GREENFIELD — It was a productive yet quick two years for Greenfield Fire Territory Chief Brian Lott who has decided to resign from the head post effective Dec. 31.
Lott, who has been with the GFT for seven years, has been the fire chief since Aug. 31, 2020 and was the fire marshal for the GFT for five years prior to taking the head-of-the-department role. He plans to take another position outside of the county in the fire service but didn’t want to say where just yet.
“I just had an opportunity outside of the county and thought I wanted to give it a shot in another community,” Lott said.
Lott noted the decision to leave wasn’t easy due to what he called “great people” in the community. During his time as chief, Lott tackled several heavy issues, but he leaves somewhat disappointed noting city officials would not do more for the department.
Some of his accomplishments include creating a strategic master plan that ties tax dollars to the department and budget, and development of a five-year capitol plan. He helped the department make several purchases ($3 million) in much-needed, outdated equipment, plus he insisted firefighters receive long overdue raises that will soon go into effect.
“We were losing so many employees right and left, but starting in January our pension base will go up significantly and that should help us keep employees instead of us being a training ground for Hamilton and Marion counties,” Lott said.”We got a lot accomplished in the two years I was the fire chief.”
Still, Lott admits to frustrations, saying GFT is struggling and needs to hire more personnel. He noted they only have two firefighters on their fire trucks, something he said is unheard of for a department that runs 5,000 calls a year.
“Our ambulances are just running their butts off,” Lott said.
Another accomplishment during his time as chief, Lott testified with state officials for the passage of House Bill 1246, which allowed for a tax increase to areas that grew in population over 6%.
“We were able to grow almost 7%, which got us $1.2 million more in funding,” Lott said. “I’ve resubmitted that figure based on 2021 numbers and hopefully we will get an additional $175,000 more, but I’ve yet to hear back on that.”
With the funds, Lott hoped to add another ambulance crew to the fleet and hasn’t hid his displeasure with city officials who said no to the need.
“My whole goal was to put a third ambulance in service, and I am disappointed because we did not get that at budget time,” Lott said.
Due to the fact Lott has accumulated several days off, his final day in the office will be Nov. 30. Deputy Chief Jason Horning will slide into the leadership role in December and remain there until Mayor Chuck Fewell makes a determination on when or if he’ll seek a replacement.
Fewell noted he has one more year in office as mayor and said he’s not certain just yet if he should go into a lengthy hiring process, make a decision on a new chief and then have a new mayor come in and determine they want someone else.
“During the holidays, I’ll decide how I’m going to pursue things,” Fewell said. “With me being here only one more year, I’d be asking the new chief, whoever that might be, that I can only guarantee their position for a few months, particularly if it takes a few months to hire a new person.”
Whomever the new mayor is, they do not have to keep the person Fewell hires, he said, so selecting a replacement for Lott seems unlikely to happen right away, but Fewell didn’t count it out.
“I do feel like if I select someone who is capable, the new mayor would certainly at least entertain the thought of keeping that person I would hope,” Fewell said. “We could just leave Horning in charge, but I have a lot of things to think about over the holidays and I will do that … I just want to make the right decision for the city of Greenfield.”
Fewell said that Horning, who had applied for the position of chief with the GFT two years ago when Jimmy Roberts left, is capable of running the show while Fewell determines the best course of action.
“During the time when Lott is not here, we have a deputy chief (Horning) assuming those duties so we are in good standing,” Fewell said.
Horning told the Daily Reporter he will be moving into the leadership role come December and filling in until Lott’s replacement can be found, but he also plans to apply for the position when it is officially posted.
Lott sent Fewell a letter a few days ago informing him he would be stepping down to pursue another opportunity. Those who worked with Lott say he will be surely missed.
“He did a lot of good things during the short time he was in the position,” GFT Fire Marshal Steve Kropacek said. “It was good for me to have him here because he had been in my position (fire marshal) before and really helped me learn a lot.”
Lott noted whomever the new fire chief is, he or she will have to deal with budget and personnel issues and should try to work toward a consolidation somewhere to help bolster funds and staff.
“Before this last tax increase we got, we were the lowest-paid fire department in the county for fire service and we can’t fall behind,” Lott said.
