EAST VALLEY -- East valley fire commissioners voted during Monday night's regularly scheduled meeting that the fire chief's resignation was no longer effective and that he'd be fired this fall instead.

The district's attorney explained fire chief Warren Gay's resignation was no longer valid because he and the district couldn't come to an agreement on a severance package.

Instead of accepting Gay's resignation, which he announced a couple weeks ago, commissioners have terminated the chief effective August 12th.

But Gay wasn't the only issue brought up during the meeting, which got heated at times.

Commissioner Dan McNulty defended himself after accusations he retaliated against district secretary Michelle Rosen for filing part of the complaints that put Gay on paid-leave in March.

Rosen claims the chief and McNulty created a hostile environment during an executive session that she had planned to speak about allegations Gay had yelled at her.

She also claimed that soon after the chief was put on paid-leave, McNulty retaliated against her when he was the only commissioner who voted "no" on her secretarial training, which she said is listed as part of her job duties.

McNulty denied retaliation, and said he voted "no" because the district couldn't afford to have a secretary off-duty soon after they had lost the chief.

"That didn't happen," he said.

"I don't believe you," Rosen replied.

Even a long-time East Valley volunteer took a jab at KIMA's coverage on chief Gay.

"Hopefully KIMA can research this also...and stop their emotionally based reporting," the volunteer said. "The whole chief Warren Gay story hasn't been told yet."

Gay was missing from the meeting. He resigned a couple weeks ago.

Since then he and the commissioners were supposed to agree on a severance package, but Gay told Action News over the phone Monday he rejected the offer, because that would mean he'd agree never to sue the district.

Commissioners decided Gay's rejection of the severance package also means they will no longer accept his resignation.

Instead, commissioners fired Gay effective this August.

Gay said he plans to file a lawsuit against the district.

This won't be the first time Gay's gotten fired as chief. Before coming to East Valley he worked for a west side fire department where he says a political rift between him and the mayor caused him to get fired too.

Commissioners have said they knew about Gay's past before firing him, and hired him to take on the district's challenges.

In a press release from the district, commissioners wrote,"a majority of the Board of Commissioners determined that the District needed to proceed with new leadership with a different set of management skills."

Gay was out-of-town and could not meet for an on-camera interview.