TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Mescal-J6 Fire District’s fire chief resigned during a special meeting last month. On Wednesday, the district’s board held a special meeting to talk about the possibility of partnering with the Sunsites-Pearce Fire District to share their chief as the interim-chief.
“I have another opportunity awaiting me and I hereby tender my resignation,” Chief John Moran said during the special board meeting. “The level of aggravation that I’ve been dealing with with my board and I over the past three months has become intolerable.”
KGUN 9’s Andrew Christiansen reached out to Moran for comment, but he did not answer the request.
The Mescal community has been very supportive of him on Facebook and at the meeting on Wednesday.
Bruce Andrews was in attendance at the meeting and used to be on the governing board about six years ago.
“I believe in John. I think he’s the chief this community needs,” Andrews said.
Keith Rogers lives in Mescal and was also in attendance at the meeting. He said Chief Moran is a helpful asset to the community.
“He’s dealt with multiple boards, governing boards, different personalities, different perspectives,” Rogers said.
The district’s board was supposed to talk about filling Moran's position at their meeting on Wednesday, but they voted to wait until later this month to talk about the fire chief opening and do a work session to put together a job description for the interim fire chief.
Mescal-J6 Fire District’s board is considering using Sunsites-Pearce Fire District Chief Levi Garner to serve as interim chief.
“If nobody internally wants to do that, I said, 'Hey, let me talk to my board. We could provide an intergovernmental agreement,'” Garner said during the meeting.
Leigha Woolums lives in Mescal and said she has known Garner her whole life. She said he and his district would be helpful to Mescal-J6.
“Levi would be a great asset, even just in a helping capacity, even if it wasn’t just as our fire chief,” Woolums said.
During discussions about Garner's possible new role, board member Deborah Wise made a move for another special meeting to discuss that and to approve a job description for the vacant fire chief.
The board did not approve her motion while she was present, and she, along with board member Dana Law, walked out of the meeting followed by a few members of the audience.
In the end, the three remaining board members approved a similar motion to do a work session about it.
“We ended up at exactly what we were wanting," Andrews said. "Hold up, don’t rush."
Board member JoAnne Ellsworth said the chief’s last day is in about a week. KGUN 9’s Andrew Christiansen asked three of the board members whether they would be willing to talk with him about the situation and they all said the district’s policy doesn’t let them unless they get permission from the chief.
“My hope would be that people can move into the middle on both sides and work together,” Woolums said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
