By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
When the smoke cleared from a heated meeting following the dismissal of fire chief Derrick Myers, the majority of the Belhaven Volunteer Fire Department’s members agreed to move forward with the best interests of the department in mind, according to Myers’ replacement, Jimmy Davis.
“We were able to agree last night that we are going to move forward with the department,” he said regarding the members-only meeting Tuesday night.
Davis was hired to replace Myers as the chief of the department after the Belhaven Town Council voted to strip Myers of his duties at its regular meeting Monday.
Belhaven Mayor Adam O’Neal listed a number of alleged reasons for the council’s dismissal of Myers in a news release issued Tuesday morning. He said it was important for the town to bring in an acting fire chief that could “straighten the department out” in advance of a state fire inspection.
The town will pay Davis, the former chief of the Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS-Inspections Department, $5,000 a month for four months to prepare the department for the inspection. When Davis’ contract expires, the town council will appoint a new volunteer chief.
Davis said that members of the department voiced concerns at the meeting Tuesday night, but none that necessarily pertained to his job as acting chief.
“I think (they) had concerns, but not directly with me,” he said. “I’m there to do a job.”
Although Davis has assumed the title of fire chief, he said he reiterated to the volunteer firefighters that it is their department.
“I just wanted to assure (them) that I was hired to come down and mainly prepare the department for the inspection, help recruit new firefighters and address other potential issues,” he said.
Ellen Allen, a volunteer firefighter, said the majority of the department’s members would stay with the department “at the present time.”
She said that three volunteer firefighters moving out of town will be lost to the department.
“Things are kind of still up in the air. We haven’t made any decisions on what will transpire,” she said.
Allen said that during the meeting, which went from about 7:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m., the department was stripped of its bylaws and officers.
“I was taken out,” said Allen, who was a captain with the department.
Following the meeting, Davis said he spoke to individual firefighters.
“It seems like we have a lot of support from the membership,” he said.
Davis and a handful of volunteer firefighters began renovating the department’s fire station on Tuesday, according to Belhaven Town Manager Guinn Leverett.
“It’s amazing what happens when you’ve got a half-dozen people doing work and someone to provide leadership,” Leverett said on Wednesday afternoon. “We’re on the right road. I’m more convinced of that every day.”
Overseeing renovations to the fire station will be one of Davis’ main duties with the department.
Davis said he would like to have the input of his firefighters regarding the project.
“It is very important for the members of the department to have input into the renovations,” he said. “It’s unfair for me to come in and give my input.”
Davis said their input would be provided to the town council.