Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson formally responded Monday to the International Association of Firefighters’ recent censure of him.

“They get out there and make a whole bunch of statements that mean nothing,” he said Monday. “My first response would be to ignore them because it’s meaningless, but I’m honest with the public and I want the public to be aware.”

The members of the Butler Fire Department also make up IAFF Local 114.

Donaldson’s response states that the city council unanimously passed the updated civil service rules and regulations as required in September 2015, spending thousands of dollars in the process.

He stated that “the Fraternal Order of Police accepted the updated rules and subsequent promotions have been made by the rules.”

This is in response to the censure’s statement that the civil service rules and regulations “conflict with the provisions of Local 114’s collective bargaining agreement,” and that “Local 114 and its members have spent thousands of dollars in legal fees defending members in grievance and arbitration proceedings.”

The civil service rules and regulations require hiring and promotions through testing. Local 114 filed a grievance with Butler, stating that these rules were in violation of the IAFF’s collective bargaining contract.

The grievance was settled by council in a 3-2 vote in April, with Donaldson voting against the settlement and calling it “illegal.” He refused to sign the agreement.

Following the settlement, Local 114 President Jim Kaufman and Donald McCoy were promoted to captain and lieutenant, respectively. Donaldson abstained from voting, anticipating the council would be sued over the promotions.

“While I am a member of the grievance board I was not consulted when several members of council chose to settle this grievance,” Donaldson said in his statement.

“That settlement allowed for two promotions to be made against the rules. The settlement is not a legal settlement as I have not signed it, thus the grievance is not settled.”

Kaufman commented on the statement Monday.

“The (collective bargaining agreement) supersedes those items until that contract expires,” he said. “We will deal with those items when the contract expires.”

Donaldson’s statement also responds to the censure’s reference to his demotion of former fire chief Nick Ban, which did not end up happening because Ban retired.

“The issue of the demotion is a nonissue,” Donaldson said in the statement. “I acted within my authority.”

Donaldson’s statement also says that Ban advised him before his retirement that the IAFF had voted to remove him from the union, though the statement said Donaldson has no knowledge if that happened.

Donaldson said Monday Ban told him that in February or March.

Ban could not be reached for comment Monday. Kaufman commented on Donaldson’s statement.

“That’s not a union position,” he said. “They have always voluntarily paid their contributed union dues toward the union.

“What we did, and it had nothing to do with (Ban) personally, is we stopped accepting those voluntary donations for the fact that by accepting those donations there was some uncertainty in having to represent that position to some point when we had no authority to represent that position ...”

Donaldson’s statement also responded to the censure’s claim that his actions have led city employees to seek other employment or to retire.

Donaldson called the claims false and unsupported by facts.

“I would like to note that at no time have I ever made any of this personal, but it’s clear to see that the IAFF does not operate as such,” Donaldson said in his statement.

Donaldson said Monday that he supports the fire department, but advocates change.

“I am and always have been an advocate for public safety,” he said, echoing a statement in his formal response. “I support the firefighters and the job they do. They do a great job.

“We cannot continue to staff and schedule the way we do, though, and if we’re forced to wait until the next contract we’ll just delay the savings.”