NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — More than a dozen friends and family of North College Hill firefighters walked out of a public meeting Monday after City Attorney Bill Deters criticized much of the department for submitting their resignations.
The budget and finance meeting had nothing to do with the mass resignation, but council members, Mayor Tracie Nichols, City Administrator Jennifer Ekey and City Attorney Bill Deters took a moment before the meeting to go around the room and share their thoughts on the mass resignation after roughly three dozen people came to the meeting to hear from the city.
All of the council and the mayor expressed their support for firefighters in general but said they couldn't speak to specifics about the issues within the department.
Deters, on the other hand, took his statements a step forward, leading to most of the crowd marching out in protest.
"Firefighters resigning was absolutely not the right response in my opinion," Deters said. "They let you in this community down by doing so."
Fire Chief Brian Fels, who was placed on administrative leave after submitting his resignation, had his mother, Judy Fels, in the crowd. She was one of the people who stormed out in response to Deters' words.
Judy Fels said she had come to the meeting to meet city officials.
“There’s a certain person that I really wanted to meet and shake his hand. Let him know who I was. That’s the one who just spoke,” she said.
Others who came to the meeting wanted their concerns addressed even though they knew there wasn't any public comment at the committee meetings.
#NOW: People are filing into a meeting that has nothing to do with the fire department with the expectation of hearing SOMETHING directly from city officials.Just listing to the murmur I’ve heard “more secrecy” and “more questions” about the way this has been handled.@WCPO https://t.co/HP19KyYgBe pic.twitter.com/p9NNqXCVLA
— Sean DeLancey (@SeanDeLanceyTV) March 11, 2024
“As a citizen of North College Hill, I’m here to tell them people love their firefighters,” said Fred Backman. “They don’t love city administrators.”
Former NCH firefighter Tony Poll said he worried about potential delays in service if the town relies on mutual aid agreements for a significant amount of their calls.
“Scares the hell out of you, pardon my language, but who’s going to show up at my house if there’s a fire or an EMS run,” Poll said.
The Fire Chiefs' Association said the situation in North College Hill involving mutual aid will be discussed by the executive board, but declined further comment.
Before the meetings began, Administrator Ekey laid blame at the fire department's feet as well.
“We believe the fire department has been misrepresenting the situation and manipulated the facts,” she said.
Ekey categorically denied the city had "stolen" money from the fire department saying an EMS fund was required to be moved to the general fund by law, and could have been moved back into an individual account with proper legislation.
PREVIOUS: 75% of North College Hill Fire Department resigns
Fire levy funds were paying for full-time positions and part-time firefighters were funded by the general fund, she said.
The fire department budget has stayed the same. All levy money is used for its intended purpose and has not been transferred or used for any other purpose," Ekey said.
Instead of a fiscal issue, Ekey pointed to recent changes to payroll and HR practices at the city as causes of strife with the department.
She said the changes were standard across the city and developed to satisfy the requirements of the city's audits.
“I understand change is difficult. However, the public should realize that all other city departments, despite some grumblings, complied with the required changes,” she said.
Most of the public at the committee meetings pledged to attend this coming Monday's full council meeting where they would be able to address the council publicly.
Ekey said the city plans to have their strategy to move forward ready by the end of the week, and Nichols said she had been having one-on-one conversations with the firefighters who submitted resignations about coming back to work for the department.
