Wellington Fire/EMS chief put on administrative leave

WELLINGTON, Kan. (KSNW) – A developing story out of Wellington: the fire and EMS chief is now on administrative leave. That choice was made by the city manager.

The city manager put Tim Robben on administrative leave before Tuesday night’s city council meeting. After the announcement, everyone attending the meeting had to leave the room so the city council could meet in an executive session. That happened four times.

The city council stresses no binding choice has been made.

Before leaving for the executive session, paramedic Rebekah Harsh gave her public resignation from Wellington EMS. This is the latest of several resignations in the department since Robben began the job six weeks ago.

Harsh says the chief’s lack of fire certification is her biggest concern.

With the department being dual EMS and fire, they already are short-staffed when transferring patients to Wichita. She says a fire in Wellington would overwhelm the department.

Harsh says in their line of work having a leader with experience is vital.

“Be knowledgeable in all aspects of the job; due to the level of danger that this job entails, you must be able to fully trust the officers in command. I currently trust my assistant chief and captain of my shift with my life, I unfortunately can no longer put that trust in my fire chief,” she said.

She says that she would rescind her resignation if Robben was fired.

KSN reached out to Robben on Tuesday, but he declined to talk.

City council members and the city manager wouldn’t share what the next step will be, but they did say that Robben does have the opportunity to appeal the decision.