By Peggy Lim
The News & Observer
Copyright 2007 The News and Observer
SELMA, N.C. — Selma firefighters dumping their gear in the mayor’s driveway last week did not stop town council members from voting Tuesday to replace the town’s volunteer fire chief with a full-time employee.
Mayor Charles Hester said the change was necessary to make the fire department more professional and improve response times.
“We’re the last fire company to get to a fire even when it’s in town,” he said, citing one major fire that devoured an abandoned cotton mill on Lizzie Mill Road last year.
The vote had been opposed by firefighters, who wanted to continue the tradition of electing a chief from their own ranks.
Last week, 10 of the town’s 25 part-time firefighters protested the proposed change by leaving their gear at the mayor’s house. All 10 were suspended without pay for a week. Their employment status is undetermined.
Joe Moore, a former mayor and a retired firefighter who had joined the protest last week, pleaded with town council members Tuesday: “Let the firefighters elect the chief. That’s the way it’s always been done.”
Moore said he knew some people accused the fire department of being a “good old boys” club more interested in protecting its fraternity than town residents.
“But when you’re at home and it’s 30 degrees outside,” Moore said. “it’s the good ol’ boys out there putting out fires.”
Some firefighters have indicated they would be better equipped to pick a fire chief than the town manager. But Al Gaskill, a lifelong Selma resident and former firefighter, said just because the town manager is not the one running into burning houses doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be able to select a good fire chief.
“He doesn’t police the streets, but he hires the police chief,” he said. “He doesn’t climb the light pole, but he hires the electrical superintendent.”
Still, Gaskill advised the council to move slowly,
“You’re changing over 50 years of tradition,” said Gaskill, former director of Johnston County’s 911 system. “Don’t swallow the hog all at once.”
Firefighters had hoped that the town would hire an engineer to help maintain their $3 million in equipment, rather than pay $55,000 a year for a full-time fire chief. They said the town was getting a bargain with its current part-time fire chief, Joe Price, who gets a monthly stipend of $350. Price, also the town’s water and sewer manager, has been with the fire department for more than 30 years.
But town officials said hiring a full-time fire chief now would make the position more accountable to residents versus department employees. Farmer said the department was sometimes managed improperly in the past. He said last year he had to close checking accounts the department had opened in violation of state law.
Hester said Selma would add other full-time employees as it could afford it.
Today, town officials will meet with officers of the fire department in a closed meeting to discuss the change. Farmer said he has yet to make a decision about the 10 suspended firefighters.