In bid to recertify city fire service, Midway buys trucks, hires chief

UPDATE 1:06 p.m., Mon. April 7, 2025: Georgia Firefighter Safety and Training Center Executive Director Randy Toms told The Current Monday that Midway “has a nice fire truck” but still has no firefighters qualified by the State of Georgia — including the new fire chief. Toms said Midway has 6 firefighters showing as active on their roster. However, two of those do not work in Midway. One is former Deputy Chief Jonathan Campbell, who told The Current, “The only reason my name is still on the roster is because the system will not allow me to take myself off of it.” The other is Fairburn Fire Chief Cornelius Robinson, Midway’s paid consultant in revamping the fire department, who serves more than 4 hours’ drive from Midway; The Current left a voice mail for Robinson and a message for Midway Fire Chief Craig Reynolds asking why Robinson was on the city’s roster.

Toms said the other firefighters do not show state qualifications, which as of September require everyone to be able to pass or challenge Firefighter I training: “It doesn’t matter if they’re a 5-bugle chief or no experience—they have to pass Firefighter I,” Toms said. “They all know that. I don’t know why they (Reynolds and Firefighter Anthony Scibona, both from New York state) haven’t sent their reciprocity paperwork.” As of publication, Toms said, Midway had made satisfactory progress by the April 1 deadline but still has no fire department in place. Liberty County continues to provide fire service under a temporary agreement, he said; the firefighters could take up to one year to meet state certification requirements. As far as the station’s readiness, Toms said the state’s only concern was that it is a heated space in which to put the fire truck.

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Original story: The City of Midway, having walked away from the Liberty County Board of Commissioners’ offer to stand up a full-time fire station over 5 years, is scrambling to piece together a new fire department ahead of a Friday visit from state regulators. The Georgia Municipal Association, a nonprofit group for Georgia cities, is helping to front the cost of at least one new fire truck and equipment through a private lender. GMA will lease the trucks to Midway over the next 10 years, which will cost the city over $2 million.

That truck was parked in front of City Hall two hours before the March 24 special called meeting to swear in the new fire chief, Craig Reynolds, and 3 firefighters.

“Well, as you can see, that beautiful truck out there, we’re moving in the right direction for the citizens of Midway,” Mayor Levern Clancy said. “We’re doing it for the citizens of Midway. Because y’all voted us into office to take care of y’all. So we’re moving in a positive direction.”

Clancy added, “We’ve got another truck coming but it’s going to be 300-plus days. But it’s being built.”

Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council board members voted to suspend Midway’s fire certification on Feb. 27. The council gave the city until April 1 to show serious, significant progress toward equipping a working fire station. Otherwise, the board said it would revoke Midway’s fire certification permanently.

All the bells and whistles

The city’s shiny new 2014 HME Ahrens-Fox pumper truck, emblazoned with “Midway Fire Department” and “Engine 13” in gold lettering and a logo depicting the historic Midway Congregational Church, was decked out with brand-new axes, Jaws of Life, chargers, LED scene lights, hoses, SCBA bottles and harnesses and regulators, and a slide-out gear racks. The truck arrived from Brackett Fire Equipment just a few weeks after it was ordered, at a time when new fire trucks require 3 to 4 years’ lead time before delivery. Since its debut, the truck has been moved into the old fire station.

By the time the city pays off the note and accrued interest of $460,351.31 at 4.49%, the total cost for this and another pumper truck will be $2,209,626.31 over 10 years — nearly half of what the county said it would cost for an entire fully-staffed, fully-equipped fire station over a 5-year period under the unsigned agreement the city and county had negotiated.

City officials, including Clancy and Councilman Stanley Brown, refused to say how much Engine 13 would cost taxpayers. After filing a Georgia Open Records request, The Current obtained a lease agreement between the city and Georgia Municipal Association and a tax form related to a bond, that confirmed the upfront cost of the fire truck and equipment at $1,749,275.

A March 25 price quote on the first truck was $831,987.50, while a sales agreement for a second pumper truck shows $917,987.50.

That Feb. 28 sales agreement referred to a “December/January 2025 pre-construction conference (if needed),” with delivery estimated in March or April 2026. A performance bond was included in the sale, and the price included “dealer-supplied equipment.”

As of publication, the new truck had not yet been certified by state fire officials. Until that happens, the truck cannot serve on fire calls. Clancy told The Current he didn’t know whether GFSTC would be certifying the truck on Friday, but that he hoped they would.

Asked for comment on Midway’s new fire truck, Liberty County commission chair Donald Lovette and District 1 Commissioner Marion Stevens both said they wished the city well.

Used safety gear

A March 18 invoice for 7 sets of refurbished self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) tanks and equipment shows the city received that gear on March 24. City employees were later seen loading the units onto the new fire truck. The gear cost is $65,535 and the bill is due by April 17.

Refurbished safety gear is used but has been visually inspected and tested before resale.

Another invoice from Dalmatian Fire Equipment, for $34,830, will be due on April 18. While the invoice doesn’t state what that money bought, the company deals in used SCBA gear, and the city signed for the invoice on March 24.

Is the fire station safe?

In July 2024, the council tabled 3 bids for asbestos abatement and new sprayed-in insulation for the city’s fire station after Mayor Pro Tempore Clemontine Washington had said she wanted more information on one of the bids. It remains unclear if the building still contained asbestos and if the city had obtained an asbestos removal permit from Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

Clancy has not responded to emails inquiring whether an asbestos abatement was required, awarded, or permitted for the fire station; Washington, the city council’s fire department liaison, referred questions to the mayor. An online check of Georgia Environmental Protection Division permits turned up no asbestos abatement-related permits online for the Midway fire station.

Asbestos, which describes fireproof mineral fibers, is a known cancer-causing substance found in insulation, floor and ceiling tiles, shingles, and other building materials. It requires special permitting, handling, and disposal to keep the fibers from spreading. Once disturbed, asbestos fibers can get stuck in people’s lungs and other parts of the body, causing cancer. The longer someone is exposed to asbestos, the more likely they are to develop cancer.

Firefighters had complained for months about the station’s disrepair. In August 2024, Clancy locked volunteer firefighters out of the station house in after they had complained of black mold. In response, nearly all the firefighters resigned. At the time, Clancy told The Current the unannounced closure had been a safety measure.

At its Feb. 17 special called meeting, the council voted to hire Reynolds, the city’s soon-to-be-named fire chief, to renovate “all other city buildings, to include the old police department and the fire station.”

In February, a black dumpster trailer loaded with debris was observed beside the fire station. A couple of days later, the trailer was gone. Two men were seen working without any hazmat gear, pulling out the last of the ceiling insulation and sweeping the floor, where furniture from the office was piled inside an engine bay.

Slideshow: Station renovation

After The Current‘s visit, the fire station’s office window was blocked with cardboard and the bay doors remained closed. On Thursday morning, the bays were open again.

The council also voted March 24 to authorize Clancy to spend an unspecified amount over $10,000 for additional work on the existing fire station, but did not state what other work was needed or who would be doing it. “It wasn’t in my budget,” he said, adding, “I know it’s going to be expensive.”

What happened to negotiations with the county?

In recent weeks, the city and Liberty County had worked to negotiate an agreement that would put Liberty County Fire in charge of Midway fire needs. Both sides had worked out a tentative agreement, which the Liberty County Board of Commissioners approved, then sent to Midway’s City Council for signatures.

At the last minute, the city refused to sign the agreement. Washington and Clancy questioned the county’s $5 million-plus price tag over 5 years on advice of Cornelius Robinson, a consultant and Fairburn Fire Chief. Robinson told The Current he could beat the county’s price, and that he thought he could get the required engines for about $250,000.

Robinson, who has been Fairburn’s fire chief since 2019, was also involved in the City of Walthourville Fire Department’s switch from volunteer to full-time after short-staffing and outdated engines had plagued the department in 2022. Walthourville was able to trade in two old engines for one new one and bought another. However, the city’s budget shortfalls forced Walthourville City Council to adopt a highly unpopular fire fee to meet ongoing operating costs.

Midway officials had objected to the county imposing a fire district tax on its residents. But they have yet to say publicly how the city will pay for its own fire department.

Structuring payments for new department

Council members voted Monday to place $917,287.50 into a 6-month certificate of deposit earning 4.43% at Magnolia Bank, which is servicing the city’s lease from Georgia Municipal Association. Upon maturity, the funds will be transferred to an interest-bearing account paying 3.54%. That money will pay for a second fire truck, Clancy said.

According to the lease agreement with GMA, payments have to come from the city’s General Fund “and will not be pledged for the Lease or be otherwise separately identified or accounted for (unless the Lease is to be paid from sales tax receipts).” Under the agreement, the city does not expect to take out any other tax-exempt obligations this year.

Open meeting, parliamentary problems with vote

When Clancy resumed the open part of the March 24 meeting, he did not call for a vote from the council to close the executive session. Under Georgia law, a vote to return to the open session is mandatory.

Clancy asked Councilman Stanley Brown to make a motion to pay the police chief overtime. The motion was seconded and passed. Washington made a motion to hire Timothy Davis as a firefighter, pending satisfaction of unspecified job requirements. That motion also was seconded and passed.

Then Washington swore in members of the new department, starting with Fire Chief Reynolds, followed by Terrell Chipp — a 44-year veteran of the Midway Volunteer Fire Department — and William Wynn, a former volunteer firefighter in Riceboro. Washington said Chipp and Wynn were “volunteer firefighters,” but did not clarify whether they would be serving as volunteers or full-time firefighters in the new department.

The Current reviewed its recording of the meeting, which confirmed that neither a motion nor a vote to close the executive session and reconvene the open meeting had been taken. By failing to reconvene the open meeting, any further votes the council took could be invalid under the Georgia open meetings laws.

Throughout the process, few, if any, Midway citizens have attended the public meetings, even though the council’s decisions impact their homes and businesses directly.

Washington was optimistic about the city’s efforts to revamp its fire service.

“The Midway Volunteer Fire Department is making exceptional progress to move towards becoming a full-time fire department,” she said. “We are going to continue to move forward as quickly as we can, using all of those persons with positive attitudes towards helping us to become all that we can be.”

Type of Story: Investigative

In-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research and resources.