CINCINNATI — Former Cincinnati Fire Department Assistant Chief Sherman Smith will be reinstated, according to a decision by an arbitration panel. The decision comes roughly a year after the department first investigated Smith for sharing confidential information.
Cincinnati spokesperson Mollie Lair said Monday that Smith partially won his arbitration case. The arbitrator decided July 2 to reinstate Smith, but as a district chief instead of his former assistant chief position. The arbitrator said Smith must be reinstated within the next 30 days from the decision.
The department was also ordered to rescind Smith's termination from his record and convert it to a demotion. Other than his reinstatement, Smith was also awarded back pay and benefits from the date of his termination to the date of his reinstatement.
Smith, who led the department's Fire Prevention and Community Risk Reduction division before his termination, was sworn in as assistant chief in 2017 and has been with the department for more than 30 years.
A spokesperson with the Cincinnati Fire Department first said Smith was under investigation in July 2025. At the time, Cincinnati Fire Fighters Union Local 48 said neither the union nor Smith was given any details about the nature of the investigation. Several months later, Smith was terminated from his position in November 2025, but the department did not disclose what the investigation was about and what may have been discovered.
Records later obtained by WCPO 9 showed that Smith sent "confidential" information to former Fire Chief Michael Washington. Washington is currently suing the city over his own termination.
According to a report we obtained, an investigation into Smith began in June 2025 when confidential information shared during a Fire Command Staff meeting was believed to have been shared with people outside of the meeting.
Smith confirmed to investigators that he forwarded multiple emails to his wife's email and the email of former Chief Washington, including correspondence with current Fire Chief Frank McKinley, Local 48 President Joe Elliot, Internal Investigations Captain Ed Wallace and members of the city’s Law Department.
Smith also forwarded multiple documents, including the results from the Cincinnati Fire Department Climate Assessment, multiple investigation reports from the Law Department and results of an open complaint.
WATCH: Here's what the Cincinnati Fire Department investigated Smith for
The report says Smith told officials he did not view any of the correspondence or documents as confidential and said no documents were connected to Washington's ongoing wrongful termination lawsuit against the city. In his interviews, Smith is quoted as saying he shared them with Washington because he "trusted Mike's judgment."
Also included in many records is Smith's forwarding to his wife's email. He told investigators he did that to access his emails outside of work. The investigation also determined Smith used the email for personal business, like responding to family members or other businesses. He said that was because managing multiple emails "gets to be quite a lot."
Per the report, Smith violated multiple policies, including those regarding information security, computer operations and ethical conduct.
In the arbitrator's decision, they did acknowledge that the Cincinnati Fire Department had the right to discipline Smith, but they did not agree with the termination.
"While it had just cause to discipline the Grievant, the Employer did not have just cause to discharge him," the arbitration award reads.
Local 48's Joe Elliot shared a statement with us after the arbitration ruling.
"The arbitration process exists to ensure fairness, due process and accountability for both employees and employers. This decision reaffirms the importance of due process and the protections afforded under our collective bargaining agreement," the statement says in part. "The Cincinnati Fire Fighters Union Local 48 respects the arbitration process and the rule of law."
A Cincinnati spokesperson also issued a statement saying the arbitrator's decision "vindicates" the city's previous discipline of Smith for "knowingly violating City policies."
"Given the severity of his actions, the City believed Smith's termination was the appropriate discipline," the statement says in part. "On this point, the arbitrator determined that Smith 'can no longer be trusted as an Assistant Chief,' and concluded that his 'misconduct disqualifies him from reinstatement as an Assistant Fire Chief.' Accordingly, the arbitrator demoted Smith to District Chief and gave Fire Chief McKinley 'sole and unfettered discretion' to place him in an appropriate position."
The spokesperson also said the city is continuing to review the arbitrator's decision and will determine its next steps.
