Fire chief will discuss staying

The chief will meet with the trustees in the next few weeks.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- The township's fire chief says he will rethink his resignation.
Fire Chief Richard Brannon said Thursday that, after speaking with Trustee Mark Finamore, he has decided to wait until he speaks with trustees before resigning.
Brannon resigned earlier this week after he was suspended for two days because of an argument with Eddie Thomas, Giant Eagle LPGA Classic executive director.
"Mark called me [Thursday] afternoon, and we had a very pleasant conversation," Brannon said. "He told me to wait and meet with trustees and discuss this matter before resigning. I agreed."
Brannon said an exact date has not been scheduled for the meeting.
"It will be sometime in the next few weeks, but Mark said as far as he was concerned I am still the chief," Brannon said.
Trustee Glen Wireman has said he didn't believe the chief should resign. Wireman said the chief does "an outstanding" job and didn't do anything wrong.
Thomas' complaint
Finamore said he suspended Brannon because last Friday afternoon he received a telephone call from Thomas saying that the fire chief threatened to shut down the tournament if minor code violations were not fixed.
Finamore said he was unable to reach Brannon or Wireman, so he called Trustee Jeffrey Dreves, and the decision was made to suspend Brannon for the duration of the tournament.
Dreves could not be reached.
Brannon said he spoke only about two sentences to Thomas and never made any threats. He said a fire hydrant was blocked by Ford show cars and generators needed to be grounded.
Brannon said he never even thought of shutting the tournament down.
"I wouldn't think of doing that on my own," Brannon said. "If I were to do something like that, I would have had to have the state fire marshal's office next to me and all the trustees behind me."
sinkovich@vindy.com