KENNER, La. — A new fire station near Loyola Drive and Veterans Boulevard, the first project funded partly by an $11 million fire tax, should have been a celebration for the Kenner Fire Department. Instead, the milestone is overshadowed by a bitter feud within the department, with firefighters calling for their chief's removal.
The Kenner Fire Fighters Association has issued a vote of no confidence in Fire Chief Terence Morris, citing staffing shortages, budget mismanagement and lack of transparency.
"What we were asking for is the mayor and the council to look at this," said Matt Hotard, union president. "We don't take it lightly that we have to put this out. We don't. It's a very serious thing."
The union claims the department has suffered significant personnel losses. "In 2023 we lost 7 suppression members, we've lost 10 total between 2023 and now and so, we cannot sustain losing personnel," Hotard said.
Morris said the rebuke caught him off guard. "The vote of no confidence and the things that they laid out in the vote of no confidence are easily disproven with facts and statements and documents," he said.
Mayor Michael Glaser has thrown his full support behind Morris. "He's given me no indication he's not capable of performing the job," Glaser said. "I really think it's a conflict of personalities."
The mayor noted that Kenner achieved the city’s top fire rating for the first time on Morris’s watch, saving residents money on their property insurance.
Morris said he will continue to do his best to protect the community. "I have no plans of going anywhere, anytime soon.”
The union has also filed a lawsuit against the city involving a pay dispute for 120 current and former firefighters.
The new Kenner fire station is expected to be completed in spring 2026.
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