Now that the city of Augusta has been forced by court order to release documents pertaining to the selection of a new fire chief, more questions are emerging about the top candidate and how he made the cut.
That top candidate is DeKalb County Deputy Fire Chief Antonio Burden, who rose to the top of an impressive list of candidates.
Emails between GovHR, a Northbrook, Ill., firm and the city between January and April of this year indicate that city officials did not follow the advice they paid $8,108 for. Burden rose to the top of the list despite not being recommended by GovHR as one of the top candidates.
The recruitment firm recruited 51 potential candidates as of March 8, according to emails from Tim Sashko, the company’s vice president.
MORE: Augusta Fire Chief Finalist Search Already Mired in Controversy
GovHR USA conducted initial interviews winnowed the list of candidates down to a handful who were interviewed by a panel of six city representatives. The panel included Freddie Broome, GMA, former fire chief; Randall Slaughter, retired fire chief for the city of Atlanta; Spencer Hawkins, EMA director, Macon-Bibb County; Shaw Williams, interim fire chief Augusta; Anita Rookard, Augusta’s director of Human Resources; and Odie Donald, city administrator.
Emails from the recruitment firm indicate that they anticipated having 10 final candidates for interviews.
“Everyone has really strong work histories and backgrounds and moving them from the ‘paper’ view to ‘live’ has been very much aligned with our anticipation,” Sashko wrote in a March 16 email.
Rookard requested an update on March 22 so that she could update the city administrator and commission. Rookard also requested the city administrator and herself be able to listen in on the initial interviews.
Sashko responded on March 25 that interviews with the candidates had been completed and that they were working on due diligence on the candidates. The 51 candidates were reduced down to 11 in total and divided into two tiers. The email described the tiers as, “Tier 1 is the top candidates, likely 7-8. Tier 2 are very solid candidates and are there for consideration. They usually don’t rise to the top unless we run into any problems with the Tier 1 group.”
The recruiting firm went on to say that the selection of who moved on to final interviews was the city’s.
On March 22 Sashko stated, “We have to start the planned transition from technical and professional skills to the personal aspects of who they are. John and I have already vetted all of the technical, program, initiatives, budget, HR and many other subjects.”
Three days later, Rookard requested more info on Greg Benson, Antonio Burden, Richard James and Steven McWhorter.
This email was the first time the name Antonio Burden appeared in the email correspondence between the city and GovHR USA.
Sashko responded on March 25 that they only had resumes on the four additional candidates and that their files were incomplete. The four candidates, which included Burden, were not Tier 1 or Tier 2 candidates. They then sought clarification from Rookard, asking if she was sure she wanted to see the files on the four candidates. She responded in the affirmative.
Sashko emailed the files but went on to clarify what they were sending.
“Just to confirm, we have not done any backgrounds, performed due diligence, interviews or any other components of the recruitment process of these candidates, with the exception of Chief Benson. He has been in processes before, but given the needs of the department based on all factors we’ve evaluated, we felt the field we provided suited your needs the best. If any of these candidates were selected, it would likely be about 2 weeks to get them processed like the other candidates we have produced at the earliest, so clearly would not be ready for next week (interviews).”
On March 26 City Administrator Donald requested that Antonio Burden and Adam House from Sacramento, Calif., be added to the list of candidates to be interviewed. This was the first time House appeared as prospective candidate, according to the emails between Rookard and Sashko later that day.
The list of 51 candidates on March 8 was reduced to approximately 11 by March 22. Of that group, Donald selected five candidates that GovHR USA felt were qualified. Donald added Burden and House to the list making the final count seven.
Sashko questioned the addition of Adam House.
“He did not rank well at all, so uncertain as to the direction,” Sashko wrote.
“I’m just worried about setting up times, etc., with potential candidates, especially with those we’ve already indicated were not moving forward based on the original rating and having to try to pull this together for Tuesday or Wednesday – All of the new resumes selected have had no contact with us,” Sashko stated.
Burden and House had no previous contact with the recruiting firm, according to Sashko. Neither of them ranked as Tier 1 or Tier 2 candidates, which is why they were eliminated from the initial selection of candidates.
Donald indicated via email that “all interested candidates were vetted by Augusta via GOVHR.” But GovHR weeded out Burden.
“Of those candidates, the two additional listed were considered quality potential candidates (based on years of service, staff size, budget size, and/or similar community), and information and further vetting was requested,” according to Donald.
The city refused to comply with open records requests asking for the names and info on the final candidates, but the candidates were made aware that their info could be released if they went to the final round of interviews, according to emails from Sashko on April 13.
“There is the potential of full disclosure as a candidate for this process. Please make sure you are positioned as you would like to be as a candidate for any public statements that can be developed from the process Thursday,” Sashko wrote.
Donald responded to questions about how Burden was added to the list of candidates.
“While multiple team members narrow down the list, ultimately, I authorize the recommended list of initial interviews of all executive candidates including all who were included in this process (his emphasis),” Donald responded by email.
Burden’s qualifications are now available to the public as a result of an open records lawsuit The Augusta Press and other local media filed in April. One of the records obtained as a result of that successful lawsuit was a rating sheet for candidates. Burden scored 10 out of 20 possible points, lower than at least one other candidate.
Court records also show that Burden has been found in contempt of court twice and has been taken to court on two other occasions for not paying his bills.
Back in May 2020, Burden was suspended from his DeKalb County job for five days after he and his county-issued vehicle were seen at a liquor store, according to his personnel file.
As recently as 2019, Burden was found in contempt of court for refusing to pay alimony to his ex-wife in the amount of $11,400. The complaint asked for Burden to be “incarcerated until he purges his contempt.”
One name that is curiously missing from the list of possible candidates is that of applicant Jeremy Kendrick, whose last job in Augusta was as an assistant chief for the fire department at Augusta Regional Airport. Kendrick is a name prominently known and respected in the firefighter community.
A level four-rated fire fighter (the highest rating), Kendrick is not only trained to handle burning buildings, but airplanes as well. His time working at SRS meant that he is also now trained in crisis management should a nuclear accident occur.
Kendrick is hailed by his colleagues for being among the first responders to the deadly 2005 Graniteville train derailment that released nearly 60 tons of chlorine into the air, killed nine people, and left hundreds injured.
Kendrick said he applied for the fire chief position but never heard back from the recruiting firm GovHR. Kendrick says he wasn’t given the courtesy of even a polite rejection letter.
“I’m just perplexed, like everyone else, how a person who is rated officer two could be picked over a bunch of guys who are rated four. It just doesn’t make sense,” Kendrick said.
The County Commission is set to vote on whether or not to hire Antonio Burden later this month.
Scott Hudson is the Managing Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
