Board approves amended ordinance allowing Hendersonville fire chief to preserve excess vacation hours through 2026

Hendersonville’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Sept. 23 approved an amended budget ordinance addressing excess vacation carryover for Fire Chief Scotty (Scotty) Bush, allowing him additional time to use accrued hours and specifying how unused excess would be handled.

The measure, Ordinance 2025-16 as amended, passed on final vote 10–3 after an extended discussion of precedent, personnel policy and potential fiscal impact. The adopted amendment (offered by Alderman John Robertson) preserves Chief Bush’s 349 excess carryover vacation hours and gives him additional time to use them; hours remaining above the city’s maximum allowance after the extension will convert to sick leave for years-of-service credit rather than producing an immediate unilateral cash payout at adoption.

At the outset of the item Alderman Lance Evans moved the ordinance as originally written, which would have allowed the chief to be paid out for excess hours at separation; several aldermen and staff asked for changes…