An emergency meeting of the Gadsden Civil Service Board was called Thursday with one purpose — to discuss naming a new interim fire chief, to serve until the board can interview five remaining candidates for the job and name someone to lead the department.
The board did. Board President Alice Pruett said Mayor Sherman Guyton had recommended Assistant Chief Craig Cannon as the new interim chief, and the board approved his appointment.
For some Gadsden firefighters, however, there is a larger discussion that needs to occur — about the "culture" within the department, and what they see as a failure of the department to properly discipline a member of their ranks.
Gadsden Fire Chief Stephen Carroll reported Tuesday to the Gadsden City Council about the department's annual Toys from Santa campaign, and then told them, with a "heavy heart," that the 2020 campaign would be his last as chief.
Carroll told Council members in a teleconference that he plans to retire Feb. 1, after serving 21 and a half years as Gadsden's chief.
The chief got a little emotional talking to the Council — something he jokingly blamed on the COVID-19 vaccine he'd received earlier that morning — about his years with the department, and his appreciation for the support city leaders have shown for the department during his tenure.
A number of first responders took an important step in the battle against COVID-19 on Tuesday, when they received their first dose of the Moderna vaccine at the Etowah County Health Department.
However, the department's nurse supervisor, Jennifer Weeks, cautioned that this is the first step — it will take a second dose of the vaccine and a couple of weeks before people should consider themselves protected from the virus.
"You are not Superman," she said, after this first shot in the arm. "You still need to observe all the guidelines" to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
First responders and health care professionals were lined up outside the health department before the vaccinations were slated to start at 8:30 a.m. Weeks said the department had about 500 doses to distribute.