By Jackson Kimball
Ravalli Republic
HAMILTON, Mont. — Former Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brad Mohn resigned on Oct. 11 following a series of misconduct allegations leveled against him.
In a letter sent to Hamilton City Council, Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf, and the Hamilton Rural Fire District Board on July 12, the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Fighter Association listed numerous allegations and complaints made against Mohn, some dating as far back as 2022.
The letter announced a vote of no confidence and organized allegations against Mohn into categories including, but not limited to, operational inefficiencies, lapses in adhering to safety protocols and lack of communication.
“We believe these supporting facts to the original letter support an immediate removal of Chief Mohn from HVFD to alleviate the hostile and retaliatory environment that currently exists at HVFD,” reports the letter from the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Fighter Association.
The letter also accuses Mohn of being intoxicated while working, saying that Mohn allegedly, “shows up frequently to calls and training under the influence of alcohol.”
The letter also includes instances of sexual harassment reported by community members.
“Members of our community have approached firefighters to express disgust with Chief Mohn because of incidents of inappropriate touching and sexual harassment,” the letter reads.
“These concerns have been expressed for three or four years now,” said Volunteer Fire Fighter Association Captain Jeff Burrows at a Hamilton Committee of the Whole meeting on July 23. “The situation is hostile and retaliatory. We have expressed these concerns for several years. It seems that there is only one city employee that is getting protected here.”
Mohn told the Ravalli Republic that he had “no further comment” concerning his resignation.
In a story published last Friday by NBC Montana, Mohn said, “I was cleared to go back to work, but I didn’t want to go into that atmosphere anymore, so I chose to resign. If I went back, I knew they would lobby more false allegations against me.”
Hamilton’s Committee of the Whole reported that Mohn was on administrative leave during their meeting on July 23 .
Hamilton City Council decided that Mohn would receive 30 weeks pay and seven months of health insurance at a special meeting on Oct. 8.
Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf issued a written statement regarding Mohn’s resignation last week that said Mohn’s decision to step down was “for the health and continued success of the Fire Department .”
” Chief Mohn and I will continue to work together with Assistant Chief Woods to implement the smoothest transition possible for the Fire Department,” Farrenkopf wrote.
Burrows told the Ravalli Republic that no concrete plans of replacing Mohn had been made as of yet.
Burrows said that the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department was “running pretty status quo,” since Mohn’s resignation and that Tyson Woods had been filling Mohn’s role as assistant chief of the department.
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