Chesterburgh’s fire department clocks its fastest 911 response times in three years, but the celebration is far from unanimous. On April 12, 2024, the department averaged 4 minutes and 17 seconds in arriving at emergency scenes. That’s 34 seconds quicker than last year’s average, according to records obtained from the Chesterburgh Fire Chief’s office. The improvement comes as the city wrapped up its controversial $1.2 million equipment upgrade project funded in the latest budget cycle, just as the township hustled through a byzantine approval process that raised plenty of eyebrows.

The equipment overhaul included new radios, GPS tracking, and enhanced turnout gear designed to shave precious seconds during dispatch and arrival. Fire Chief Ramon Delgado, whose department shoulders 1,352 emergency calls annually, explains that dropping the response time under five minutes had been a priority for some time. “We’re not just trading speed for safety,” Delgado said on the record at 3:14 p.m. on April 15. “Everybody’s firefighter gear is new and tested, communications are tighter, and the men and women out there – they’re motivated.”

Yet, this milestone coincides with renewed suspicion in City Hall and among some residents about where exactly the equipment dollars went. The press office’s initial breakdown of costs showed $350,000 allocated to radio systems, $500,000 on protective gear, and about $300,000 for fleet tracking upgrades. But an April 17 follow-up reveals $120,000 spent on “consulting services,” which the city’s procurement records fail to clearly define. The company contracted, ClearPath Solutions LLC, is registered to a small office a few miles outside Chesterburgh, but the contract’s statements of work were redacted entirely in the documents released.

I sat through two hours of the City Council’s budget meeting on April 10. When Alderman Grace Yamada asked directly about the consulting contract, City Manager Harold Briggs got terse. “The details are proprietary,” Briggs said, as he flipped through a folder thick with financials. “Beyond what’s publicly reported, no further breakdown will be available.” Yamada pressed further, but the item passed unanimously. It’s a pattern that’s becoming routine around here—just enough detail to keep the public barely in the loop.

That line of suspicion isn’t just confined to City Hall’s four walls. Members of the volunteer firefighters union, who make up a vital part of the department, claim they were left out of the training programs and equipment trials. “We showed up after the fact to gear pickups like we were outsiders,” said Vincent Marshall, a volunteer firefighter with 18 years logged. “That consulting firm? No one’s ever heard of them or seen them. You’d think for $120k, we’d have met the folks handling our safety measures.”

Not all is strained tension, however. The improved capacity does show in operational data. Last Sunday’s three-alarm garage fire on East Main Avenue—the city’s worst fire since 2021’s warehouse blaze—saw units on the scene in just under four minutes. Firefighter crews contained the flames well under an hour, minimizing structural loss significantly. That event alone likely saved the property’s insurer tens of thousands and prevented spillover into adjacent residential blocks, according to an expert analysis I obtained from third-party fire safety consultant Rose Medina.

Medina, who reviewed tapes and response logs provided by the department, remarked in a brief phone interview: “The investment clearly shows dividends in real-time fire suppression and containment. The time reductions on this call reflect organized dispatch and seamless coordination.” She also noted that the department’s radio silence problem—those dreaded dropped calls during multi-unit emergencies—has been nearly eliminated by the new system.

Still, the questions about expenditure transparency hang thick in the air. Previous b