By Max Bryan
The Detroit News
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Four part-time Grand Blanc Township firefighters are suing the township and its superintendent, alleging they were retaliated against after they advocated for the fire chief to keep his job following the September 2025 attack on a Mormon church.
Fire Chief Jamie Jent was placed on administrative leave and briefly considered for termination in the month after a gunman on Sept. 28 drove into the township’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, killing four and burning the building to the ground. Jent said he was placed on leave after he refused to take part in a “unified front” with the township’s Board of Trustees about fire department staffing and response.
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Township officials have not commented publicly on the reason for Jent being placed on leave. Jent was later reinstated.
The federal lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, was filed by four part-time Grand Blanc Township firefighters: Alexander Newton, Alfred Perry, Ryan Jeltema and Jakob Stifferman. All of the firefighters have been with the department since at least 2023; Stifferman has been with the department since 2011.
In their complaint, they allege the township and Superintendent Dennis Liimatta made it impossible for them to become full-time firefighters after they advocated for Jent’s reinstatement.
The plaintiffs allege Liimatta changed hiring methods so they “would not even qualify to take the test” to become full-time firefighters, the lawsuit states.
Jeltema and Stifferman further allege they had applied and qualified to take the test before September 2025.
"(The defendants were) predisposed to harass, discriminate and retaliate against plaintiffs on the basis of their exercising their First Amendment right to free speech,” the lawsuit states.
"(The) defendants’ actions were intentional, or were carried out with reckless indifference to plaintiffs’ rights and sensibilities.”
Liimatta did not immediately respond to a phone call Monday afternoon about the lawsuit. Township Supervisor Scott Bennett said he would review the lawsuit before commenting.
The lawsuit further alleges that Jent brought up concerns about the fire department’s staffing levels before the Sept. 28 attack. For most of 2025, the department had six full-time firefighters and 28 part-time firefighters, according to records.
After the attack, Jent stressed to the trustees his desire to be able to efficiently achieve the federal “two in, two out” rule that requires four firefighters be on scene before search and rescue can begin.
Township leaders in December voted to add one full-time firefighter position to the staff following Jent’s request.
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