Jackson County Fire District 5 Chief Charles Hanley was placed on administrative leave Tuesday during a nearly four-hour meeting with a mostly new district board.

The unanimous decision came three months after the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2596 submitted a Feb. 5 letter alleging misconduct, harassment and a slew of other issues at the district and expressing a lack of confidence in Hanley.

The union letter was reviewed at a Feb. 20 board meeting, during which board member Derek Volkart moved twice for Hanley to be placed on leave. Both motions failed.

The board held a handful of meetings between late February and March 5, discussing labor complaints and Hanley’s performance.

On March 5, three board members — chairwoman Vicki Purslow, Mike Winters and Cary Halligan — resigned their positions, thwarting an executive session on the topic of union concerns that was scheduled to take place moments later.

Volkart had planned to call for an investigation of Hanley during the executive session, as well as an investigation of Purslow, who Volkart alleged was conducting board business outside of board meetings.

After the resignations, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners was tasked with appointing at least one board member to restore a quorum. Commissioners interviewed 10 applicants and opted to fill all three vacant seats.

Tuesday’s meeting was a first for former Phoenix Mayor Chris Luz, retired Oregon State Police bomb tech and ETHOS Training Academy owner Greg Costanzo and Medford airport fire department Chief John Karns.

The board, unable to conduct business since early March, had a packed agenda on Tuesday.

Board members voted unanimously to appoint Costanzo as board chair and Volkart as secretary, then reviewed items ranging from budget concerns to a natural hazard mitigation plan.

Volkart voiced concern, prior to an executive session, that audio recordings of executive sessions had ceased in recent months without notice. Board members voted unanimously to resume recording audio of executive sessions, starting with Tuesday’s.

In a change from previous executive sessions, both Hanley and Assistant Fire Chief Aaron Bustard were excluded.

Lori Cooper, legal counsel for the Local Government Law Group, helped guide the meeting and ensure a board chair and secretary were named.

The meeting agenda called for three items to be discussed during executive session: “Review and evaluation of employment related performance of the fire chief” and “to consider the employment contract of the fire chief” were struck from the agenda, however, leaving one matter of business, “to consider information and records that are exempt by law from public inspection.”

The board reconvened after the executive session, first discussing budgetary concerns and hearing staff reports.

Costanzo voiced concern about grant funding that will end in February 2025 — funding used to hire 21 employees — and expressed frustration that the district had spent more than $450,000 in overtime for the past year.

Costanzo, who provides mental health training through his ETHOS Training Academy, told Hanley, “Injuries happen when you don’t get rest. Sick time happens when you overwork, and so does burnout. What I’m saying is, I want you to look at hiring people and making it an urgency so we can actually take care of multiple things.”

Hanley said he agreed but pointed out that the problem was multifaceted, noting “there isn’t just one solution to this.”

With most of the agenda items discussed, Costanzo told Hanley that he had to make a motion that was “very difficult for me to even talk about.”

“I do make a motion before the board, for many different reasons, for the public, for the union and also for you, chief…  I do make a motion that Chief Hanley go on administrative leave immediately pending investigations, to make sure that allegations are either proven or disproven,” Costanzo said.

“I think the public demands that we actually take care of people when allegations are made. … This fire district is in turmoil right now. And I made a commitment that I will try to rectify that.”

The board voted unanimously to place the chief on leave. Hanley responded by saying that the terms of his contract had not been followed “in terms of my inability to talk to my employers about this and to rectify the situation.”

“The board has come in and basically overstepped my ability to deal with this because once the attorneys are involved, we’re not (using) the grievance process,” Hanley said.

He added: “I have asked for information for what is now going on 120 days on these allegations, with no response.”

Costanzo called for a brief recess, during which a handful of board members left the room and Hanley left the station in a Fire District 5 vehicle.

Hanley did not respond to a phone call or text message from the Rogue Valley Times seeking comment on the board’s decision.

After the recess, the board made additional motions to call for an investigation into union complaints — more of which were filed Tuesday, according to various board members — and for Bustard to take command as interim fire chief.

Volkart took issue with the decision to appoint Bustard to the role, stating, “We just approved an investigation of the allegations of the chief … In those allegations, the assistant chief is named.”

Board members then voted unanimously to appoint Bustard, which Costanzo said is outlined in the fire district manual when addressing succession. Bustard told board members he would “work with the board,” and that he had worked with the union and strived to be transparent and “very collaborative with the union leadership.”

Costanzo told Bustard the district was in “a pivotal time.”

“I will do everything I can to make you successful, but you have some hurdles too,” Costanzo said.

“This is a big step that the board is placing upon you, and I hope that you’re ready for it.”

Union Vice President Dan Hall spoke to the board and welcomed the three new board members. Costanzo asked him about union member morale.

“Morale has not been great,” Hall said.

Costanzo urged Hall to relay board decisions to union members.

“I hope you know the seriousness of what happened tonight. Morale is number one — you need to take care of each other. You need to take care of each other because your life is on the line every day that you go out there to do your job,” Costanzo said.

He added: “I would just ask you to take care of each other and also, to the gravity of what’s happening: We have a chief who did serve as a fire person for, I think, 40 years, and the stress that he’s going through is not lost on me.

“So, take care of each other, but we do have somebody that was in your agency — that is in your agency — that’s probably hurting tonight. So just be cognizant of that.”

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that John Karns is the chief of the Medford airport fire department.