Sycamore officials said nothing this week about what led to the change in leadership at the top of the Sycamore Fire Department during the first Sycamore City Council meeting since an interim Sycamore Fire Chief was hired.

A Sycamore firefighter confirmed that a new interim fire chief was in charge on March 5, amid online rumors that swirled about the employment status of former Fire Chief Bart Gilmore.

Those rumors suggested Gilmore was no longer the fire chief as a result of comments made by Gilmore in the wake of a fire that devastated the former Tom & Jerry’s building on Jan. 31. Shaw Local News Network hasn’t been able to confirm whether that’s true or not.

Gilmore at the time told city officials that a lack of department staffing made it so that the department’s ladder truck couldn’t be driven to the Tom & Jerry’s fire that morning.

City officials have remained tight-lipped about the matter, refusing to comment on Gilmore or confirm whether he’s still employed with the city or not.

Sycamore father Kyle Straughn, a firefighter and paramedic who has not worked directly with Gilmore, was the first to speak during the public comment period on Monday. He defended Gilmore’s character.

“Chief Gilmore spoke the truth about a long-standing issue, one I’m sure you are all aware of,” Straughn said.

Though he never worked with Gilmore, Straughn said he was treated with respect by Gilmore, who was the battalion chief at the DeKalb Fire Department when, years ago, he did an ambulance ride-along as a medical student. He said he was “ecstatic” when he found out Gilmore would become Sycamore’s fire chief in 2023.

He told the City Council that he believes the city had made the wrong decision in seeking to replace Gilmore.

“You have failed your oath, you have failed your office, you have failed the people that employ you and those that elected you,” Straughn said. “You should be ashamed of your choices and actions. You work for the city and its citizens, so do your job and make the wrongs right.”

The Sycamore City Council didn’t respond to public comments during the meeting, not an uncommon procedure during council meetings. City Manager Michael Hall also did not offer any comments on Sycamore fire leadership during the meeting.

Hall previously told Shaw Local that retired DeKalb Fire Chief Mike Thomas would be hired as the new interim Sycamore Fire Chief on March 9. On his first week, Thomas said he planned to address department staffing “when the time’s right.”

City officials have repeatedly said they cannot comment on personnel matters when asked what led to the change in Gilmore’s employment. They did not comment on the change in leadership during the Sycamore City Council meeting Monday – the first since Gilmore’s departure.

Three people spoke about the decision to change fire department leadership, however. Two of them spoke against the change, while Ted Strack – an 18-year veteran of the Sycamore Park District – supported the decision.

Strack said he believes the mutual aid system the city uses worked properly during the fire response, but said the Sycamore Fire Department’s response was a “failure.”

Strack alleged that off-duty Sycamore firefighters didn’t come help when a mutual aid call went out. Sycamore is part of the region’s Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, which utilizes area fire response agencies to help assist nearby departments when their firefighters are otherwise occupied at 911 calls.

“Area fire departments responded in spades,” Strack said. “The same cannot be said of the off-duty firefighters. ... This is a failure of leadership on the part of the fire chief.”