Public records detail complaint against fire chief
- Published: March 20, 2025
The Miami Township Trustees held their most recent regular meeting Monday, March 3.
The bulk of the meeting comprised an executive session to “consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee or official, or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee.
Trustees returned to public session after 53 minutes, but took no action on the matters discussed in executive session.
The regular meeting follows a resolution passed in a Jan. 28 special meeting to place Fire Chief Dennis Powell on paid administrative leave due to an internal complaint.
As the News reported in February, Trustee Vice Chair Marilan Moir and Trustee Don Hollister voted to approve the resolution placing Powell on leave, and to authorize Brossius, Johnson and Griggs law firm to conduct an investigation into the complaint; Captain Nathaniel Ayers has been serving as acting assistant chief until further action is taken by the board.
The nature of the internal complaint made against Powell has not been discussed in open session. However, public records connected to the investigation, provided to the News late last week by Brossius, Johnson and Griggs, included a formal complaint made by a Miami Township Fire-Rescue employee, which was dated Dec. 31, 2024.
The complaint alleges that Powell called an employee to dissuade them from discussing payroll issues with or in the presence of trustees following a newly established pay scale at MTFR. The complaint further alleges that Powell told the employee: “You need to understand the trustees are your enemies, not your friends. … When the trustees are in the building, you need to keep your f—-ing mouth shut.”
The public records also included four other pieces of correspondence from MTFR employees that encompass additional allegations, dated between May and December of 2024. The correspondences allege that Powell has routinely neglected to respond to emails, calls and concerns presented to him by employees and that he is often not present in his office during scheduled work hours. One email alleges that Powell conducted an investigation into an employee’s behavior as a retaliatory act after the employee made a complaint about Powell.
The correspondence also alleges a widespread pattern of unaddressed racism within the MTFR, and that past complaints submitted to “someone (or more) on the board [of trustees]” have been either ignored or forwarded to Powell.
It’s unclear whether the investigation into the formal complaint, and possibly the additional allegations, is ongoing; requests for clarification sent to the Township’s legal counsel and trustees inquiring about the status of the investigation were not returned by press time.
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