By Deborah Guziak
Record-Courier staff writer
ATWATER " Fire Chief Lynn Whittlesey has been suspended and a probable cause hearing to remove him will be held Feb. 4, trustees said Monday.
Volunteer firefighters will not be allowed to work until the department is in compliance with the township's insurance needs, trustees said.
At a special meeting Monday, trustees agreed to have members of the Randolph Fire Department fulfill the station's needs, and Randolph Fire Chief Mike Lang will serve as interim fire chief in Atwater until a new one is selected, Trustee Dan Derreberry said.
Derreberry, who is the trustees' liaison with the fire department, said Whittlesey has not complied with their requests for information, such as a roster of members of the volunteer department or basic information for township insurance purposes. The needed information incluces firefighters names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and a fire certificate.
"Why do you need my Social Security number?" one firefighter demanded. "You've got my driver's license number!"
After the meeting, Derreberry said he tried to work with Whittlesey to get the department and the trustees working as a team, but it didn't work.
"We asked for three months for a roster, and when we finally got one, it was two or three years old," Derreberry said. "If someone were to ask how many people we have on the department, I couldn't tell you because we don't have a roster."
A person answering the phone at Whittlesey's home after the meeting refused to call Whittlesey to the phone for comment.
Trustee Jim Conley said the locks at the station will be changed today, and Derreberry called the dispatching ceenter to inform them of the changes.
Lang, who volunteered to get the department in order, will bring six to eight firefighters/EMTs from the Randolph department.
"We have 30 people on staff," said his son, Mike Jr., who attended Monday's meeting with two other Randolph firefighters and Randolph Trustees Roger Klodt and Gary Horning.
Derreberry said the station will be staffed 24 hous per day and seven days per week by Randolph firefighters. The department also has mutual aid agreements with neighboring Deerfield and Edinburg.
About 50 people attended the meeting " about half of them firefighters. Members of the sheriff's department also attended the meeting.
"I hated to do this," Derreberry said. "But when I was running for trustee, I made a promise to the people to move the township forward."