Beardstown Fire and Ambulance Chief Heath White resigned Monday, a week after an appropriations discussion by Beardstown City Council that could affect his work schedule.
White, who has been chief since June 2014, lauded the city’s fire and ambulance department but insisted that he would be unable to do his job justice on the schedule proposed during the July 2 meeting.
White had been working a 24-hour shift on duty and following that with two days off. After the city agreed to handle ambulance services in the eastern part of Cass County for the county, White took on a Monday-through-Friday schedule that was made possible by hiring a part-time firefighter to cover shift needs.
A permanent full-time firefighter would need to be hired to allow White to continue working that schedule, he said.
That’s something that Alderman Ron Culves, the council’s Finance Committee chair, said would be an extremely large commitment for the city without any assurance that the 11-month contract between the city and county would be renewed.