Wareham Fire District dealing with complaints, controversy

The Wareham Fire District is facing multiple ongoing controversies, including union grievances and harassment complaints that appear to be directed at Chief John Kelley

Members of the elected Prudential Committee that oversees the fire district — as well as others familiar with the controversies — are generally unwilling to talk about the situation on the record.

What is known is that, in the last year, the committee has addressed multiple union grievances and spent thousands of dollars on legal counsel in connection with complaints filed by employees.

In October 2024, tensions rose over Kelley’s failure to remove himself from involvement in a promotion examination that his son, Matthew Kelley, and other applicants were scheduled to take that month.

According to Prudential Committee Chair George Barrett, Kelley requested to keep a flash drive containing the test questions in his office, sparking conflict-of-interest concerns.

As of today the test has not been administered. It is not clear whether there is a connection between that controversy, the union grievances and the harassment complaints.

Barrett said he could not comment when asked if the union grievances or employee complaints were filed against the chief.

The district's legal bills show payments of more than $20,000 to an outside legal firm for work on harassment complaints and union grievances.

Wareham Week filed a public records request for copies of the complaints, which the outside legal firm, Norris, Murray and Peloquin of Norwood agreed to provide. As of this writing, the firm was still in the process of preparing the materials.

When Wareham Week on Jan. 10 sought comment on the controversies from Prudential Committee members and Kelley, they referred the requests to attorney Leo Peloquin.

“If you are seeking any information even remotely related to the information you are seeking in your public records request, you need to contact me with the request,” Peloquin wrote in an email message. “I represent the district in the matter.”

In October, the Prudential Committee approved a nearly $40,000 payment for a “human resources investigation.” Michael Gardner, a former director of personnel and labor relations for Cambridge, conducted the investigation.

It is unclear whether the investigation was connected to any of the filed complaints. However, Gardner is mentioned in the legal bills concerning the complaints and grievances.

The Wareham Fire District provides fire protection to a large portion of the Town of Wareham, and supplies water to much of that same area. The Onset Fire District covers the remaining part of town.

Although working cooperatively with the town on many matters, neither district is part of the town government. Each is a quasi-municipal government, with its own elected officials, bylaws and taxing authority.

Kelley joined the Wareham Fire Department as a recruit in 1995 and has spent his entire firefighting career with the department, succeeding former Chief Matt Rowley in 2022.

It was learned at the Jan. 9 Prudential Committee meeting that Kelley recently sustained an injury during a mutual aid response assisting a neighboring fire department.

At that meeting, Assistant Chief Patrick Haskell was named as acting chief, assuming the chief’s duties, while Kelley recovers from his injury.