First, we all had to play the game of “Where’s Waldo?” with former Mayor Hardie Davis Jr.. Now, the game has shifted to trying to locate Augusta Fire Chief Antonio Burden.
Unlike Davis, who spent his last years in office racking up frequent flier miles, Burden appears to be hiding somewhere in a bunker.
Over the past several months, the Fire Department has had two fire trucks damaged or totaled in wrecks, and one caught on fire.
Most recently, a shift commander ran over the body of a fatal gunshot victim as he was leaving a crime scene.
We must give Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree credit, as he addressed the shootout between rival biker groups immediately after the situation occurred.
However, Burden’s response to the public was crickets.
Burden declined to even release a written statement.
It is a waste of taxpayer’s money even to have a public information officer in the fire department. Under Burden’s administration, the PIO isn’t allowed to release information. Open records requests are routed through the city’s public information officer.
This is a prime example of why cronyism in hiring is anathema to good government.
Burden doesn’t come out of his bunker and address public concerns because he knows he doesn’t have to as long as he has those magic six votes from the Augusta Commission to keep his job.
What the fire chief does not understand is that failure to address public concerns leads to an out-of-control rumor mill in the age of social media.
Stories about drug dealing in firehouses, department employees producing soft porn on the internet and even sexual assaults in the workplace have dogged an otherwise stellar and professional fire department.
For the sake of his employees, the reputation of his department and in the interest of the public good, we call on Burden to stop being afraid of his own shadow and diving into a spider hole when a journalist attempts to speak with him on the record about matters the public has a justified interest in.
