Top fire officials in O’Fallon, Mo., placed on paid administrative leave
By Susan Weich, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The action against Chief
"We are discussing with them the terms and conditions under which they might part ways with the district," said district attorney
Chief
Five of the 10 officials who were targeted answered the board's request with a lawsuit in early December that asked a judge to ensure they'd get severance pay if they were fired in a cost-cutting move.
Two of the three reductions were met -- one of the spots in the fire prevention bureau was reduced through attrition, and Chief Administrative Officer
That left one position to eliminate, Bruntrager said, and the board recently decided on Sanders'.
Ballmann is being asked to leave because of "a decision to go in a different direction," Bruntrager said. The chief's position would be refilled.
The two officials have until
Ballmann, who has been the fire chief for 14 years and with the district since 1973, said he was disappointed that his career was ending this way. He has been on light duty since falling on the ice behind the fire station in January and breaking his arm.
He said ever since the buyout offer, the board has been chipping away at policies designed to protect administrators, items like firing for just cause and reducing the workforce based on seniority.
"They say they want to go in a different direction, which I find kind of odd because we're the first accredited department in the state of
In addition, the district passed a
"Those all seems like positive directions to me," he said.
Instead, Ballmann said his and Sanders' terminations were driven by the firefighter's union, Local 2557, in an effort to get officials more favorable to their agenda.
"The fire service in our county has gotten to where they're more concerned about the people working for them than the people they're protecting, and that's the wrong balance to have," he said.
"It appears now that this board is racheting up the dispute even more by going forward and doing what they did last night," he said.
He said the employments contracts -- which the board terminated
"Unfortunately this is exactly what the prior board anticipated might happen if and when a board that was more friendly to the firefighter's union came into power," he said.
Bruntrager described the situation as a difficult one that the board wanted to avoid.
"We tried to do this on a volunteer basis, and we hoped someone would take us up on it," he said. "This is an effort to make sure the district is a good steward of taxpayer money."
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