Troy Interim Fire Chief Resigns, Rescinds In Same Meeting

July 25, 2024 by Allison Wilson

Tensions between the Troy Volunteer Fire Department and Troy Township Trustees came to a head July 16 when Interim Fire Chief Nick Bushek quit, then reneged his decision during the same meeting.

“I’m not being your puppet anymore. I’m done with it,” Bushek said at the beginning of the meeting, as he handed his letter of resignation to trustees. “You (Trustee and fire department liaison Sharon Simms) want to threaten me with executive session because ‘the guys (trustees Donn Breckenridge and Len Barcikoski) don’t agree with the policies’ I’ve asked for three or four times now as far as staffing hours,” he said. “I am not going to be the one that tells anyone’s family in this room about why the squad didn’t show up or why their property is burning down — anything like that.” 

Bushek provided the trustees with a copy of the Ohio Revised Code, adding he had given it to them multiple times. 

“Your last response was, ‘You do as you’re told’ and that you had not read these,” he said. 

“No, I did not say that,” Simms replied. “I said we have to go by what the attorneys told us.”

Regarding staffing hours, Barcikoski said he did not recall putting a weekly limit on them.

“I remember putting an annual limit on the hours,” he said.

“It’s 1,500 hours,” Bushek responded. “She’s (Simms) the one that put the weekly limit.”

Simms replied she did not limit weekly hours, the attorney did.

Unanswered Concerns

Bushek also criticized the department’s aging equipment and trustees’ lack of response to those concerns.

“They do not make any more parts for those two vehicles over there,” he said. “I just had to get a used motherboard that runs the whole squad and put it in there. We need to start planning. I have asked for that. I’ve gotten nothing.”

Bushek said he has also asked for a sexual harassment policy and a drug-free workplace policy. 

“Right, but you didn’t give me anything,” Simms said.

Bushek replied the trustees are supposed to give him something he can enforce, not the other way around.

While Bushek said he regrets things reached the point of resignation, having to attend meetings before regular trustees meetings to tell him what he can say is ridiculous.

“I’m not a puppet, Sharon,” he reiterated.

Simms said she recently met with Bushek, and he did not mention these issues.

Barcikoski said Bushek had previously mentioned being uncomfortable going to Simms as fire liaison.

Bushek said he brought up being uncomfortable multiple times.

Simms pulled up an email from the township’s attorney regarding the hours and read out a section of it.

“This says, ‘...keeping within the hourly amount under 30 hours a week,’” she said. 

Bushek and former Fire Chief Eric Mathews replied the hour-limit was for factory jobs, not public service. 

“These papers that I gave you say the fire department is exempt, which you said you never read,” Bushek said.

Simms protested Bushek’s accusation, but the interim chief insisted she had said she never read the papers and he had been appalled. 

Chief Search & Policy Woes

One fire department member told trustees if Bushek was resigning, so was he.

“He’s been here 20 years and he’s the interim chief,” firefighter Chris Wheeler said of Bushek. “That’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Simms said they still hadn’t been through the interview process for fire chief, which sparked an outcry from the audience. 

“It’s been 10 months,” Wheeler said. 

Trustees accepted the previous chief’s resignation in December 2023. Bushek has served as interim ever since. 

“He won’t be the only one that walks away,” Capt. Jeff Koehn said. “You’re going to lose a lot of people.”

Simms asked Breckenridge if he was agreeable to taking over as fire department liaison. 

“Don’t pull me into this,” Breckenridge said.

Firefighter Mark Lewis said trustees lacked a true understanding of what they want for the department.

“We need something in writing,” Lewis said of policies, adding trustees should be the ones developing the policies. 

“You can even ask us for our help, but we shouldn’t be developing it for you guys. You guys should be developing for us,” he said, noting he has never been in a department where its staff was in charge of developing policies solo.

The fire chief would sit down with the council, mayor or trustees, with help from an attorney, he said.

“All I want is what’s best for the township,” Breckenridge said. “I think the fire department has been — they’re not happy. … they walk out of meetings that we have here and assume a lot of things.”

Liaison Restructuring

Breckenridge suggested having two trustees sit down with the department regularly to get on the same page or to put together a liaison board.

Mathews said a board isn’t necessary, just a trustee who would come and talk to members of the department without belittling them.

“You don’t need to have a special board, you just need to have someone who truly cares about the fire department and the community and not their own personal vendetta and agenda,” he said.

Barcikoski said the job of a liaison is to listen to the department and bring their problems to the board.

Bushek replied he should be able to manage his department without constantly being told what he can and can’t say, and accused Simms once again of telling him to do as he’s told.

“You said that when I asked for a policy for how many hours we can work — because I wanted that after the fifth time that I asked you for that policy — and you said, ‘I’m not giving you a policy, you just do as you’re told,’” he recounted.

Mathews implored Breckenridge and Barcikoski to look back into hours and staffing, adding whoever had been contacted does not understand public entity work hours.

“It’s no different than a road department,” he said, noting neighboring road departments have part-time employees who work 40-hour weeks for multiple months without going over 1,500 hours.

Simms said the person she contacted is a fire service attorney. 

“If you cut the hours off of what you’re saying, so let’s just say you want him to enforce that. We have staffing issues as it is now,” said Wheeler. “What do you want him to do when the people that work a lot all of a sudden can’t now and now say the station’s only staffed 60% of the time? Or 50%?”

Simms said while she understands, the board has to follow what the attorney said.

The board broke into executive session to try and get ahold of legal counsel. The meeting reconvened having failed to do so.

Once the meeting reconvened, Breckenridge announced he and Barcikoski would be working together as fire liaisons for the rest of the year.

Chief Stays, Trustees Talk Future

Breckenridge asked Bushek if he wanted to rescind his resignation.

“Do you want me?” Bushek asked.

Breckenridge replied it was not his decision. 

“I’ll tell you this, though, Nick, I feel bad that this has happened. I feel bad that you’ve put your resignation in. I think we could’ve worked something out. I really do think we could’ve worked something out with you,” Breckenridge said, calling it a shame Bushek put his livelihood on the line.

“We are in the process, and I don’t mean a monthly process, it’s gonna happen right away, of picking a chief,” Barcikoski said. “There isn’t that much time left and whether you’re the choice or you’re not, it doesn’t involve that much time and it will be between myself and Donn that you gotta deal with.”

“I’ll rescind it, then,” Bushek replied. “But, I need some communication if I’m working with both of you.”

Simms said she would be taking over as liaison for the community house.

Breckenridge said his intention is to make the department better than it is now and he hoped firefighters would be proud to work in Troy.

Barcikoski added the pressing issues would be straightening out the staff hours and getting interviews for a permanent fire chief set.

Trustees set the date for the interviews for Aug. 1, starting at 10 a.m.

While both Bushek and all three trustees were contacted for further comment, neither party responded prior to press deadline.