Facebook Pages Associated with the Former Fire Chief and Lieutenant Closed

The personal Facebook pages of former Fire Chief Jaye Vilchock Sr. and former Lieutenant Sandra J. Vilchock have been removed. The 600+ member Facebook group “Support Nottingham Fire Chief Jaye Vilchock and Lieutenant Sandra Vilchock” has been closed. The Facebook group was a major site of activity for speculation, opinions, and information leaks. 

My guess is that these closures were in response to problems arising from the information leaks, perhaps in particular the leak about the name of the investigator, previously covered here, which resulted in the investigator closing her controversial Twitter account. On the other hand, the town’s letter to Sandra Vilchock putting her on paid administrative leave did not include among its many restrictions on speech and activities that this was something she was forbidden to discuss.

In addition to Sandra Vilchock having written to the Board of Selectmen to waive her privacy rights and to disclose documentation about the investigation that led to her firing, Jaye Vilchock has a legal right to ask for a court hearing, according to the provisions of RSA 154:5, which states: 

Such chief fireward, engineer, or fire chief shall be subject to suspension without pay or dismissal only for cause, and after he or she has been presented with a written specification of the reasons. Upon such suspension or dismissal, the chief fireward, engineer, or fire chief shall be entitled to a hearing, on the merits and reasonableness of the action, in superior court in the county in which the municipality is located, provided that the chief fireward, engineer, or fire chief petitions the clerk of the superior court for such a hearing within 45 days of suspension or dismissal. The court shall have the power to affirm, modify or negate such suspension or dismissal, based upon its findings.

It looks like there’s a good chance the town will end up in court over this. Of course, with six members of the Fire Department having presented a complaint to the Board of Selectmen, their decision may well have been in response to a dilemma regarding choosing which party it was less bad for the town to risk being sued by.