Jackson Free Press

The city of Jackson may be getting a fire department chief after about two years of stalling. Jackson Mayor Frank Melton said he will be bringing Assistant Chief Vernon Hughes up for a confirmation vote next week.

Melton referred to the nomination as a good faith effort to work with the council and asked that they vote on the mayor's appointment of Jackson State University Dean Ivory Phillips for the Jackson Public School Board. Three council members have so far recused themselves from that vote citing business ties with JPS, while a fourth council member, Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, refused to vote in protest of the mayor's alleged attempts to influence a recent JPS Board vote.

Melton did not bring his earlier appointment, Capt. Todd Chandler, up for a vote for two years because he knew the council would not confirm him. The mayor recently relented and the council voted Chandler down with a 3-to-2 vote.

Furious, Melton sought to keep Chandler's pay as close as possible to his interim-chief salary, and kept him on as a shadow head of the department while officially he served as assistant chief.

For the past two weeks, however, the council has passed motions to amend the payroll, forcing Chandler to accept his captain's salary. The council might agree to pay Chandler his assistant-chief salary if Melton brings Hughes forward for confirmation.

Previous Comments

ID

67752

Comment

What about this?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-06-14T08:55:06-06:00

ID

67753

Comment

Well Well,,,,Whats everyone waiting on. Im sure that the bashing will start soon. Its already going on throughout the fire dept. Anyway Congrats Chief TANK. Hope you can get the things done with lack of support from other departments like Chandler had to put up with. Watch out for the Back Stabbers.

Author

fireguy

Date

2007-06-14T16:20:53-06:00

ID

67754

Comment

Well, fireguy I don't think anyone knows enough to speak about the new candidate. He's seems OK per what's being said currently. Maybe you should link us to the firemen's blog or something?

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-06-14T16:32:41-06:00