The Strawberry Point City Council voted no on reappointing Fire Chief Nic Stelken on Wednesday night, which means the fire department remains out of service.
Last Thursday, the Strawberry Point Fire Department announced they were out of service immediately due to the continued lack of support from the mayor and city council. Members of the department voluntarily made the unanimous decision to turn in their pagers.
A packed crowd gathered at Wednesday night’s council meeting as the reappointment of Chief Stelken was on the agenda, with many showing support for the fire department.
The City Council had three options – reappoint Stelken as fire chief, to not reappoint Stelken as fire chief or to appoint Stelken to a three-month term and have the City monitor improvements.
City Administrator Deno Andrews said that if the council voted no to re-appoint Stelken and the fire department chose not to go back into service, he would be forced to expel everyone in the fire department who is refusing to do their duty due to city code.
The Council voted 5-1 against renewing Stelken’s contract, with Councilmember Megan Hansel voicing the lone “yes” vote.
The Strawberry Point Fire Department has reached out to surrounding agencies to provide coverage during this time.
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