A lawsuit alleging the wrongful termination of former Little Dixie Fire Chief Eric Hartman was filed against the agency April 15.

The lawsuit stems from Hartman’s termination by the Little Dixie Fire Protection District Board of Directors on May 15, 2025.

The lawsuit alleges two counts against Little Dixie — whistleblower retaliation and wrongful discharge in violation of public policy — claiming Hartman was fired because he was about to report suspected “prohibited activity.” The lawsuit was filed by Donald Weaver of Weaver and Associates in Columbia.

The petition, filed on Hartman’s behalf, claims that at the time of Hartman’s dismissal, Little Dixie was aware Hartman believed that Kenneth Hoover, board secretary-treasurer and custodian of records, was illegally using the fire district’s sales tax exemption letter to avoid paying sales tax on personal purchases; Little Dixie was illegally holding board meetings outside of the district; the “opt-out” system of collecting fire district taxes was in violation of state law; and Little Dixie’s planned purchase of land from Hoover would create public safety concerns and represent a “significant waste” of taxpayer funds.

Hartman began serving as fire chief on April 1, 2025, after Bill Albus announced his retirement in January 2025, according to previous reporting.

According to the lawsuit, on March 15, prior to his planned start date, Hartman staffed Little Dixie Fire Station 1 due to the funeral of Battalion Chief John Loveless. During that shift, Jay Schutte, chairman of the fire district’s board of directors, stopped by the office to speak with Hartman. Schutte then brought Hartman to a plot of land owned by Hoover, who intended to sell the land to Little Dixie to use as the location of a new fire station. In response, Hartman said the plot was outside Little Dixie’s geographical boundaries and located in a floodplain, possibly making the station inaccessible for response during flash flooding, and raising the foundation above the floodplain would add significant cost.

The petition claims that in April 2025, Albus told Hartman there were properties within the fire district that “opt out” of paying fire district taxes and that Little Dixie bills the property owner if crews respond to the property.

“During this conversation, Mr. Hartman expressed to Mr. Albus that he believed that the ‘opt-out’ practice described by Mr. Albus was in violation of state law,” the lawsuit said.“Mr. Albus instructed Mr. Hartman not to spend time on that issue because it would ‘piss off a lot of people.’”

At the April 8 board meeting, Hartman requested the board work on the terms of a contract between himself and Little Dixie, at which time Hoover was assigned to draft the contract for presentation at the May 6 meeting, according to the lawsuit.

The board did not present the contract at the May 6 meeting, and on May 15, Hartman arrived at his office and found four of the five board members present, according to the lawsuit. Schutte informed Hartman that the board met May 14 and voted to terminate his employment, effective immediately.

According to the lawsuit, when Hartman asked why he was being terminated, Schutte told him that Assistant Fire Chief Bill Friday said that Hartman should not be trusted.

The petition claims that during his tenure, Hartman had no substantiated complaints, findings of misconduct, negative performance evaluations, nor had he received any progressive discipline or notice of concern, leaving him with “no meaningful opportunity for him to respond before termination.”

“During his comments on May 15, 2025, Mr. Schutte said that Mr. Hartman was ‘misrepresenting a situation in a big way,’” the lawsuit said. “In fact, Mr. Hartman never misrepresented any situation, in any way, and Mr. Schutte’s comment demonstrates that Mr. Hartman’s employment was not terminated for any performance-related reasons but because Mr. Hartman had reported, or was about to report, his concerns of potential wrongdoing.”

Little Dixie was served April 16. The petition requests $25,000 in damages on each count and the reinstatement of Hartman as Little Dixie fire chief, including compensation for lost wages and benefits that would have accrued since May 15.

Current Little Dixie Fire Chief Jason Henry declined to comment, stating that this all began before he was in office, and board members have not responded to a request for comment.