CRESTLINE—Three firefighters were terminated from the Crestline Fire Department by the village administration during a special council meeting held Monday evening.
“At last night’s council meeting, the three employees were able to plead their case against termination. Each chose to do so through their representative Henry Arnett, an attorney from Columbus who represents the IAFF Union,” said Crestline Village Administrator John Rostash.
The three firefighters include Kyler Dille, Tyler Furry and Christopher East after they made offensive videos and posted them on social media during work hours while the fire department was on lockdown by Fire Chief Steve Krock due to one firefighter being exposed to COVID-19 in early spring.
According to Rostash, the three were playing video games while using vulgar language and negatively discussing the village and the medical condition of the chief in March and April of this year. Hearings for each of the men were held last week but none pleaded their case during the council meeting.
Mayor Linda Horning Pitt, after reviewing all records and listening to all sides of the issue, agreed with Krock’s recommendation to terminate the employment of the three firefighters and presented the proposed terminations to council for approval.
After council members met in an executive session and listened to the recordings that were video-taped but with no distinguishable video, just audio, the council voted to terminate.
In letters to the three firefighters notifying them of their terminations, Horning Pitt cited the violations as willfully demeaning, verbally abusive and neglectful of duty.
Rostash said the three firefighters violated several village policies that are clearly written in the personnel policy and procedure manual for all village employees to adhere by, including distributing offensive or harassing statements to disparage others based on a disability, using the Internet to conduct non-work related time loss activities and posting video or audio files on the Internet during work hours without prior approval. He said they also violated a policy against posting on social media sites without using professionalism and appropriate conduct.
“They used the f-word over 80 times in these videos and said disgusting remarks about Crestline and the chief,” said Rostash in a phone call with Crawford County Now on Tuesday. “We have all worked very hard over the past two and a half years to make Crestline a better place for residents to reside here and for visitors to come. We cannot tolerate this kind of behavior from village employees.”