The last few weeks have been busy for the Wareham Fire Department.  They fought a six-alarm fire that leveled a warehouse at the former Ocean Spray factory on Cranberry Highway.  Record amounts of rainfall flooded basements and nearly breached a dam later in that week.  The District's annual meeting was Monday night.

And then paychecks bounced.

"It was a comedy of errors," Clerk and Treasurer Marybeth Fernandes said, explaining that the transaction transferring the money from the District's regular to payroll account at the bank didn't go through for some reason.

"It just didn't go through, and I didn't realize it, and the bank didn't realize it," Fernandes said.  "They're supposed to be the safeguard!" Plus, she pointed out that the money was there - it was just not moved to the right account, a process that is usually confirmed by the bank.

It's unclear how many people were affected, or how much the District would have to pay for overdraft fines or bank fees.

"I know I'm getting a lot of flack over it but don't know how many people are actually involved," said George Barrett, the chair of the Prudential Committee which oversees the District.

Fernandes is currently checking all the area banks to confirm that direct deposit payments have all gone through and find out if anybody has had problems with insufficient funds for recurring payments.  Mayflower Bank and Plymouth County Teachers Federal Credit Union appear to have had no problems, and she said she is waiting for confirmation from other banks.

Fernandes said that everybody's paycheck is fine - the District has the money to pay everybody, including the extra personnel called for the warehouse fire.

She said she was shocked that it happened - "This has never happened before" - she said, and she has been the Clerk and Treasurer for 9 years.  But she joked that of course it would happen after the events of the last few weeks and right before an election.  Now ironing out the paychecks adds  another item to her to-do list.