Ross Commissioners have fired an 18-year veteran of the police force who is scheduled for a second Navy deployment to Iraq next month.

Commissioners voted 8-0 to terminate Patrolman Robert Gaertner at their business meeting last night.

Officials offered no details on why they fired Mr. Gaertner. "This is a personnel matter," Commissioners President Daniel DeMarco said.

"I've got a wife and two kids," Mr. Gaertner said after the meeting. "I don't know what I am going to do."

He said he has filed a grievance objecting to his dismissal and will ask an independent arbitrator to reinstate him.

Mr. Gaertner said the dispute centered around accounting issues, some of which involved the township's procedures for making up the difference between his military and police pay.

Following his previous periods of active service, Mr. Gaertner said he received his regular pay, then reimbursed the township via payroll deductions after he received his final military compensation. Following his last tour, there was confusion over about $3,400 in repayments, he said.

Another issue involved his work schedule and military compensation for attending veterans' funerals while he was assigned to light police duty following a knee injury.