The Central Coventry, R.I., Fire District appears headed for bankruptcy court amid an apparent impasse between state officials and the local union over cost concessions.
The state took control of the independent fire district six months ago.
Robert Flanders, the receiver in the Central Falls bankruptcy case, confirmed Friday that state Director of Administration Steven Hartford named him as receiver. Flanders, a partner at Providence firm Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP and a retired state Supreme Court justice, expects to file bankruptcy paperwork in about two weeks.
Central Falls, which filed under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code in August 2011 and exited 13 months later, restructured its labor contracts and cut police and fire retiree benefits by up to 55%.
A message seeking comment was left with Hartford. Coventry sits 18 miles southwest of capital city Providence.
Hartford told the Providence Journal that the fire district, which is $3 million in debt, owes money to Blue Cross & Blue Shield, the state municipal retirement fund, National Grid, the local water authority, and a raft of smaller creditors.
According to the newspaper, Hartford and David Gorman, president of the district's firefighters union, agreed that current staffing levels at both firehouses and responding fire trucks - which contracts now stipulate -- were the primary contention points.
