SALISBURY, Md. - It's an issue still dividing city council members as they try to figure out what to do next with the acting fire chief position currently held by Rick Hoppes.
"I'm tired of it, this is not what I wanted to do. I wanted to get on the city council and help move this city forward and stop all the bickering and fighting and get the work done," said Salisbury councilwoman Laura Mitchell.
In an emergency special meeting, the council decided to let Hoppes stay on through February 28th, asking Mayor Jim Ireton to start looking for another candidate.
"We give the advice and consent, and contrary to allegations that we've done it for personal, political or capricious reasons, we had substantive reasons to do what we did," said City Council president Terry Cohen.
Mayor Ireton was not at the meeting, but WMDT caught up with him over the weekend. He told WMDT that "they can have their their. Rick Hoppes is on my team. He is a great guy and he should be our chief."
The Mayor has said there is no reason to waste money on a costly and lengthy outreach for a job when Hoppes has shown he can do it.
But that's exactly what the Council says must be done to move forward.
The question is, how can it be resolved in less than a month?
"He shows a good faith effort to do the right thing, then a further extension would be a natural thing to do," said Cohen.
We also reached out to the Salisbury Fire Department for comment on today's meeting, but they declined.
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