Tarrant, AL, is a Two Fire Chief Town After Ruling

The mayor thought he was right to fire his former fire chief.

But Jefferson County officials have overruled him, leaving the city of Tarrant with two men leading the fire department, a $500,000 bill and a quandary on what to do next.

Mayor Wayman Newton terminated Jason Rickels in 2021. The current chief is Patrick Bennett.

Jefferson County Personnel Board recently declared that the city improperly fired Rickels and ordered him back to work.

The town of 5,000 residents now has two fire chiefs and a $500,000 bill for back pay and legal fees after losing a longtime dispute.

As a result, Tarrant must contend with having two department heads and how to pay for more than two-and-half years of missed salary, benefits and lawyer bills.

The personnel board in its order Nov. 7, said the mayor failed to properly notify the city council of Rickels’ termination, which invalided the action.

Rickels now is back on the job and also seeking another $100,000 in legal fees.

“The facts and the law were on our side, and it took a while to hash it out,” Rickels’ attorney Scott Morro told AL.com. “We are very, very pleased. Like anything else, it just takes time to do the right thing.”

Morro said Rickels is not trying to lead the department but wants to remain on the city’s books for about another year so he can retire.

“He’s not looking to be a problem for the city of Tarrant. He was a good employee when he was there and he’s looking to resolve this issue amicably,” Morro said, noting that the relationship between the chief and mayor was tense.

“He believes it would be best for everybody if he got his retirement and said ‘c’est la vie,’” Morro said using the French phrase for “that’s life.”

The council has not yet met to discuss the order or Rickels’ request.

“The city council has just received the personnel board’s order and is considering all its options and wants to take actions that are best and fair to Chief Rickels,” said Wayne Morse, an attorney who represents the city council.

However, Newton scoffed at the latest order, blaming politics and dishonesty on the part of his enemies on the council.

Newton maintained that he had notified councilors of the termination and that the council had time to act.

“They were well aware that he was terminated. They chose not to do anything,” Newton said.

The personnel board ruling is the latest in political and legal volleys that bitterly divided city hall in ongoing battles between the mayor and council.

The council also has clashed with Newton over his firing of the police chief, a move that also went to court and the Personnel Board several times before Chief Wendell Major was returned to work.

Morro is also Major’s lawyer and he also represented the embattled former city manager John Brown, whose hiring by the city council was successfully defeated by a lawsuit from Newton.

Newton, who was already at odds with Rickels, fired him after the chief was arrested near Atlanta in an altercation at his property there.

Roswell, Georgia police claimed Rickels brandished a gun on the realtor and smashed her photographer’s camera. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony and second-degree criminal damage to property. The charges were later dropped.

The council in November 2022 even advertised a resolution to rehire the fire chief, but took no action.

“I’m tired of having to clean up their mess,” Newton said. “This is a mess that they created because they didn’t have the balls to stand in front of a city full of black folks and say, ‘we want to keep our friend as our fire chief despite him pulling out a gun on black folks.’”

Newton and the former fire chief had also previously clashed over hiring practices in the department.

Newton noted that while the council did not take action to protest his firing of the former fire chief, they did vote to hire his replacement.

“I’m calling them out,” Newton said. “All of this would have been a moot issue if they had gone in there and told the truth. This is a situation of their own doing and they’re going to have to atone for this.”

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