ADENA, Ohio -- The Adena mayor has asked for the termination of Police Chief Joe Irwin. This comes after months of defending Irwin and fighting council to keep him in his position.

"I'm not proud of the decision to terminate a person, it's not my style, but its something I had to do for the better of the village of Adena," said Mayor Ray Jeskey.

Jeskey called for Irwin’s termination citing Irwin's other job at the Belmont County sheriff's office -- he wasn't covering enough hours in Adena.

"It's my responsibility as the mayor to make sure these get taken care of. I've been calling and getting no response. In my way of looking, it's time to move on," said Jeskey.

It’s a change of tune for Jeskey. Irwin is the same man he's been going to bat for against council members for months.

"There was an incident with the president of council while I was at work. That got everything all messed up. It was a bad situation," said Jeskey.

Since January, there were concerns over whether Iriwn should have been on the job as police chief in the first place.

Jeskey said he took it upon himself to appoint Irwin and claims council never opposed the move. But soon after, council members wanted Irwin out after claiming he wasn’t in the position legally and claimed he was seen driving in cruisers with people who weren’t certified to be riding with him.

Jeskey claims it was a “paperwork issue” and that council never had grounds to terminate Irwin.

"He's a good officer number. I don't believe what they tried to get rid of him for was means of termination," said Jeskey.

Six months later though, it's Jeskey who called for Irwin's termination.

NEWS9 has a call into Irwin for his side of the story.

Irwin has the right to appeal the termination. He can do that at the next meeting if he chooses.

The mayor plans to interview candidates for the police chief position at a meeting Thursday night.