After almost a decade of leadership by former fire chief Chris James, Augusta appears to have landed a well-qualified outsider — some may argue that last statement — to serve as its new fire chief.
Tony Burden, a deputy chief from Dekalb County Fire-Rescue, was “picked” from the group of four as the top contender for fire chief. However, it seems the pick and the selection process may be under scrutiny – since the rules state that at least three names must be released.
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The other names included an assistant chief from Philly, a deputy chief from Virginia and a former Deputy Chief from Augusta (Sterling Jones). Some say Jones should have been the favorite for the job. Well, that was until Charlie Coleman, union president or association president (or whatever his title is now), decided to text commissioners and express the “union’s support” for Chief Sterling Jones. For some, that immediately moved Jones to the bottom of the list.
The story I heard from a few people is that Jones was a shining star in the department, shining brighter than Chief James. Then, let’s just say James made it where Jones didn’t want to stay any longer. I can definitely understand that feeling.
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Chief Jones was, from all accounts, high on the list. Chief Burden? Not so much. Either way, the consensus was to go with Burden and then “all hell broke loose.” Stories of Burden begin to circulate.
The one I find most damaging was the WSB story about his tenure as fire marshal, signing off on and allowing a building (a school, to be exact) to pass, and then it burned down. YIKES! I called a few of my locals in DeKalb. They gave me a bit more insight about the story and said it wasn’t totally his fault.
There was a firefighter who didn’t want to pass it, and Burden had him removed. Sound familiar? For those I lost in the first inning, the retaliation was a commonality with a past fire chief.
Either way, there is still a lot to unpack with this developing story, as well as the headhunting company that was used to list this job and potentially recruit for this job. Did I mention that one of the vice-presidents for this company is the former administrator? If not, don’t worry. That story will come soon enough.
Speaking of school board raises, I received a call from a very disgruntled constituent. He asked me if I knew that the school board members had received their raises? I stated “No.”
He went on to explain to me that Rep. Wayne Howard had moved on the raises for the school board members. He was so upset and wanted to make sure I knew that this passed without having unanimous consent of the local delegation.
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From my understanding, anything like this would have to have unanimous consent of the local delegation. I am hearing from people close to the action on this situation. The rule was changed because it couldn’t get a unanimous vote. Shouldn’t an issue this important get unanimous consent?
I know that this bill to change the pay didn’t receive a unanimous vote because Rep. Gloria Frazier is totally against them getting raises. This is because Board Trustee Wayne Frazier has stated on numerous occasions that they didn’t need to get raises until the school system stops failing. This is the point of contention that he and I have. I don’t think we have a failing system, but we do have some underperforming schools.
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I don’t believe our system is bad or has even been bad. We have some issues that need to be addressed and I believe that some of them are being addressed. I also believe that it is time for some to go. I say the same thing about the County Commission. We can’t have progressive thoughts until we have some progressive minds. We can’t expect a 21st century system with an “Atari” board.
Michael Meyers is a Columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at Michael.meyers@theaugustapress.com.
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