DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Daytona Beach Fire Battalion Chief’s 26-year career has ended over missing a mandatory meeting.
That firefighter, who is also a documented whistleblower in the investigation into the city’s finances, spoke to only 9 Investigates about his termination.
Andre Chaney was sent a notice of termination on April 17th for not being truthful about missing a mandatory meeting.
Chaney claims he sent both a text and email letting command staff know he had to take his son to a doctor’s appointment.
“I no longer had to take my son to his appointment. At that time, being that I had the ok to miss the meeting I went ahead and chose to go and teach at my part time job which is Daytona State College,” said Chaney.
Chaney said one write-up doesn’t typically lead to a termination.
“Do you have anything in your file that they could come back and say this is another reason?” asked Channel 9 Volusia County Reporter Demie Johnson.
“As a battalion chief, I have nothing as far as a write up,” said Chaney.
Chaney told 9 Investigates he had been working with the City Auditor since February.
City Auditor Abinet Belachew confirmed that Chaney is a whistleblower who supplied him documents for his investigation. In a lengthy public records request, Fire Chief Dru Driscoll asks Belachew for all documents, call logs, voicemails, texts, and online submission forms for his audit.
Driscoll also asks for:
“A list of all employees of the city of Daytona beach who have reported claims or...
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