VIDEO: Dave Savone feels it's been a "privilege and honor" to serve the city of Merrill. "When I came to Merrill, it was a great opportunity. Sometimes a blind squirrel finds an acorn and I found a golden acorn," Savone told Newswatch 12 over the phone. On Wednesday, that service shifted to past-tense. Savone announced his resignation in a letter after more than five years as chief. "In light of certain things that have happened lately, he has decided that this is the time that he should retire," said Merrill City Administrator Dave Johnson. Johnson says he and Savone didn't always agree on how Savone should be running the fire department. Johnson says they had different "management styles."