Warren County Ambulance District’s chief officer and a deputy chief have unexpectedly retired from their positions with the district.

Chief Tim Flake and Deputy Chief Mike Eskew submitted letters of retirement at the same time at the beginning of April, and both had their last day on April 15, The Record recently learned, and subsequently confirmed with board of directors President Merlyn Petersmeyer.

Several days after submitting his letter of retirement, Flake sent an email to first responders in other local emergency districts informing them of the situation. A copy of the email was provided to The Record.

“It’s been awesome to see the District grow over the many years and working with all of you,” Flake wrote to his fellow emergency responders. “There comes a time in a person’s life when you need to make a change and it feels like that time is now for me and my family. I wish the District the best and will enjoy watching it grow.”

Flake did not respond to a message from The Record asking about the situation.

In response to a document request from The Record, Warren County Ambulance District provided the minutes from their board of directors meetings going back to January. Those meeting minutes included the summaries of votes taken during “closed session” discussions that members of the public are generally not allowed to observe.

Although the information contained in the minutes are the briefest possible descriptions of the discussions that took place, a few details were highly notable.

The minutes indicate that the board members took a 5-1 vote in closed session on March 8 to terminate the employment of Deputy Chief Mike Eskew, effective March 22. However, on March 22 the board held a special meeting, seemingly for the sole purpose of rescinding that decision.

The board voted 4-2 at that time to reverse the firing, according to the minutes. Board members Jonathan Laubert, Merlyn Petersmeyer, Jack Dempsey and Bill Ehlenbeck voted to undo Eskew’s firing, while members Jill Smoot and Diane Grimes voted to proceed with the termination.

During a following closed session on April 12, the board discussed the retirement of both Flake and Eskew, and voted unanimously to grant both of them payouts for their unused paid time off — 213 hours for Flake and 224 hours for Eskew.

Board members also voted to grant a request from Flake and Eskew to take possession of the personal cell phone numbers that they have used on their work cell phones, although those votes were split 4-2.

During the same April closed session, Deputy Chief Darren Lenk, who held that rank alongside Eskew, was appointed to serve as interim district chief. Petersmeyer told The Record that the board of directors has also asked for staff supervisors to temporarily help with some of the duties normally assigned to deputy chief.

“Long term, we’ll advertise for a replacement and we’ll take the best qualified candidate, like we always do,” Petersmeyer said.

Flake had been employed by the Warren County Ambulance District since 1994, according to the district’s website. He was promoted to chief in 2018 upon the retirement of former Chief Ralph Hellebusch.

Eskew was elevated to deputy chief during the same 2018 transition, and had also joined the ambulance district the same year as Flake in 1994, according to previous reporting by The Record.