Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

On Tuesday, March 4, the Winchester City Commission agreed to hire Micah Whiteley—the son of current Winchester Fire Department Chief Chris Whiteley—as its newest member. 

However, the matter was not without controversy. 

The 4-1 vote, with City Commissioner Shannon Cox as the dissenting vote, was brought up at the recent City Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 18. 

At the March 4 meeting, Cox acknowledged voting ‘no’ on an employee for the first time. 

“For the first time since I’ve been on this Commission…I have to cast a ‘no’ vote on a hire,” said Cox, a member of the Commission since 1999. 

Cox raised concerns that nepotism could be interpreted. 

At that time, City Attorney William Dykeman also spoke. 

“The whole idea of [an] anti-nepotism ordinance in being strictly construed was because there were some places where someone could be elected and put everybody in the family, including maybe the [family] cat, on the public payroll,” Dykeman said, recalling a previous ordinance that was since amended. 

He continued. 

“The transition in time with more transparency through the…Open Meeting Acts has made that…less effective, and that’s why I think [an amended portion] was added…that says, ‘unless otherwise prohibited, as outlined above, a family member of an employee will be eligible for employment with the city if no potential conflicts and supervision in the city, safety, security, and morale exists’…what that tells me is it’s a case-by-case basis…my opinion is that [the hiring] is legal…it does not offend the entirety of the ordinance.” 

At the meeting on Tuesday, March 18, Chief Whitely raised concerns about how the hiring took place. 

“On March 4, 2025, during a City Commission meeting, six of the seven probationary firefighters were in attendance. At this point, they had interviewed, accepted a job offer, successfully passed the required medical physical for the fire service, and presented two weeks’ notices to their previous employer,” he said. “This occasion should have been one of joy and welcoming as they began their journey as a Winchester firefighter. Instead, my son Micah was called out by name and asked if he could wait a month. This action [contradicts] past precedent and was only intended to hurt me. Nowhere within the recommended employee offers submitted by the City Manager could I find a single vote of no in the City of Winchester’s history.” 

Earlier, Chief Whiteley had read information to “[provide] the absolute transparency in the conducted hiring process, verification of its integrity, and dispute any insinuation to the contrary.” 

A major disagreement involved the statement that Cox had heard from other members of the Winchester Fire Department raising similar concerns and complaints. 

Winchester Fire Department firefighter Tyler Tays, who serves as Vice President of the Winchester Firefighters Union Local 1807, spoke of the matter. 

“On the comments made…we investigated this. We talked with every single member of the department, which is 100% union members, and that was not our consensus. [As] a matter of fact, not one person said that they reached out to you,” said Tays, who also addressed Cox directly. “Although you are entitled [to] your opinion on how this can affect the city of Winchester and our department, you have no right to speak on behalf of the men and women of the Winchester Fire Department.” 

Commissioner Cox disagreed with the remarks from Tays, stating that he had heard from others. 

“There’s four [of them] in this room right now,” he said. 

When pressed to identify if such actions were for political gain, Cox responded. 

“I’m not going to dignify this with a personal response,” he said. “I don’t respond to personal attacks.” 

Tays opined that the actions toward Micah Whiteley constituted a personal attack before further discussion and argument continued. 

Afterward, Winchester Mayor JoEllen Reed addressed letters received from Winchester Professional Firefighters L1807 and Chief Nathan Mulvey, President of the Kentucky Association of Fire Chiefs, supporting the hiring of Micah Whiteley and Chief Whiteley. 

City Commissioner Joe Chenault also spoke during the meeting. 

“On the positive side, it passed,” he said, with Tays responding that the effect of the decision tempted Micah Whiteley to consider quitting the WFD. “I think since it passed…the positive should override the negative. So, he shouldn’t quit.”