Eudora ? More than four months after he was arrested for damaging a room at an Olathe hotel where he was attending a party, Spencer McCabe was fired Tuesday as Eudora’s fire chief.

“There was no public action taken,” said City Administrator Mike Yanez. “Being a personnel matter, everything was done confidentially.”

McCabe had been on suspension without pay since he was arrested in August after he punched holes in a hotel wall and pulled out a towel rack.

McCabe’s firing came on the heels of an earlier council meeting when the council publicly directed the city attorney to “proceed on some actions,” Yanez said, declining to say specifically what those actions were.

The late August incident occurred as McCabe and off-duty Eudora Police officers, including Chief Greg Dahlem, were attending a birthday party for an officer’s wife at a Holiday Inn. The damage was caused after McCabe reportedly had an argument with his girlfriend.

McCabe initially was charged in Johnson County District Court with felony criminal damage to property after police and prosecutors alleged he caused more than $1,000 damage to the room.

The charge later was reduced to a misdemeanor, to which McCabe pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to one year of probation. If he violates probation requirements, he could be jailed for six months. McCabe also was ordered to make restitution for damages to the hotel. A restitution amount hasn’t been agreed on, said McCabe’s attorney, Tim Riling.

Riling said he and McCabe thought the situation had been blown out of proportion.

“It sounded like a lot more significant event than it was,” Riling said. “Rock stars do a lot more damage than this.”

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Riling also said that while McCabe and his girlfriend had been involved in “a minor disagreement,” she was not in the room or the hotel when the damage was caused.

“It was more complicated than that,” Riling said. “I think this was the buildup of a lot of stresses in his life. It wasn’t just related to that event.”

McCabe wouldn’t comment on the matter, but Riling said his client was disappointed by the city’s action. He noted McCabe had owned up to his mistake.

“They (Eudora city officials) should want someone who is honest and responsible,” Riling said. “Tell me of one person who hasn’t been irresponsible at some point in time.”

Riling said he didn’t know what McCabe would do now that he has been fired. “He loved his job,” Riling said.

McCabe had been Eudora’s part-time fire chief for several years when he was appointed full-time chief in spring of 2003. The council will begin talking about hiring a new chief at its Dec. 27 meeting, Yanez said.

Since McCabe’s suspension, Mike Underwood has been the acting chief.