chief Burke adamantly refuted that statement, saying not only had he provided the plant to Mr. Martineau, but that it had been Mr. Martineau's responsibility to update the plan since 2003.

Fresh start fails

The selectmen re-appointed the men as a gesture of good faith, saying they hoped Mr. Martineau could redirect his energy into finding funding for the agency. However, according to Mr. Martineau, that re-appointment ended up all for not.

"We were thankful for it," said Mr. Martineau.

"We just feel there's too much resistance. The feelings are too deep and too hard," he said.

Upon receiving notice of the group's resignation Mr. Prete had a slightly different reaction.

"EMA seemed to be reluctant to accept their role supporting police and fire," he said.

In the meantime Mr. Prete said the town's lack of EMA shouldn't be of too much concern for the average citizen. The likeliness that the town would fall victim to a terrorist attack or other major disaster is relatively small. He was confident that most incidents the town was likely to see could be handled by either police or fire departments.

In the future he said the board may look to merge EMA with the town's fire department. Many small town EMAs in Massachusetts are run like this, he said.

BY CHARLOTTE O'DONNELL

codonnell@eastbaynewspapers.com