City’s police chief to also supervise Fire Department
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Darlington Police Chief Kelvin Washington will become the city’s public-safety director, also assuming authority over the Fire Department, under a “reorganization” plan launched by City Council.
Police Chief Kelvin Washington is now the city’s public-safety director.
After a brief executive session during its Jan. 8 session, City Council voted unanimously, with almost no public discussion, to begin a reorganization that will allow Washington to remain in charge of the city’s 24-person Police Department, but will also put the city’s seven paid firefighters and 21 volunteer firefighters under his authority.
Fire Chief Pat Cavanaugh, who has run the department since 2012, will continue to serve as the city’s fire chief, Washington said in a statement the day after the vote.
“I am excited about this new opportunity and look forward to continuing to serve the citizens of Darlington,” said Washington, who became the city’s police chief last year. “Chief Cavanaugh will continue to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Darlington Fire Department.”
“We are very fortunate to have someone of Chief Cavanaugh’s caliber as our fire chief,” Washington added in his statement. Cavanaugh said he looks forward to working with Washington.
Washington said it is a “great honor” to become public-safety director – a new position for the city of Darlington. A city spokeswoman said there were no plans to raise Washington’s pay.
The day after the vote, City Manager Howard Garland said there was still much to be fleshed out on the plan’s details. He said personnel from the city, the Police Department and the Fire Department would be in meetings during the rest of the week to nail down details, and until a final and formal plan was in hand, he could say little about the changes.
“It’s all new to us,” Garland said.
The agenda for council’s Jan. 8 meeting did not mention Washington’s name nor the title of public-safety director; the only hint was an agenda item labeled “Executive Session: Personnel, Police Department.”
Why did council make this change at this time? The public may never know, since the reasons for the action appear to involve personnel issues that were discussed in executive session.
Asked what led council to make Washington public-safety director, council member John Milling said he simply could not discuss issues that were taken up in executive session.
Washington told WBTW-TV: “The fire chief and I … just saw this as an opportunity to enhance the things that they’re doing at the Fire Department, and the city manager and council were all in agreement.”
As to how the plan will work in practice, Milling said: “The day-to-day stuff will be pretty much run by the Fire Department and Police Department, but (Washington) will be in a supervisory position over both departments.”
In other business during the Jan. 8 council session:
— Mayor Gloria Hines presented Darlington businessman Perry Simon, 91, with a key to the city in honor of his many decades of service as a top-notch shoe repairman. Simon decided to close his shop, Simon’s Community Shoe Repair, at the end of 2018. Hines said she was “devastated” by the news. “I haven’t changed a whole lot” since getting into the shoe-repair business around 1948, Simon said. But, he said, “The time has come for me to say, ‘I’ve done enough.’” (See photo, 2B)
— Lisa Chalian-Rock, the city’s planning director and director of the Darlington Downtown Revitalization Association, told council that the DDRA Board has chosen its leadership team for 2019: Bobby Kilgo is president, Pete Dennis is vice president and David Vaughn is treasurer. She said the DDRA’s holiday event, #ShopDarlington Contest, ended with more than $11,000 being spent in connection with the contest.
— Darlington County Recreation Director Lee Andrews gave council an update on new playgrounds in the works in the city. “Everything has been delivered. Everything is here in Darlington,” he said. First up for construction is the Magnolia Street playground named for fallen police officer Sgt. Terrence Carraway. Next is the yet-unnamed playground planned for Siskron and Hampton streets, which is set to become the city’s biggest playground ever. A springtime completion date is still planned.
— Lowcountry political consultant Donald Gilliard briefly addressed council on the subject of an Oct. 31 advertisement he purchased in the News & Press in which he accused City Council member Carolyn Bruce of “selling out” black residents on an issue involving the city’s hiring an engineering firm. He said he was defending himself after a Darlington resident spoke to City Council Nov. 13 and ripped his advertisement as racist.
Gilliard told council: “I will continue to say, and believe, that she sold out the citizens of Darlington, as well as the other three council members that supported what I believe to be a vote along racial lines. … Sewage is still backing up because of this malicious vote that some of you all took. This is affecting the minority community. … I say shame on you. … Racism is alive in Darlington.”
