Columbus fire chief hire comes under scrutiny
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The City of Columbus has hired a new Fire Chief. Former Starkville Chief Charles Yarbrough will be taking the reins when Chief Duane Hughes retires.
The decision wasn’t unanimous and even produced a few sparks in the boardroom. But the mayor said that’s not a sign of division, just that disagreements are natural.
A special-called meeting of the Columbus Mayor and City Council on Friday got a little heated. The purpose was to discuss a new leader for the Columbus Fire and Rescue.
There were two candidates for the position. One is a veteran of the department, and the other is former Starkville Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough.
Motions were made to go ahead with the hiring process.
As the debate heated up, one councilmember even left the meeting. The resulting vote split 3 to 2 in favor of Yarbrough. Mayor Stephen Jones says that Yarbrough was the most qualified candidate for the position. And calls the hiring fair.
“I think we had some great guys to choose from, don’t get me wrong, but as far as experience, Yarbrough has been a chief over in Starkville. He went into retirement, and he came back out of retirement and wanted to work somewhere, so I think the qualifications speak for themselves.”
However, in a statement, Councilwoman Lavonne Harris said they were not told they would be hiring a fire chief on Friday. In the statement, on she said:
“Upon leaving City Hall, the COO said that we need to meet again, so we can evaluate and rate the applicants. So, we all agreed to meet Friday at 1 pm. I did not know that we were going to vote on the applicants that day.”
Jones said the board voted the way they felt was right. But it doesn’t mean there’s a divide.
“The board voted — they voted their conscience, whatever they felt was right for them and allowed them to sleep at night that’s how they voted, but I don’t think we’re split, no. Sometimes you will be split that doesn’t mean that you’re split as a board that means that this decision was just — some voted for one person and some voted for the other person,”
He said that residents should rest assured that they’re always going to do what’s right for the City of Columbus. And that sometimes means they won’t agree. But, the city is not hiding anything.
“At the end of the day, my job is to do what’s best for all of the citizens of Columbus and that’s what we’re gonna do, regardless of what people may say or what people may think. Whatever is in the best interest of the city that we feel, we’re gonna let God lead us and those are the decisions that we’re gonna make. Some decisions are not easy and some are not,” Jones said.
WCBI also reached out to Councilmen Rusty Greene and Jason Spears, who along with Harris favored the in-house candidate, but they did not respond before our deadline.
Current Fire Chief Duane Hughes is set to retire next month.
