The former chief, Lee Ramsey, said he was disappointed to lose the position at first, but "The more I think about it, it's really kind of a load off." He said he will continue to volunteer with the department.
Mayor Alan Lee said Ramsey had not been leading the department.
"He had basically let leadership of the department start going to one of the assistant chiefs, because he was more involved in his personal career. He was not really being the chief of the Fire Department any longer," he said.
"He wasn't there at meetings, he wasn't there when they had calls and runs. It was starting to become a discipline problem with some of the other members because they thought, 'If the chief's not here, I can do what I want.'"
Ramsey is an EMT with Metropolitan Emergency Management Services. He worked for NorthStar before Conway revoked its contract with that company.
"I was working a lot of overtime with NorthStar. They were short-handed. I worked a tremendous amount of overtime, probably an average of 100 hours a week," Ramsey said.
"I probably did miss several meetings. If I was at home for the meeting, I was there. If there was a run while I was home, I was there. As far as the discipline problem, I have no idea."
Lee said he gave Ramsey a chance to meet his expectations.
"I just didn't appoint a new chief at the end of the year. I told him I would give him until March to turn things around. I was trying my best to give him an out without public disgrace, and it ended up going the way it did.
"(He) and I have been friends for a long time, and it was a hard choice to make to choose someone else. If I had chosen him, I felt like the council would have rejected (him), and I didn't want to do that to him," Lee said.
Ramsey said he has no regrets.
"I became an EMT to help out the Fire Department. After that I decided I'd make it my career. I used to be an auto mechanic.
"I was there 11 years and took us from three little trucks and a little shop to seven trucks and a new building. When I started, our budget was $8,000 to $10,000 a year; now our budget is $70,000 to $90,000. We went from a class 8 to a class 6 (ISO rating). The Fire Department has grown by leaps and bounds from what it was when I first took over. I don't have anything to be ashamed of."
The mayor said the Fire Department was also instrumental in getting ambulance service in Vilonia and getting the Air Evac helicopter ambulance service base established there.
"It's all volunteer; everyone has to make a living," Ramsey continued. "I had to work all that overtime. I'm not trying to get negative or anything like that. I don't have any regrets, and I'd do it again tomorrow."
Edward Nobblitt was named the city's new fire chief on Tuesday, March 16.
