Call firefighters in Oak Bluffs spoke out last week following a recent informational picket by members of International Association of Fire Fighters.

“Anytime the call rings in, we’re up to serve the public, save lives and property,” said Will deBettencourt, a volunteer firefighter who attended the selectmen’s meeting. “It’s unfortunate that some material and information was passed out that was misleading to many members of our community. We respond to fires, we go into burning buildings, and do as much as we possibly can to save lives and property. It’s what we’ve done for years.”

Call firefighters are not part of the union organized last fall among salaried medics and firefighters. After the union formed, selectmen voted to remove firefighting duties from medics. That issue and others are the subject of three separate union complaints now before the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations.

Hearings are set to begin in August.

Union members staged an informational picket in town earlier in the month.

Selectman Michael Santoro said he supports the union but he criticized the picket.

“The way they went about it was disgraceful, to go to our senior center and tell the seniors they were in danger, this community was in danger, was a travesty,” Mr. Santoro said.

In other business last week, selectmen appointed Raphael Magri as an inspector in the building department. Formerly an Island contractor, Mr. Magri is expected to train and acquire certification to become the town’s building inspector over the next year. The town has struggled to find a permanent building inspector.

In a report, town administrator Bob Whritenour said preliminary accounting shows a small budget overrun for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

“It looks like at the end of the year, we’re going to close with about $136,000 over appropriation,” Mr. Whritenour said. “It underscores just how tight expenditure budgets are.”

He said end-of-year overruns were partially offset by an increase in receipts from fees collected by the town such as business license fees and slip rentals in the harbor.