EMA chief resigns to be township fire chief

Former Butler County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Galloway is the new fire chief in his hometown of Morgan Twp.

The EMA board held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to accept Galloway’s resignation after the trustees in the township hired him on Tuesday. Galloway said prior to getting the emergency management job he has always been in the fire service and it was time to go back to his roots.

“It just was a good career move for me,” he said. “Coming out of the fire service and that world, I was just ready for a change and to get back into the fire service… It was an opportunity to work the in the township I live in with a bunch of great folks.”

The county EMA’s second in command, Matt Haverkos, was named interim director during the meeting Wednesday. He said the board will meet Sept. 8 to decide how they want to fill the position. Galloway strongly suggested they make Haverkos — who he has been grooming for the top spot for three years — the director permanently in September.

“As the deputy director, Matt has done an excellent job and Butler County EMA will continue to flow without any interruptions with him as the new director,” Galloway wrote in his resignation letter to the board.

His official last day with the county is Aug. 28, but he is using up his vacation time until then.

Darryl Huff, vice chair of the township trustees, said they will pay Galloway $75,000 annually and they are lucky to get him.

“We had a couple applicants down to the wire and Jeff seemed to fit our needs,” he said. “We didn’t even know he was available until he applied. He apparently said he wanted to down-size his job and we took him on.”

Morgan Twp.’s former chief J.R. Wood resigned in April after two years in the job. He was the first full-time chief in the township’s all volunteer fire department.

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