Latest news with #HendersonvilleFireDepartment
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Uplifting for the morale': Hendersonville mayor apologizes to fire department for recent drama
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Upset with their mayor, Hendersonville firefighters and their supporters packed into the city's council meeting on Tuesday to push for pay raises. 'The police deserve what they had [a raise], but so does the fire department,' said one speaker. 'Yes, this is what we signed up for, but we also came to this job thinking the city of Hendersonville had our back and would pay us a fair living wage so we don't have to work another job,' said a Hendersonville firefighter. PREVIOUS | Hendersonville firefighters call out mayor, claim 'personal vendetta' toward their department Four other fire associations showed up to support HFD on Tuesday: Wilson County, Dickson County, Murfreesboro and Gallatin. Public comment lasted over an hour and, in the end, Mayor Jamie Clary took the microphone and apologized for the recent drama. 'We've got an exceptional fire department, one of the best in the state. I had more to say and, honestly, some corrections to make. But I want to move forward. I appreciate the firefighters, I really really do. I'm prepared to respond to everything that's been said, but I think I need to say nothing more than: I'm truly sorry,' said Clary. 'I want peace, we all want peace, and I will work harder and more deliberately for peace.' This tension between Mayor Clary and the Hendersonville Fire Department has been building for some time, boiling over after the mayor's State of the City address earlier this month. MARCH 2025: Hendersonville approves pay raises for entire police department While stating their support for Hendersonville police and the raises they recently received, Hendersonville Fire believes they deserve more respect from the city. An apology from the mayor is a good first step. 'It's so uplifting for the morale of our firefighters association,' said Matt Elliott, vice president for Hendersonville's Firefighters Association. 'There's still a lot of work to be done, and we plan to hold [Clary] to that. But we appreciate the mayor validating our anger… we're looking forward to where it goes from here.' Where it goes from here is, likely, budget discussions with the city to sort out how HFD can see a raise in the next year. Hendersonville has their next budget workshop in early May. ⏩ One key figure who has remained silent throughout this funding feud: longtime fire chief Scotty Bush. 'I've been the fire chief for 10 years in May, and my focus has always been on my staff and the citizens of the City of Hendersonville. And I will never stray from that,' Chief Bush told News 2. Bush did not speak in direct response to Mayor Clary's apology. Instead, he praised his department for their continued 'professionalism and integrity.' 'We got 122 in the department, counting myself. I would match their skills, their interpersonal skills, their abilities to do their jobs, against anybody in the state,' Bush said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hendersonville approves pay raises for entire police department
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After months of discussion, Hendersonville city officials approved pay raises for their entire police department Tuesday. Starting immediately, Hendersonville officers up to sergeants will get a 10% raise, lieutenants and commanders a 7.5% raise, and a 2.5% bump for both the assistant chief and chief. The idea is simple and now common for many police departments: better recruitment, more retention. After losing one of their own, Hendersonville Fire Department pushes for more cancer screenings 'Not only were we not competitive, but the crop [of candidates] was thinning,' explained Hendersonville Mayor Jamie Clary, who has been pushing this initiative for some time. 'We noticed we weren't competitive with some of the agencies that we were losing police officers to.' Hendersonville gave raises to some of their police last year. Since then, Clary said neighboring cities of their size have done the same. Going forward, a post-certified Hendersonville police officer will make just under $63,000 a year. That's more than the same officer with Gallatin police [around $53,000] and just less than Metro police [over $64,000]. 'I think I can speak for every officer in the department: it helps them with family life, it helps them because they put in a lot of hard work to protect this city,' said Houston Hackett, an officer with the Hendersonville Police Department (HPD). Tennesseans react to tariffs, possible DOGE cuts 'I feel like I fulfilled a commitment,' said the Clary. 'I think the most important objective for a city government is to protect the people that are there. And we can't do that if we have open police positions.' To that point, Clary said HPD currently has 16 open positions, with just four applicants interested. As a result, he said the city prioritized getting raises for the police department, above other city first responders. But what about the other first responders in Hendersonville? Are they also in line for pay raises? Mayor Clary said he's open to that conversation. 'I have to look at what is the capacity of the city to make these adjustments, what is the interest in our residents in increasing, possibly, property taxes,' he expressed. 'And then I have to look, so what's the benefit? ⏩ Meanwhile, some aldermen believe the discussion should be next on their list. 'There's no discussion, because it's not in [the agenda] about our fire, our public works, our administration, all the rest of our staff,' said Alderman Jeff Sasse. 'So I just wanted to publicly say, right now, my commitment to the entire staff: we're going to take a hard look at this at this next budget cycle.' Hendersonville will utilize their city sales tax to fund the police pay bump. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
‘It's all gone': Sumner County home burns down amid jurisdiction dispute between fire departments
SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A husband and wife watched their home burn down Tuesday; firefighters less than two miles away were not allowed to respond. The fire ignited inside the garage as homeowner Ray Rainey was turning on his Jeep. Rainey had to helplessly watch the home he built with his own hands in 2006 turn to ash. 'I'm mad as hell. Hendersonville Fire Department one mile up the street can't come down and help [the] volunteer fire department,' Rainey told News 2. Hendersonville mom uses AirTag in child's backpack to help police find suspected car thieves Hendersonville mayor Jamie Clary blamed a years-long dispute over jurisdiction between the Hendersonville Fire Department and the Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Department. According to Clary, the Hendersonville Fire Department worked on 'mutual aid' agreements with two volunteer fire stations in 2023. One station accepted the agreement, but the Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Department did not. 'We told them, at that point, that meant that we were not going to respond to structure fires,' Clary said. Without a mutual aid agreement in place with the Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Department, Hendersonville Fire was unable to respond to Tuesday's structure fire as Rainey's home was located less than a half a mile outside the city's limits. 'We're very willing to sit down with them [the Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Department] again because we don't want this to happen again. We want to be able to go out there and help our neighbors,' Clary said. 'We're hearing from some of the folks on the Shackle Island [Volunteer Fire Department] Board of Directors that they didn't know what kind of agreement that we were willing to sign and the flexibility that we had in there and that's disappointing to find out.' One possible hold-up to any agreement would be the question of which department would take the lead on emergency calls if the Hendersonville Fire Department was able to assist. 'I am not going to put my firefighters and our resources — that should be focused on the citizens of Hendersonville — we're not going to put those under the command of volunteers that may have no training and no experience,' Clary explained. Until Tuesday, Rainey was unaware that the two fire departments were at odds with one another. 'A little old argument between goofballs burned down the house,' Rainey continued. 'It's all gone.' Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Chief, Ron Wills, told News 2 that the Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Department is not required to sign a mutual aid agreement with any other fire department. Wills added that the Shackle Island Volunteer Fire Department would assist Hendersonville Fire if needed even if the Hendersonville Fire Department would not assist them in turn. ⏩ In a statement to News 2, Chief Wills added: 'I have been with the department for 31 years, and Hendersonville City and SIFD have been mutually responding to each other the entire time with no agreement in place. Why the City of Hendersonville is not interested in providing and receiving mutual aid from us is still unknown to us at SIFD. We have said all along, even though we were not comfortable signing the agreement that they offered, that we would still be happy to respond in mutual aid to them at any time. We also offered them an identical copy of the mutual aid agreement that we signed with the other neighboring city and they refused to sign that agreement with us. There is no need for a written agreement in order to provide mutual aid to our neighboring departments or any other department. We have even sent a team to Gatlinburg a few years ago to assist them along with hundreds of other departments. None of us were concerned about a written mutual aid agreement then, and we aren't now. If the City of Hendersonville is interested in discussing returning to mutually aiding each other, we are now, as we always have been, open to building that bridge.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
