Lowndes County Fire Coordinator Neal Austin resigns
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Lowndes County is looking for a new Fire Coordinator.
Lowndes County supervisors accepted Neal Austin’s resignation during the June 30 meeting.
Austin, who has served as Fire Coordinator for nearly a decade, is taking a job in the private sector.
The process to find a new coordinator has begun. The county will be looking at internal candidates first before taking the search out-of-house.
Board of Supervisors president Trip Hairston said Austin is respected by Supervisors and firefighters alike, but it’s important to get the search process started.
Hairston added that the new coordinator will face an old problem, recruiting volunteers.
“He really did a good job when it came to responding to fires. The firemen had a lot of respect for Neal. And, of course, Neal was the liaison between the Volunteer Fire Departments and boards, so we worked with Neal very closely,” said Hairston.
“That will be a challenge for the Fire Coordinator is helping those individual fire departments in the district, the Volunteer Fire Departments, to recruit new recruits, and I would encourage anybody who has not done that to look into it,” Hairston continued.
Emergency Management Director, Cindy Lawrence, will be taking and reviewing applications. She will then make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
