Dozens of unhappy firefighters converge on Belleville City Council meeting
About 40 Belleville firefighters and a few retired firefighters and family members packed the Belleville City Council meeting on Tuesday night in an unusual show of force.
They declined to give a reason for their presence on the record and made no public statements.
Several firefighters, who declined to give their names, acknowledged that they were unhappy with the selection process for the proposed appointment of Timothy Walsh as the city’s new deputy fire chief.
Some of the firefighters directed questions to John Eachus, union president for the local.
“I have no comment,” he said. “Talk to the aldermen.”
Minutes earlier, Mayor Patty Gregory had called the City Council meeting to order and announced that aldermen would not be voting on her appointment of Walsh as deputy fire chief.
“We are removing Motion 7-E from the agenda tonight so we can evaluate it further,” she said.
Then the City Council made the rare move of going directly into executive session to discuss the “appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees.”
The session was closed to everyone except the mayor, 16 aldermen, City Clerk Jenny Meyer, City Attorney Garrett Hoerner, Fire Chief LLoyd Stinson and Director of Human Resources Bill Clay.
Firefighters gathered in the City Hall lobby during the closed session, which lasted an hour and a half, delaying the regular City Council meeting from about 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Many wore red T-shirts identifying themselves as members of Belleville Professional Firefighters Local 53 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Walsh is the fire chief at Scott Air Force Base, an enlisted position, according to his LinkedIn page.
Gregory named Stinson as Belleville fire chief in November. That represented a departure from the city tradition of appointing someone from within the fire department to lead it.
Stinson previously spent 30 years as a firefighter and fire chief in the U.S. Air Force.
On Tuesday night, a reporter asked Stinson why so many firefighters had shown up for the City Council meeting. He replied, “I don’t know. This is the second meeting they’ve come to.”
Several firefighters had attended the City Council meeting on June 5, when four firefighters were promoted.
The Belleville Fire Department has about 60 union firefighters. They are led by the fire chief, deputy fire chief and assistant fire chief.
The vast majority of union firefighters attended the City Council meeting on Tuesday night, not including 13 who were working the evening shift and a few gone on vacation, according to one firefighter.
“We’re united,” he said.
This story was originally published June 21, 2023 at 10:07 AM.
