Fire Chief Will Leave The Department

By David Howell

Editor

WATER VALLEY – Working during a special meeting last Thursday, city officials accepted the resignation of fire chief Sherman Gooch and launched what they hope will be a quick search for his replacement.

But it wasn’t a position they were eager to fill as Mayor Donald Gray and aldermen noted Gooch’s dedication to the city that spans 22 years including his appointment to chief in 2013.

“I hate to lose him, I was on the board that promoted him…  but I have talked to him about it for a long time and it is his decision. I support him because he has been good for the city,” Gray said as the meeting got underway. 

“Did he give a specific reason,” Alderman-at-Large Herby Rogers asked.

“No he did not,” Gray said, before reading the resignation letter. 

“I regret any inconvenience that this may cause. I would like to assure you that this decision was made after much thought and consideration. My experience of working here has been fulfilling…,” Gooch wrote. 

“He just said, he was kind of burned out and he was going to take a job somewhere else where he could work a shift and come home,” Gray added later in the meeting.

“He never asked for a raise for himself and always asked for raises for his employees,” Ward 3 Alderperson Cinnamon Foster added about Gooch’s interaction with the board during the last year as aldermen have worked to beef up the department and pay scale.

After voting to accept the resignation, city leaders transitioned to an interim plan to run the department after Gooch steps down at the end of the month. Police Chief A. J. Hernandez agreed to oversee the fire department until a new chief is hired.

“I am volunteer certified, so I am familiar with the area,” Hernandez explained. He also said his military training includes supervising 40 men.

“Using the shift leaders as my guide, I will make sure things happen as they should,” Hernandez added. 

The interim leadership will be important, as the number two person in the fire department left earlier in the month, leaving five full-time firemen – three with less than a year’s experience, another who started several weeks ago and a fifth firefighter who is leaving for training at the state fire academy. The department is budgeted for a total crew of eight full-time firefighters, including the chief, and is also supplemented with a strong roster of volunteers who serve on the department.

Gray also said he will touch base with EMA director Frank Hyde, to make sure all of the county volunteer firefighters, many of whom already responded to city fire calls.
 

“We have some great volunteers,” Gray noted.

Hernandez added that he will make sure the shifts are covered to ensure a full-time firefighter is on duty around the clock. 

“It’s a challenging spot, are we going to stay firemen-dispatchers, or we going to be firemen?” Hernandez added, referring to the current status of using firemen to also serve as dispatchers, a topic that has been contentious for years as firefighters in most full-time departments are not required to dispatch. 

“I think we need to decide the dispatching issue, or at least discuss it, so that either it stays the way it is or it changes. But whoever is hired is hired to do it the way we decide to do it and we stop arguing and complaining,” Ward One Alderman Kagan Coughlin noted.

“I agree,” Ward 4 Alderperson Nicole Folson said.

“And we have had a suggestion from the state to separate it. So I think we should follow with that and continue to improve our rating,” Foster said.

“I still don’t understand why we have another dispatch half a mile away,” Coughlin noted about the countywide dispatch center operated by the sheriff’s department that provides communication for all fire, medical and law enforcement in the county except Water Valley.

After the meeting, Gray agreed to reach out to county supervisors to begin a dialogue on the possibility of entering an agreement between the city and county for dispatching.  

The final step in the meeting was to fine-tune the application process, which included an unusual development as Rogers informed the group that he intended to apply for the position.

“I will tell the board that I have talked with the mayor about this position myself. I have been a fire chief for 20-plus years, that is all I have done all of my life,” Rogers explained, before seeking input about recusing himself from the hiring process.

“This is a passion that I have had for many years and it is an opportunity for me to try and see if I get it. If I don’t get it and we have a better candidate, then I will stay on the board,” Rogers said, adding that he would step down as aldermen if he was hired as chief.

“I don’t want to bias anything, I want to be fair with y’all and I want y’all to be fair with me,” Rogers said before exiting the room and agreeing to recuse himself from any discussion on the matter going forward. 

“We need a very open process. For a whole bunch of reasons, we don’t have very much diversity in the leadership of our departments. We are losing our only African American department head. We don’t have any women in positions of leadership in our departments… we need to treat everybody equally when they apply,” Coughlin recommended.

“We have to, not only from a moral standpoint, but y’all represent the citizens,” Gray stressed.

Aldermen agreed to advertise the position for two weeks with the cutoff to apply coming on October 12.  Applications for the job can be picked up at the police department.