GREENWOOD TWP— In a surprise decision at the end of their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, the Greenwood Town Board voted 3-2 to dismiss Fire Chief David Fazio and Assistant Chief Mike Indihar.
“I am just going to put this out there,” said Board Chair Sue Drobac, when the board reached the item titled “Fire Department Management” on the agenda. She motioned to dismiss the two top officers, effective Sept. 14, for “not performing their administrative duties.”
The motion clearly came as a surprise to some of the board members. Supervisor Paul Skubic asked for her reasoning and wondered why she wasn’t following the steps in the township’s discipline policy.
“Things that have been ongoing,” Drobac said. “Job description requirements that have not been kept up. There are too many things, and they are at-will employees.”
The town board, especially since the last March’s township election, has clashed with fire department officials over numerous issues. The board reversed previous town board motions that allowed the department to bar the public— including members of the town board— from their department meetings. The previous board had also rescinded a previous requirement to audio record fire department meetings, actually imposing a ban on audio recording after a recording revealed that department officials were improperly engaging in local political matters.
“I have read their job descriptions,” piped up Supervisor Rick Stoehr. “I’ve read what they are supposed to do. And one of the steps in the discipline policy is the right to termination.” Stoehr added that it depends on what the circumstances dictate.
“I was at a fire department meeting when all hell broke loose,” Stoehr said, “simply by my suggesting we look at someone else to do the physicals. They are supposed to be recording their minutes, they’ve been told that and told that. These are public meetings, and these are public records.”
Supervisor Mike Ralston said the board was stepping out of bounds for discussing this at a public [open] meeting, but Drobac said she had consulted township attorney Mitch Brunfelt, who told her since they were at-will employees, concerns could be discussed at the regular meeting.
This agenda item came after a lengthy discussion on other fire department issues, including a requirement that the board review and approve the awarding of fire department pension service credits, to make sure members were meeting the minimum annual requirements. They had also noted problems with regular maintenance of the fire department’s vehicles and equipment. Fazio told the board there was not a regular process for doing truck maintenance.
The department’s main engine would not start at a recent fire department training, due to a plugged fuel filter.
“Luckily that was found during a training,” said Supervisor Barb Lofquist.
The department has also failed to maintain truck and boat maintenance logs, as required by the board.
Fazio said he didn’t know how regular truck maintenance could be accomplished.
“Are we going to pay our members to bring them in,” he asked. “I am not sure who you are going to get to do it.”
Stoehr said the department should be able to be responsible for basic maintenance and truck checks. Fazio did not agree.
“These are firefighters for the community,” Fazio said. “They are not maintenance people.”
Stoehr said department members are the ones operating the equipment and should know how to best take care of it.
“Do you have any idea how long that fuel filter was in there?” he asked.
Indihar said the filters had been recently changed, and he guessed that something was wrong with the gas in the truck.
“It would have been disastrous if that truck that needed a new fuel filter was needed at a fire and got stuck on its way to a fire,” said Drobac.
Fire Department Training Officer Rick Worringer, who was also at the meeting, told the board if they were dismissing the chief and assistant chief, he wanted to be added to that list, and Drobac amended her motion to include Worringer.
Drobac noted that the three were not being dismissed as fire department members, just as department officers.
The vote to dismiss the three passed 3-2, with Drobac, Lofquist, and Stoehr voting in favor, and Skubic and Ralston voting against.
“The attack on the fire department is totally unwarranted,” Ralston said. “I want that on the record.”
“It’s a real travesty,” said Skubic. “We are losing good quality people. I bet there will be more that are going to go, too.”
Stoehr, after the meeting, said the decision to vote for the dismissal was a very difficult and uncomfortable one to have to make, but his vote was based on concerns about the department leadership’s behavior, concerns for the health and safety of fire department members, and failure to follow town board directives.
The township will be advertising for new fire department officials.