e911 Dispatchers Petition BOC to Rehire Jones Beasley as EMA/e911 Director

Dozens of Franklin County fire and emergency personnel join Franklin County e911 dispatchers in petitioning Franklin County commissioners to give Jones Beasley his job back as EMA/e911 Director.

At their regular meeting Monday night, the Board of Commissioners heard from e911 dispatcher Joy Davis.

“We are here tonight from the 911 Center and many of the county workers, all in support of Jones Beasley,” said  Davis. “We are here to ask you if you will reconsider and bring Jones Beasley back as director Franklin County e911.”

 Beasley served in that position for 12 years before being fired on September 26^th by former county manager Billy Morse.

Morse fired Beasley because four of the county e911 dispatchers had passed the deadline for receiving dispatcher certification from the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council.

Davis said while everyone agrees that four dispatchers need POST training, firing Beasley was too harsh and he should have been given time to correct the situation.

Davis said she spoke for all of the e911 and emergency personnel when she said Beasley was a leader everyone respected.

“To all of us here tonight representing Franklin County, Jones Beasley wasn’t just our director, he was our friend,” Davis said. “Sure sometimes he would come down on us hard, and sometimes we didn’t always agree with everything he said. But at the end of the day, Jones never failed to tell us just what a good job we did for Franklin County and how much he appreciated every one of us.”

Commissioners thanked Davis for her comments, but did not respond.  Later, the board met for about an hour in executive session to discuss personnel and the situation with Beasley.  Afterwards, however, the board adjourned their meeting without comment.

But Commission chair Thomas Bridges said afterwards that Beasley put the county at risk by not having dispatchers certified.

“It’s very unfortunate that we were put in harm’s way by not having certified 911 personnel,” Bridges said. “Saying that, we certainly appreciate what was said by Ms Davis tonight and we certainly had a great personnel discussion in executive session tonight.”

Beasley contends because he was short staffed he could not afford to send a dispatcher for a week of training.  Bridges said however, the e911 director needs to plan for training.

“Mr. Beasley may have been put between a rock and a hard place, but that’s why good management takes place; good planning takes place,” Bridges said. “Fortunately, we did not have any backfires for having noncertified e911 dispatchers.”

When asked if the board is considering rehiring Beasley, Bridges would not comment and said Beasley would have to announce that himself if he were rehired.

Bridges said it was not the board that fired Beasley, but former county manager Billy Morse who signed Beasley’s termination papers. Bridges would not say whether that firing came at the board’s recommendation.

Franklin County runs under a Commission-manager system of government, which was chartered in 2002. Under that system the county manager hires and fires county personnel, according to county attorney Bubba Samuels.  Samuels said the board does not have the authority to hire or fire anyone except the county clerk and county manager.

Morse resigned shortly after Beasley’s termination. According to Samuels, it now falls to Interim County Manager John Phillips to rehire Beasley or let his termination stand. As of Tuesday morning, Phillips could not be reached Tuesday morning for comment.