City of Sparks releases statement on Chief Lawson’s resignation

SPARKS, Nev. (KOLO) - The City of Sparks has released a statement regarding the departure of Fire Chief Mark Lawson:

“Late last week, the City of Sparks received information affecting newly appointed Fire Chief Mark Lawson’s continued employment with the City of Sparks. Based on this information, Manager Neil Krutz asked for and received Chief Lawson’s resignation.”

“This is an unfortunate situation. I was enjoying getting to know Chief Lawson and was excited to see how he would move Sparks Fire Department forward,” said Krutz.

The Sparks City Council approved Chief Lawson’s employment agreement on November 28, 2022. The City of Sparks has made no decision on hiring a new fire chief, and said in a statement that it will not be commenting further on the matter.

Lawson was fired after the city learned of pending criminal charges against him.

In a YouTube video, Sparks City Manager Neil Krutz said city officials learned of the charges late last week. After verifying that charges were indeed pending against Lawson, the city asked for his resignation Monday morning.

While it did not specify what those charges would be, the city said that they felt it was appropriate to part ways given the severity of the charges against him.

Krutz went on to say that it will take time to evaluate what they will do next to fill the vacant position.

The full video posted by the city can be found below:

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