The search committee tasked with whittling down the list of candidates vying to lead the Selma Fire Department (SFD) held its first round of interviews Wednesday afternoon at the George P. Evans Reception Center.

Along with the committee, which consisted of Selma City Council President Corey Bowie and members of the business and law enforcement community, were Selma City Council members John Leashore and Jannie Thomas.

Selma City Councilwoman Angela Benjamin arrived shortly after the completion of the afternoon’s first interview.

Beyond that, few were in attendance for the meeting, which is the first step in selecting Selma’s next fire chief.

The search committee sat at a long table on the reception center’s stage, across from the candidate being interviewed, and took turns asking a variety of pre-determined questions.

Four interviews were scheduled for Wednesday’s session, beginning at 4 p.m. and spanning across the afternoon and evening in hour-long increments.

The committee is looking to select the top three finalists, which will be presented to the council later this month – from there, the council will select the city’s next fire chief.

Walter Dailey

 Walter Dailey, a lieutenant with the SFD with roughly 13 years of experience, was the first to be grilled by the committee after briefly saying a little about himself – a married man with a one-year-old daughter, Dailey stated that he moved through the ranks at the SFD quickly and has worked with volunteer fire departments in Valley Grande, Summerfield and elsewhere while also working part time in construction.

“I stay pretty busy,” Dailey said with a smile.

When asked about his leadership style, Dailey said he prefers for rules to unquestionable, but would employ a “progressive” discipline regimen, which would take into account each firefighter’s unique circumstances.

“I like to go black and white,” Dailey said. “No gray area.”

Dailey was asked how he would organize and prioritize his work at the department and, in an issue that would remain at the center of his remarks during the interview, the lieutenant emphasized the need for the department to address its manpower shortage, which currently has Dailey and others working 48 hours on and 24 hours off, the direct inverse of standard protocol.Further, Dailey noted that many aspiring fire fighters attend fire school with no clear destination in mind – previously, fire departments actively recruited these uncommitted recruits and Dailey believes the SFD should do so again.

“We’ve got to start at our base because without a strong base you’ve got nothing,” Dailey said.

Dailey admitted that he had little experience with budgets, saying that analyzing financial statements would be one of his “weaknesses,” but returned to the manpower shortage when asked what his long and short-term goals would be for the department, adding that he would want to make the department more competitive in a bid to recruit and maintain quality firefighters.

Manpower was also at the center of Dailey’s solution to the drop in the department’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating – the firefighter noted that the shortage of firefighters, which has caused the department to lose a station and a ladder truck, is at the center of the downgraded rating.

Dailey also stated that more emphasis needs to be placed on training, as there are many within the department interested in moving up through the ranks, and said that he would employ an investigative approach to tackling issues of favoritism or allegations of wrongdoing.

“I want Selma to grow, not just as a fire department but as a community,” Dailey said

Ernest Donaldson

Ernest Donaldson, currently a firefighter with the SFD who spent 20 years in the U.S Army and 12 years with the Clayton County Fire and Emergency Service, where he also became captain of the Fire Marshall office, was the next to be interviewed.

Donaldson stated that he would employ a servant leadership style, by which he would guide his firefighter’s career, and an authoritarian style when on the scene of a fire or emergency incident.

“Some people think when you get into a leadership position that all the work stops,” Donaldson said. “That’s when the work starts.”

When asked about his experience handling a budget, Donaldson noted that he oversaw an $800,000 budget when he worked in the U.S. Army Recruiting Office in Chicago, as well as six recruiting stations and some two dozen recruiters.

Donaldson expressed his vision that when people think of Selma they shouldn’t think of one department or another, but of every department and every facet of the city.

“It should be one Selma, one department,” Donaldson said. “We all work together.”

As far as priorities are concerned, Donaldson was largely in line with Dailey’s sentiments – the department needs to recruit “exceptional people,” focus on training and address the ongoing manpower issues, which are having firefighters return to work before they’re rested and face trouble at home.

“We have to fix that,” Donaldson said. “We have to stop the bleeding. We have people leaving the fire department like there’s a fire in the fire department.”

Donaldson also wants to establish a program in local high schools to teach students about firefighting and set them up to start a career right after graduation and “build a fire department that nobody wants to leave.”

“A lot of things I’ve touched turned to gold,” Donaldson said. “This is my last ride. I think God brought me home for a reason and I think this is it.”

Franklin Edwards

 Franklin Edwards, currently a captain with the SFD and formerly a police officer in Demopolis, Greensboro, Uniontown and Marion and a sergeant in the U.S Army, was the next to take the stage before the committee.

As far as leadership is concerned, Edwards believes the best approach to be one in which the head of the department shows rather than tells his subordinates what to do.

“I believe in being a leader by example,” Edwards said. “Why would I ask my men to do anything I’m not willing to do.”

Edwards added that leading in this way instills respect from those being supervised, whereas leading by dictate crushes morale.

As far as budgets are concerned, Edwards rattled off a litany of experience, including his time as Uniontown’s Chief of Police, in which he oversaw the department’s finances, and work assisting the mayor in formulating a budget while serving in Greensboro.

Edwards stated that his long-term goal for the department is seeing it “rise to one of the best in the state” by addressing the ongoing manpower issue and upgrading the department’s technology and equipment.

In the short-term, Edwards wants to recruit more firefighters to bring the department up to at least minimal operating standards and work on a “financial structure” that will retain good firefighters and boost the morale of the department.

Edwards also echoed Dailey’s assertion that the department should recruit from within the fire college, where future firefighters are training without a department to take their skills to.

Edwards also pointed to the manpower shortage as a reason for the downgraded ISO rating and noted that addressing that issue, as well as a concerted effort to test and possibly install fire hydrants, would go a long way in tackling the decreased rating.

Prompted by a question from the committee, Edwards, who has been with the SFD for 19 years, shunned the idea that firefighters might be dissuaded from joining the department overcompensation, saying that anyone who serves in public safety does so as a service to the community.

“A lot of people work for less if they have an environment that’s pleasant to work in,” Edwards said. “Wherever you go, you have to want to be a part of that organization and you have to buy into that organization. It’s something you should want to do inside yourself.”

Chris Graham

 Chris Graham, who has served as Acting Chief of the SFD since former Chief Toney Stephens’ departure earlier this year, was the last candidate to come before the committee Wednesday evening.

Graham started by providing the committee with a rundown of his credentials – he has been with the SFD for more than 23 years, collected numerous certifications and was named Assistant Fire Chief more than two years ago.

When asked about his leadership style, Graham noted that the department requires two types of leadership depending on the situation – an “autocratic” style is required when dealing with emergency situations, while a “bureaucratic” style is required at the administrative level.

As far as organizing and prioritizing the work of the department, Graham stated that he has already been doing that over the last four months that he has been leading the department.

“It is rather difficult being the only chief in that department,” Graham said, noting that he is now tasked with tackling the duties of a chief and an assistant chief. “With the size of the department that we have there’s a lot of responsibilities I was taking care of…”

While Graham’s experience managing budgets is minimal, he noted that he has been working alongside Selma Mayor Darrio Melton in drafting this year’s budget and jockeying for a pay raise for the department’s firefighters.

Graham’s long and short term goals include launching a Basic Life Support (BLS) program, which Selma currently lacks, and seeing the Cedar Park station reopened and enough firefighters hired to man all of the department’s trucks – he added that these moves, along with the training and development of “each and every” Selma firefighter, will go a long way in addressing the department’s downgraded ISO rating.

“Under my leadership, I am hoping for more firemen to be involved in the department,” Graham said when asked what progress he expect to see over the next three years in the department. “I want to see, in the next three years, that we’re fully staffed where we can actually provide the service to the people of Selma that they deserve. Right now, we’re running at half-cylinder – I want to be an eight-cylinder department in the next three years.”