Wichita mayor cleared in ethics probe over ‘budgeting idea’ to lay off 42 firefighters

Wichita Mayor Lily Wu has been cleared in an ethics complaint that alleged she instructed the fire chief to lay off more than 40 firefighters.

But the Wichita Ethics Board found that Fire Chief Tammy Snow told the fire union president that Wu had done so.

Union President Ted Bush filed an ethics complaint against Wu in response to Snow’s statements. Snow denied making the comments. But an audio recording of her conversation with Bush showed she did tell him that Wu told her to lay off 42 firefighters under the SAFER federal grant program. Snow told ethics investigators that “she misspoke or overstated” to Bush what Wu had said to her.

“During the investigation, Chief Snow was asked directly about the allegation that the Mayor told her to lay off the employees and the recording. She said the Respondent (Wu) never instructed her to lay off any employees, and she never has,” the ethics board’s report says.

Snow told investigators that Wu presented the layoffs as a “budgeting idea” during a one-on-one meeting, according to findings released by the ethics board Tuesday night.

Snow said Wu’s idea would be more accurately described as “inquired about a budgeting strategy of laying off and rehiring the 42 employees using a new grant application,” a strategy Snow and City Manager Robert Layton disagreed with, the report says.

Wu celebrated the decision in a Facebook post and characterized the complaint as “absurd.”

“This was not just another case of a bully spreading lies in an attempt to damage my reputation while sowing division in our community,” Wu wrote. “It was also a childish misuse of the Ethics Board, trivializing the serious nature of their work. It’s unfortunate Wichitans had to deal with this distraction, and a shame some believed the allegations.”

The ethics board determined that statements by Wu and Snow conflict with the audio recording of the conversation between Snow and Bush.

“The Board is presented with conflicting and inconsistent facts,” the report says. “The Respondent (Wu) denies saying or doing what is alleged. Chief Snow denies that the Respondent said or did what is alleged, although her recorded comments to Complainant could be interpreted as being contradictory.”

In an audio recording provided to the ethics board, Snow told Bush: “she (Wu) came in, and she goes, ‘You need to lay off the 42 firefighters from the SAFER Grant.’”

Snow denied to the ethics investigator that Wu actually said that.

“She (Snow) says the recorded comments were in reference to [Wu] saying something different, not instructions to lay off 42 employees,” the report says.

Wu did not sit for an interview with investigators and instead submitted a written response to the complaint, which has not been made public.

“She generally argues through her response and exhibits that she did not instruct Chief Snow to lay off the 42 employees but discussed various options to address budgetary shortfalls,” the report says.

Layton, the city manager, told the board’s investigator that he met with both Snow and Wu around the time of the one-on-one meeting and neither one mentioned that Wu directed Snow to lay off 42 firefighters.

Layton told investigators that “Chief Snow told him the Mayor had asked about the scenario of laying off the employees in the context of another grant application to retain the employees. He said the Mayor did not discuss with him what exactly she said to Chief Snow at the time.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 8:17 PM.