KRUM — The Krum City Council fired its part-time fire chief, Troy Mills, on Monday.

Troy Mills

The move came after a half-hour, closed-door meeting Monday night. When the council reconvened in open session, they voted 4 to 1 to fire Mills, who had been the part-time fire chief for the city since 2003. Council member David Dwinell cast the dissenting vote.

Mayor Terri Wilson said she had no choice but to ask the council for a vote of “no confidence.”

“It was a hard and difficult decision, but it was based on all the facts,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she called Mills to tell him about the meeting and that Mills and his attorney were welcome to attend.

Mills said that although he was informed of the meeting, he chose not to attend. He declined to comment further, saying that he continues to work with his attorney.

An independent audit of the 2005-06 fiscal year was released in May and found the city low on cash and fire department expenditures over budget. After the audit, the City Council began scrutinizing fire department expenses, particularly overtime pay.

In early July, Wilson suspended Mills for 90 days without pay. She said she had reviewed the fire department’s 2006-07 budget and found that Mills could not provide specific information about certain expenses she questioned.

At that time, she said she had given Mills the option to resign rather than be suspended, but Mills declined.

Earlier this month, the City Council voted to make the fire chief position full-time and allocated about $39,000 for the post after eliminating a clerical position in the department. Wilson said there was no relationship between Mills’ status with the city and the restructuring of the fire chief’s job.

City manager Jack Smith said officials are taking the time to work on the job description for the new chief.

“We don’t have to have anyone in place by Oct. 1,” Smith said, adding that the job will likely be about 50 percent administrative.

Several council members have said a full-time chief would be better able to monitor staffing and minimize overtime and other costs. Interim department leaders have also instituted a new rotation schedule that they have told the council will contain overtime costs.

The Krum Fire Department changed from an autonomous entity to a city department in 2003. Some residents saw the move as controversial and expensive for the city, since it included adding ambulance service.

Since becoming a city department, the fire department has grown rapidly. Its first budget was proposed at $106,550, but the department went over budget by more than $300,000 by the end of the 2003 fiscal year. The proposed 2007-08 budget for the department exceeds $700,000.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .