BETHSADIA – On Thursday evening, the Bethsadia Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD) Board held the meeting that had been highly anticipated since last month's controversial meeting following the mass resignation of seven firefighters.
This meeting was much shorter than December's, as the floor was not opened to public comment. That did not stop several attendants from asking their questions, though. Chairman Dan Willingham recognized that public comments during the board's Old and New Business segments were out of order, but he allowed people to speak.
The meeting opened with an invocation and acceptance of the previous meeting's minutes. The Treasurer's report followed, showing that the BVFD has around $84,000 in the bank. Next, Chief Buddy Carden brought his report, noting that the department had responded to three fires and two auto accidents in the last month.
Then the meeting turned to Old Business, the one item on the agenda being the bylaws amendment introduced at the December meeting. Since the current bylaws only allow for elections to be held at the November meeting, a concerted effort took place in December to amend the them to allow for a special called election at another time. The proposed amendment reads as follows (from a document supplied by Willingham):
If there is not a quorum at the annual meeting of the members a meeting may be called by a majority of the board of directors and held as a special meeting, and the proceedings may be held as at an annual meeting, provided that the notice of the meeting shall be advertised in a newspaper of county-wide circulation, on the Fire Department Facebook account and web page at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting with such meeting date to be set by a majority of the board of directors.
The quorum mentioned in the amendment and in the current bylaws is not a quorum of board members, but of the community; at least 30 households must be represented in order for a board election to be held. The amendment would allow the election to be moved to another date if a quorum was not reached at the regular November meeting, as long as the election was advertised a month in advance.
Several people in the audience were under the impression that the amendment had been approved at its introduction in December, but such amendments cannot be introduced and voted on in the same meeting. Some people were also under the impression that Thursday's meeting was going to include an election. There was visible frustration on their parts on finding that the amendment was still under discussion.
Willingham received a motion to pass the amendment, but had difficulty getting a second. After a few tense moments, the motion was seconded, and discussion began. Immediately the question arose about why the amendment was not voted on previously.
Willingham explained, "It could not have been voted on last time. Your own bylaws preclude that."
He also responded to another question about how many people need to be present to vote, explaining the distinction between individuals and households in establishing a voting quorum. One issue the Board has had for quite some time has been getting enough local residents to attend the election meetings.
The anonymous audience member who asked the question responded, "You might as well disband, if nobody cares."
The meeting rapidly fell out of order as multiple people began to speak at the same time, several arguing that an election had been advertised in local papers and on Facebook. (Note: while one person claimed that the Tribune had advertised an election, the Tribune's meeting notices were worded as follows: "The next meeting of the Bethsadia VFD board will be on Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. at station no. 1, located at 454 County Road 804 in the Bethsadia community" and "TONIGHT at 7 p.m.: Bethsadia Volunteer Fire Department January Board Meeting, Station No. 1, 454 County Road 804 in the Bethsadia community.")
Willingham called more than once for order, then turned to the Board to call for a vote on the motion. With six voting members present (Willingham, as chairman, can only vote to break a tie.), two voted for and four against. The motion to amend the bylaws and allow for a special election did not pass. With its failure, the next Board election will take place in November as usual.
Randall York and Steve Moody (treasurer) voted for the amendment. Those who voted against it were Jason Dean, Alan Edwards, Carden and Kenneth Gilliland. Kenneth Dees, another board member, was not at the meeting. (The Board should have nine members; however, the seat vacated by former Assistant Chief Maurice Reynolds is empty.)
The immediate response from an anonymous audience member was a call for the Board to disband.
Board member Randall York rose and responded, "I'm ready to go. Do you want to take my spot?"
He then asked to address the audience and stated, "They (local residents) wanted to elect me on here. I decided to do it to serve the community. I did not come in to be treated as deceitful. I have done nothing deceitful. I'm ready to walk out of here and leave now, but I will stay for the next month, if we're going to have an election; but otherwise, I'm ready to walk out now, and whoever wants to volunteer for my spot can do it."
After that, the meeting fell back into arguing and shouting between audience members, board members and BVFD firefighters.
Willingham finally got the meeting back to order. After one minor report, Carden introduced Keith Bates, a Cullman firefighter who will be supervising upcoming training for BVFD members.
Willingham then brought the meeting to a standstill by tendering his resignation from the board. While his resignation was formal, two other Board members also stated that they were resigning as well. As there was much "heat of the moment" tension, and the Tribune could not speak to those two members afterwards to confirm their intentions, their names will not be published at this time.
Willingham concluded, "I love my community; I try my best to serve my community. I've been doing this a long time, and I look forward to someone else that would like to do it and wants to do it."
With that the meeting adjourned.
After the meeting, Willingham spoke to the Tribune: "Enough's enough. I'm just doing this for the community." Had the board approved a special election, "I wouldn't want to have run anyway. If they would have nominated me, I wouldn't run." Of the Board and BVFD, he said lastly, "I wish them the best. I'm available. If I need to help them, call me. I'll draft stuff for you, I'll help you any way I can. But they needed some new blood, and I needed some rest."
The BVFD Board meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the BVFD station no. 1.
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