7 members of Logan Co. fire department resign amid dispute with village officials

LAKEVIEW, Logan County — In one week, seven members of the Lakeview Fire Department resigned, and now only eight remain.

Lakeview is one of the many Logan County communities still working to recover from the EF-3 tornado that touched down on March 14.

>>RELATED: 133 structures destroyed, hundreds damaged in deadly Logan County tornado

On Sunday, dozens of community members went to the fire department seeking an explanation from Mayor Elaine Fagan-Moore.

“I just want her side of things like, I just, we have not heard from her at all. So I would really like to hear what she has to say on everything that’s going on,” Lakeview resident Kayla Henson said.

Residents heard the village was going to hold a press conference to address the continuous resignations.

News Center 7 reached out to the village’s attorney to clarify, but she said there was no press conference, instead there was an administrative staff meeting and it was not open to the public, or media.

“The people of Lakeview have a lot of questions that she’s not answering right now,” Henson said.

>>RELATED: Gov. DeWine visits Logan County nearly 3 weeks after deadly EF-3 Tornado

“I don’t feel very safe, because I mean, we live close by the fire station and anything can happen,” Lakeview resident Anthony Hunter said.

Community members took it upon themselves to wait outside the meeting, ready to ask questions.

Lakeview firefighter Chad Kean was the seventh member of the department to resign this week.

He told News Center 7 he was inside the staff meeting, but was asked to leave.

“I don’t handle conflict very well. I try to avoid it at all cost but when you’re being micromanaged from what I’m getting, we can’t do our job,” Kean said.

When the meeting was over, News Center 7 tried to talk to the mayor about the recent resignations, but she chose not to comment.

After serving as Lakeview Fire Chief for 35 years, Norman Spring resigned on April 15.

“Until this day, I’d never had an issue...In four months, she’s destroyed what I built in 40 years,” Spring said.

>>RELATED: Tornado measuring 10 football fields traveled across Logan Co., NWS says

He said he never imagined things would get to this point, but he had a message for the remaining members of the department.

“Don’t ever leave on my account. My name speaks for myself, in this facility,” Spring said.

Spring said it was a tough decision to leave and it has been weighing on him all week.

“I get my spells where I’m very depressed because of all this crap,” Spring said.

The community members who were waiting for an explanation said they will form a representative group to ask formal questions at the next village council meeting, which will take place on May 6.

We will continue to follow this story.

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