TONTITOWN (KFSM)- Tontitown Fire Chief Lance Secor is resigning, he said in a letter to the mayor on Tuesday (Feb. 3).
Secor’s resignation becomes effect in two weeks, but during that time he will take accumulated vacation time, he said in the letter.
The City Council is expected to accept Secor’s resignation at a meeting on Tuesday night, said one elected official familiar with the issue. The council also is expected to vote whether to disband the city fire department and instead grant a $175,000 annual contract to the Tontitown Area Fire Department. The area fire department provides volunteer services but, under the contract, would also be expected to provide full-time staffing around the clock. Under the contract, the volunteer area fire department would use the equipment that the city fire department now uses, the city official said.
Secor, who has been on the job since December, was paid about $54,000 a year.
In his resignation letter, he said Mayor Paul Colvin and the City Council “have done nothing to learn about the Tontitown City Fire Department and our capabilities or the amount of knowledge and training that we have.”
“Mayor Colvin, you and the current City Council members have been underhanded in your quest to get rid of the city of Tontitown fire department,” the letter states.
While addressed to Colvin, the letter also was emailed to the members of the City Council.
“After seeing the actions of the current City Council members, watching you and your group of followers stop at nothing to destroy the Tontitown City Fire Department and bring back the Tontitown Area Fire Department, that yourself and several City Council members are directly a part of, I feel it is in the best interest of myself to resign my position as fire chief,” the letter states.
This resignation comes after the city has also been through changes recently in the top spot at the police department.
To read Secor’s letter, click here.
