GREENWOOD TWP- After the second of two lengthy closed sessions, stretching over seven hours on Feb. 7 and 18, the Greenwood Town Board voted 3-2 to fire Chief Jeff Maus from the fire department. He is no longer chief, a firefighter, or first responder.
Maus still has an open complaint with the Minnesota OSHA office against the township relating to previous retaliation after he reported the fire department for safety issues. The town board made an offer to Maus in the fall to settle the complaint for $5,000, but Maus refused since the offer also would have required him to leave the department. Maus is one of the longest-serving members of the current department and is also a trained Emergency Medical Responder, and has taken advanced training in fire skills and department leadership. He was appointed as interim chief when the former town board fired the previous chief Dave Fazio and assistant chief Mike Indihar, and then was hired by the board as chief. He had worked to recruit new fire fighters to the department after the majority of members left after the Fazio and Indihar firings. He also implemented significantly more training time for department members. He recruited more EMRs and also worked to get the EMRs more advanced training.
The vote went along the predictable divide, with chair Lois Roskoski and supervisors Craig Gilbert and Paul Skubic voting in favor, and John Bassing and Rick Stoehr voting against.
The firing came after a lengthy complaint was filed against Maus by members of the Tower Ambulance Service, which the township forwarded to an outside attorney who conducted an investigation on the allegations. Maus has said he was able to refute most of the allegations in the complaint.
The Timberjay will have more reporting on this issue in upcoming papers.