The Town of Kingsville is launching an internal investigation involving its fire chief.
60-year old Bob Kissner has been formally charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation involving a minor.
Mayor, Nelson Santos, says an internal investigation is standard procedure when there's an incident involving a staff member.
"The municipality itself, under our obligations, we're going to try to do an internal investigation just to cover ourselves referencing Bill 168 and workplace safety. That'll be an internal investigation and we'll see how much information we can get from that as well. We have to allow the process to go through. We'll presume innocence until proven guilty."
He says the town takes workplace safety very seriously.
"We are addressing the concerns that have been brought forward. These are serious allegations, serious charges. The municipality has taken appropriate steps to ensure that we aren't leaving any bases uncovered. We want to address any concerns that come forward from the public."
Santos says the allegations have hit the town hard.
"Being the top for our fire department is something that holds high responsibility. We are a small community. Everyone is connected whether it's to our management, to our staff. We've worked as a collective team. That hasn't changed. We react like a family would react and we're going to work together to ensure that we can get through this."
Kissner appeared in a Windsor court Monday and has been released on $15,000 bail.
He will be back in court January 10.
In the meantime, Deputy Chief Jeff Dean has been appointed as acting fire chief.