Dave Thompson
11:45 A.M. UPDATE
The fire chief for Columbus Township Fire & Rescue has been suspended for one week with pay, as well as issued a formal reprimand.
By a vote of 2-1, the advisory board for Columbus Township Trustee Ben Jackson voted Wednesday evening in favor of disciplinary actions against Fire Chief Dave Thompson. The board determined Thompson had violated the township’s Emergency Services Division’s personnel policy regarding employer responsibilities and employee conduct, Jackson said.
The policy states in part that “township employees will deal with the public and co-workers in a professional and courteous manner – whether it is personal, on the telephone or official correspondence,” Jackson said.
Advisory board members Doug Hollenbeck and Lloyd Miller voted in favor of the disciplinary actions while Michael Shireman voted against them.
Jackson
According to township officials, early on Thursday, Sept. 21, Thompson was demonstrating the way in which a Columbus Fire Department officer was talking critically about one or more township firefighters, Jackson said.
“While pointing to a Columbus Township firefighter with his bunker gear suspenders down and using that as an example of a safety violation, you held the arm of a Columbus Township firefighter (by grabbing his) shirt,” Jackson told Thompson.
Two other actions occurred that same day that were cited in the reprimand:
- The fire chief was abusive to a firefighter in his tone, demeanor and profanity while reprimanding him for using a leather chin strap.
- Thompson was verbally abusive to both the outgoing and incoming shifts at the fire department in his tone, demeanor and profanity.
“This conduct can never happen again,” Jackson told Thompson. “The membership and professional staff at Columbus Township Fire & Rescue look to you as an example. You would never allow this conduct from any of your officers or firefighters, and the township trustee cannot allow it from you.”
Thompson was ordered to “privately, sincerely and properly apologize to the firefighter whose arm he held, as well as the firefighter to whom he was verbally abusive,” Jackson said. The chief was also ordered to separately apologize to the two shifts, and to email the department’s entire professional staff.
Finally, the fire chief was ordered to turn in his truck and gear to Jackson the next morning, and to begin working on what needs to be repaired in terms of damage done to both the township and fire department.
After the public hearing concluded, Jackson said Thompson has made great contributions to Columbus Township Fire and Rescue. The trustee also said he was unaware of any other time when the fire chief behaved in such a manner.
Several firefighters and staff members who work for Columbus Fire & Rescue attended the public meeting. When Jackson acknowledged their presence, one staff member replied that “we stand with our chief.”
Thompson got his start in 1996 when he joined the Elizabethtown Volunteer Fire Department, eventually advancing to fire chief. Columbus Township Fire & Rescue hired him chiefly as a mechanic in 2010. Thompson, a former deputy coroner and Elizabethtown town board member, became a trained emergency medical technician and arson investigator.
Just one year after being promoted to captain, Thompson was appointed by Jackson in April 2016 to succeed Rodney Ferrenburg as chief of Columbus Township Fire & Rescue.
ORIGINAL STORY
COLUMBUS, Ind. — By a vote of 2-1, the Columbus Township advisory board voted Wednesday to suspend Columbus Township Fire & Rescue Chief Dave Thompson for one week with pay.
The board also voted to issue a formal reprimand to Thompson for his behavior on Thursday, June 21. On that day, Thompson was accused of violating Columbus Township’s Emergency Services Division’s personnel policy regarding employer responsibilities and employee conduct, Jackson said.
Thompson was apparently angered after an officer with another fire department criticized the way one of Thompson’s men was dressed to a group of men from the other fire department, according to Columbus Township Trustee Ben Jackson said.
During that morning, Thompson reportedly held the shirtsleeve worn by a Columbus Township firefighter’s shirt. Jackson said he was also abusive to a firefighter in his tone, demeanor and profanity while reprimanding him for using a leather chin strap. Later that morning, he was verbally abusive to both the outgoing and incoming shift in his tone, demeanor and profanity, the trustee said.
This story will be updated.
