Jackson Free Press

In a special meeting on Tuesday, July 24, the Jackson City Council voted 4-0 (Ward 2 Councilman Leslie McLemore was absent) to approve a contract authorizing Jackson Mayor Frank Melton to exercise a contract between the Jackson Fire Academy and Mississippi State Fire Academy to secure materials and modules to improve testing scores of the city academy.

Recently confirmed Fire Chief Vernon Hughes said the contract will "help us to produce these fire fighters in a more efficient and better way… as well as get (them) equipped and trained and … out onto the truck."

Hughes said that the current fire academy class has gone too long and that its 24 recruits should have already been in-house. With the new contract, Hughes said he plans to change some of the criteria that would speed up the class, emphasizing that he would not be eliminating material.

While the Jackson Fire Academy still boasts a Level 1 status, Hughes said, the Mississippi State Fire Academy falls under the Mississippi State Minimum Standards Board and is, therefore, seen as the sole entity in the area of testing. As previously reported by the Jackson Free Press, the Mississippi State Minimum Standards Board, comprised of 17 volunteers, rejected the test results of the current class of Jackson Fire Academy firefighters in May on the basis that a representative of the board did not directly oversee the testing.

"In the past there was a real hesitation about the state fire academy," Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said, alluding to past fire chiefs wanting to do all training in-house.

When prompted by Barrett-Simon to clarify the circumstances surrounding the testing rejection, Hughes said that "it was a wake up, but it just put more emphasis on us to train better and be better … We took that as a lesson learned and again, we document everything now other than just verbally."

In addition to boosting training efficiency, the contract will also save the city money in training fire academy candidates. "When you're talking about sending a firefighter to a fire academy, it ranges from $1,000 to $1,200," Hughes told Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes. "However, they will be assisting us with contracting whereas it would cost us only $500 per person, so basically it will be a savings of $700."

Hughes also reported to the council that his command staff was at 75 percent, but not ready to be placed yet.

In conjunction with the order to authorize the contract securing training materials, the council also voted 4-0 to authorize the purchase of an upgrade for the fire department's recruit training test bank.

Following the vote on the testing bank, Thelman Boyd, director of the Department of Public Works, gave a report on the status of three waste management trucks, which should be on the streets of Jackson by Aug. 15.

Members of the council voiced concerns regarding the increase in illegal waste and how it reflects upon the city and its civil servants.

"... (Waste) stays on the street for sometimes weeks and months, and Mr. Boyd mentioned sometimes his office doesn't know anything about it," Council Vice President Frank Bluntson said. "Now I got a problem with that."

Council members and Boyd discussed the duty of civil servants to report waste to the Public Works office and in a meeting on Monday will discuss further ways to address the waste problem, including possible incentives for civil servants who report violations.

Boyd also announced his "Cleanup Jackson" campaign that will focus on public awareness as a means to ameliorate the city's growing waste problem.

"We will be going into public schools with our recycling program," Boyd said. "Also, this fall we're meeting with the fraternities and sororities at the colleges and universities in the city, and we're going to get (them) to adopt areas around their college or university."

The council also granted the $2 million bid of E. Cornell Malone Corporation to repair roofing problems at Thalia Mara Hall.