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Trucks, used for decorations
Chief was pressured by
By Stephen Gurr
Staff Writer
Forsyth County Fire Chief
Danny Bowman was verbally
reprimanded after he ordered
four firefighters and two lad¬
der trucks to a south Forsyth
subvision to help neighbor¬
hood residents hang Christmas
decorations, county officials
said this week.
Bowman, reached Thurs¬
day, declined to comment,
directing all questions to
County Manager Jeff
Quesenberry.
Quesenberry said Bowman
“realizes he took inappropriate
action. This was not some¬
thing we should be doing.”
County Commissioner
David Richard said Bowman
had bowed to political pres¬
sures from a caller at the
Grand Cascades subdivision
who threatened to contact
another county commissioner
if the fire department didn’t
come out to help hang the dec¬
orations.
When the unidentified
caller first contacted the chief
about two weeks ago, “his ini¬
tial gut reaction was to say no,
that it wasn’t the right thing to
do,” Richard said.
Jim Harrell reveals commission
Plans to seek
Chairman Jack
Conway's seat
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Former Forsyth GOP
chairman Jim Harrell on
Thursday formally announc¬
ed he will seek a Board of
Commissioners seat amid
plans to encourage more
communication with resi¬
dents and balancing growth
with infrastructure.
He likely will face incum¬
bent Commission Chairman
Jack Conway in the race for
the District 3 seat Conway
has held since 2003.
“It is time that our county
had a commissioner from
District 3 who represents
Powder Springs mayor
Dane
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Powder Springs Mayor Pat
Vaughn said on Thursday that
their former city manager Dane
Perry Forsyth County’s
assistant administrator —
resigned from his job effective
last Monday.
However, Vaughn declined
to elaborate on specifics behind
the resignation such as whether
it was in lieu of termination and
whether the city was pleased
with his job performance.
“I’m not free to speak to
that at this time,” she said.
Someone at the Perry resi
dence also declined to com
ment after a telephone call
The Forsyth
County govern¬
ment has fired
Perry twice —
once last Sep¬
tember under
allegations he
solicited gifts
such as tickets to
sporting events
and golf outings
from county con¬
and
again last summer after Perry
took the Powder Springs job.
Perry challenged both of the
terminations, and the county’s
three-panel Civil Service Board
reversed the first termination
and reinstated Perry with a
$20,000 salary reduction after
determining the local govern¬
ment had failed to follow proto¬
col by not conducting a pre-dis¬
missal conference with him.
And while not condoning
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Sunday, December 4,2005
But the caller, who county
officials were unable to name,
“got incredibly insistent, to
the point of saying she would
contact their commissioner,”
Richard said.
At that point, according to
Richard, Bowman relented.
“Chief Bowman wrongly
but understandably said,
‘Fine, we’ll do it,”’ Richard
said.
The four firefighters spent
about two-and-a-half hours on
the morning of Nov. 19 hang¬
ing the decorations at the
entrance to the subdivision,
according to Quesenberry.
Commissioner Linda
Ledbetter’s district includes
Grand Cascades, but she said
Thursday she never received
any calls about decorations.
“I knew nothing about it,”
Ledbetter said.
“I’m sorry it turned into
such a problem.”
Ledbetter said that if she
had received such a call she
“would have probably called
the chief and asked what he
thought.”
Ledbetter said she also
would have likely conferred
with board chairman Jack
Conway, saying she wouldn’t
want to take a chance giving a
real Republican values of
fiscal responsibility and
small government,” said
Harrell, the general manager
of Web site www.cumming
home-.com.
He said three primary
issues on which his cam¬
paign will be based will
include open government,
biannual town hall meetings
between commissioners and
taxpayers, and balancing
county growth.
“[The county govern¬
ment] needs to let the sun
shine into every corner of
our county government,”
said Harrell.
“[Commissioners] need to
report to our citizens every
six months in a town hall
meeting venue and share
with them our progress on
the day-to-day operations
and the strategic problems
we face.
Just as important, we
Perry
Though reinstated, Perry
has not been allowed to resume
his administrative duties as
court cases progress.
In fact, the county recently
hired Rhonda Cook as assistant
county manager, a position with
similar responsibilities as
Perry’s previous position which
was titled assistant
ft
The [Civil Service] Board empha¬
sized that Perry's activities consti¬
tuting the basis for Perry's dismissal
occurred warning prior to Quesenberry's
to Perry.
- Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Bagley
gg
administrator.
The county appealed the
Civil Service Board’s deci¬
sion, but Superior Court
Judge Jeffrey Bagley recently
upheld the reinstatement by
writing in a Nov. 21 ruling
that though pre-dismissal con¬
ferences are not necessary in
cases where the county or
employee’s safety are in ques¬
tion, the county had not pro¬
vided evidence to support any
<
directive that might be outside
county policy.
Richard partially defended
Bowman’s actions, noting that
the recent political history of
Forsyth County can put
department heads on pins and
needles when it comes to
interaction with elected offi¬
cials.
“We’ve had the board of
commissioners fire the county
manager at the drop of a hat,”
Richard said, in apparent ref¬
erence to the firing of David
Armstrong earlier this year.
“Those kind of activities don’t
give a warm and fuzzy feeling
to the people who have to
report directly to the board of
commissioners. I don’t blame
the chief in making the sec¬
ondary decision to acquiesce
to this neighborhood. If I was
him I wouldn’t know what
would happen when someone
threatens to call a commis¬
sioner.
Quesenberry said in some
counties, government vehicles
are used to help private citi¬
zens hang Christmas decora¬
tions.
“We would love to be able
to have our firefighters help
these communities hang their
decorations, but then we
would have to do it for every¬
one,” Quesenberry said. “The
use of these firefighters and
equipment has to be for an
emergency situation. Our fire
Harrell
said that in the past the coun
ty GOP conducted a town
hall meeting with commis
sioners.
He said local infrastruc¬
ture needs — such as roads
and water — should be in
place to keep up with the
population boom Forsyth
County has been experienc¬
ing for more than a decade.
“We need a balanced
growth policy that protects
property owners without
increasing the strain on our
county’s infrastructure,” said
reason not to conduct the con¬
ference.
In addition, Bagley wrote
affirming the board’s ruling
because County Manager Jeff
Quesenberry had warned
Perry about his behavior, and
the county fired Perry for
actions conducted before
Quesenberry’s warning.
“The [Civil Service] Board
emphasized that Perry’s activ¬
ities constituting the basis for
Perry’s dismissal occurred
prior to Quesenberry’s warn¬
ing to Perry,” wrote Bagley.
“There is no record evidence
to support a finding by the
board that new vendor viola¬
tions had occurred.”
County Manager Jeff
Quesenberry said the county
the adminis
t r a t o r ’ s
actions, their
decision also
was in part
based on con¬
clusions that
Perry was
imitating
behavior
from his
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Four firefighters and two ladder trucks helped Grand Cascades subdivision residents
hang Christmas decorations recently.
engines need to be on location
and on the job.
Quesenberry said the repri
mand “will be documented. It
means an action was taken —
just to ensure that it does not
occur again.
“A lot of people have been
making a big deal about it,”
Richard said. “I think they’re
need to then
engage in
real dialog
with the citi
zens by tak
l n g
unscreened
questions
from meet
ing atten
dees.”
Harrell
will appeal
Bagley’s deci¬
sion.
The Civil
Service Board
— which exists
to ensure per¬
sonnel deci¬
sions by the
county govern¬
ment are fair
and not politi¬
motivated
— has delayed deciding on a
hearing date for Perry’s sec¬
ond termination challenge
while awaiting the court’s
decision on the first one.
According to their clerk,
they may resume the issue
Thursday, Dec. 8.
Attempts to contact attor¬
ney Linwood Gunn, who rep¬
resented Perry before the Civil
Service Board, were unsuc¬
cessful by deadline.
right to ask questions, but the
policy was addressed immedi
ately and the directive is it’s
not going to happen again,
“1 think it was just some
one trying to throw some
weight around and caught the
chief at a weak moment,
Richard said.
The decorations, which
Harrell. “I think everyone
would agree we don’t have
enough roads for the people
that are here.”
And although he likely
will have competition for the
seat, as Conway also has
announced intentions for
seek re-election, Harrell said
he does not anticipate a mud
slinging race.
“I’m not really running
against [Conway],” he said,
“I’m really running for the
people.”
He said he will reveal
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more specifics about his
platform as the campaign
progresses.
On Friday, Conway said
he looks forward to the com
petition.
“Obviously, [Harrell] is
getting into the political
arena,” said Conway. “He’s
about ready to run his first
campaign, and I welcome the
competition.
“I’ll be running on a
record which I’m pretty
proud of.”
Conway also said he does
Richard joked were “ugly,
will remain up at least until
after the holidays. How they
come down remains to be
seen,
We will not be taking
them down,” Quesenberry
said.
Staff Writer Todd Truelove
contributed to this report.
not anticipate a dirty cam¬
paign.
“I don’t see why it
shouldn’t be [a friendly
race]. We’re both
Republicans,” he said.
And because they will be
running on the Republican
ballot, the race for District 3
likely will be decided in the
July primaries next year
instead of the general elec¬
tion in November — unless a
Democrat or other independ¬
ent candidate qualifies for it.
The qualifying period for