Opinions in Out on a Limb articles are those of the authors and do not represent The Sandisfield Times.

Only two weeks after being appointed as the new Fire Chief on June 17, 2025, Fire Chief Michael Grillo filed a complaint with the Select Board on July 1, 2025, questioning the Fire Department's payroll practices. In that letter, he requested "a full and independent audit of all fire department financial activity." The Select Board responded by assigning the town counsel, KP Law, to conduct an investigation. However, the KP Law report could hardly be considered independent, as it was completely one-sided.

A major focus of Grillo's complaint was a discrepancy between the Berkshire County Communications Center (BCCC) call logs and the three-hour minimum normally paid to emergency responders. In the KP Law report, "Chief Grillo informed us that Fire Department members should only be receiving pay based on time spent on calls to which a relevant Fire Department unit responded, as they appear in the BCCC Fire Department call logs only. "

The fundamental problem with this claim is that BCCC logs do not accurately reflect the actual time personnel spend responding to emergencies. Not all calls were routed through the BCCC and some went directly to the former Fire Chief at Ralph's garage. Also due to Sandisfield's terrain and spotty cell coverage, some calls never reach the BCCC at all.

In an October 21 email, a Public Safety Answering Point director at the BCCC clarified that "while call logs are beneficial in tracking incident data and apparatus responses, they are not typically used as a lone resource for personnel time tracking."

The KP Law report itself provided examples that highlight the limitations of relying solely on BCCC logs:

• July 1, 2024 - Odor of gas: The BCCC recorded the call as lasting eleven minutes. Anyone familiar with Sandisfield knows it is impossible to travel from the firehouse, handle a call, return to the firehouse, and file a report in eleven minutes. If we used Chief Grillo's logic, the emergency responder's compensation would have been $4.58.
• July 19, 2024 - Motor vehicle accident: The BCCC logged the incident at under 27 minutes - again, far too short to cover travel, response, and paperwork.
• September 19, 2024 - Medical transport: The BCCC log shows less than 21 minutes. Given that Sandisfield is roughly 15 miles from Great Barrington, Lee, or Winsted, a round trip to any of these locations takes nearly an hour. A 21-minute transport time is unrealistic.

For years, volunteer emergency responders received a standard three-hour minimum at $25 per hour, totaling $75 per call. KP Law argued that no written contractual provision for "minimum call hours" existed. However, the absence of a written document does not mean the policy did not exist.

Sandisfield was notorious for improper record storage. In the Select Board minutes of March 9, 2020, it is recorded, "Dolores (Harasyko) reviewed the condition of the town's records in the gray storage container. There is no electricity, water is seeping into the container and onto the records, the floor is rotting, and it is infested with rodent[s]." Due to the improper storage of town records, documents were contaminated with vermin and became moldy, making them unsafe to handle, and many town records were disposed of.

In the Select Board executive session minutes on October 27, Andrew Gambaccini, the attorney for Mike Morrison, reached out to Dolores Harasyko, the former town clerk and town secretary. Gambaccini reported that Dolores recalled the policy, and reported that it was in her folders and files. Dolores Harasyko was the town clerk and town secretary for 24 years. When it came to town business, she was considered the oracle. She was the go-to person for handling town business. Therefore, she could be considered an expert witness. Since there is no written record available at this time, a judge would have to determine if the testimony of Dolores Harasyko was valid.

Despite these complexities, the KP Law report admitted in its conclusion: "We did not interview Chief Morrison or other members of the Fire Department." This omission, combined with the limited sources relied upon, strongly suggests that the investigation was neither independent nor fair nor impartial.

• The KP Law investigation.
• Select Board minutes October 27, 2025.
• Email from the BCCC to Mike Morrison October 21, 2025.
• Select Board minutes March 9, 2020.