Chance Swaim – The Wichita Eagle
Dec. 6—The Wichita Firefighters’ Union has released an audio recording that led IAFF Local 135 President Ted Bush to file an ethics complaint against Mayor Lily Wu. And Fire Chief Tammy Snow has issued an apology to Wu and Bush over what she called a “misunderstanding.”
At the center of the controversy is a federal grant that pays the salaries of 42 firefighters and is set to expire in spring 2026, the same year the city estimates it will have a multimillion dollar shortfall. Snow told Bush during a private conversation that Wu had told her to lay off the firefighters funded under the SAFER grant program and rehire them later using funds from another federal grant.
Bush recorded the conversation and turned it over to the Wichita Ethics Board to determine whether Wu violated a city ordinance that prohibits elected officials from unilaterally meddling in the hiring and firing of city employees without a council vote.
The ethics board cleared Wu in the case after Snow and Wu denied that the mayor directed the fire chief to lay off 42 firefighters, which would have been a violation of the ethics policy. Instead, the board found, Wu had discussed it with Snow as a budgeting idea that was ultimately abandoned.
Bush said he chose to release the audio of his conversation with Snow after Wu accused him of lying, bullying and “sowing division in our community.”
“I filed the complaint to get the truth,” Bush said in an interview. “I had no reason to believe Chief Tammy Snow lied to me when she told me Mayor Wu told her she needed to lay off 42 firefighters.”
Now, Bush said, he’s not sure what to believe. In a news release Thursday night, he wrote, “It seems to me that the question that should be asked now is was Chief Tammy Snow lying then or is she lying now?”
“I believe that Mayor Wu has been consistent in her denials and, if I were her, I’d be angry right now, too,” Bush wrote. “However, I believe that her anger is misplaced. Mayor Wu is right, this was not a misunderstanding. These actions undermine the trust and faith firefighters must have in their Chief. The series of events that led us to today are frankly appalling. I would ask for Mayor Wu to join us in asking for a clear answer — why did Chief Tammy Snow claim that Mayor Wu came into her office and said ‘I need to lay off the 42 firefighters from the Safer Grant?’
“The question must be asked, if Mayor Wu never suggested or intended on laying off Wichita Firefighters, where did this come from,” Bush wrote. “Was it Chief Snow’s suggestion or was it City Manager Bob Layton’s suggestion?”
Snow issued a written statement on Thursday night through city spokesperson Megan Lovely, apologizing for the misunderstanding.
“As the Chief of the City’s Fire Department, my first, last, and always responsibility and focus is the safety of every Wichita resident and the welfare of the brave men and women who honorably serve the City and the department,” Snow wrote. “This makes my disappointment in this misunderstanding that much more personally difficult.”
“In a private conversation among colleagues, I reiterated my continued support for all of the men and women of the department. I was clearly not as direct as I should have been regarding the conversation between Mayor Wu and me as she never instructed me to do anything. I’m sorry that Ted (Bush) misinterpreted my immense support for the department as anything untoward. My intention was to have a transparent and candid discussion with union leadership as we ensure we are well-positioned to serve the community at the highest level possible.
“For that I apologize to Mayor Wu and the community for in any way causing a distraction from anything other than the Wichita Fire Department’s laser focus on keeping Wichita safe.”
The recording from September shows Snow and Bush discussing staffing troubles within the Wichita Fire Department and a proposal to eliminate 42 firefighter positions funded by a federal SAFER Grant and then rehire them with funding from a new federal grant.
“I don’t know what the mayor’s issue with that is,” Snow can be heard saying in the recording.
“She’s not stupid,” Bush said in response. “She gets rid of 42 fire positions, she’ll get smashed.” Bush clarified in an interview that he meant politically smashed.
“That’s what I told her,” Snow responded. “I said, look. I said, I can do whatever you tell me to do — because she came in, she goes, ‘You need to lay off the 42 firefighters from the SAFER Grant.'”
Snow told Bush in the recording that she then pushed back against Wu’s demand but said “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do, but I owe it to you as a department director to tell you the repercussions.”
Snow said if Wichita provided the firefighters with layoff notices, they would likely have to return $10.2 million in federal money they received for the grant program. Then the city would likely be unsuccessful in getting new grant funding after failing to meet the requirements of the first grant.
“You cannot turn money back in on a grant and ever expect the federal government to fund you again,” Snow said in the recording. “… So I told her that, and she didn’t like what I had to say, and so she went right upstairs to Bob (Layton) and pretty soon I get a phone call from him wanting me to give him the specifics. So I give him the specifics, and that’s when they backed away from it.”
“And then your help,” Snow said, referencing the Firefighters’ Union. “You guys helped at the budget thing. But they’re back. It’s back on the budget thing.”
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