Chief and assistant chief allegedly used their positions to wage politics
Posted
Sunday,
March 7, 2021
3:51 pm
"The immediate thing I felt was that we’re all here as employees to go over fire department business. Why were they telling us who we should be voting for?””
Firefighter Jeff Maus
Marshall Helmberger
GREENWOOD TWP— The fire chief and assistant fire chief here are facing official complaints over allegations they may have violated a state law that prohibits public employees and officials from using their authority to pressure or compel others to engage in political activity.
On March 2, with a hotly contested township election just one week away, the Greenwood Fire Department’s top two officers used a fire department business meeting to weigh in on one side of the political fued that has consumed the township for the past several years. Fire chief David Fazio, who was not present at the meeting, had provided an agenda for assistant chief Mike Indihar, who actually presided at the fire department gathering. Firefighters in Greenwood are township employees and are paid to attend business meetings, like the one held March 2.