Information from WYSH Radio
Earlier this month, Anderson County Chancellor Nichole Cantrell made a ruling in the dispute between two factions of the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department.
Earlier this year, then-AVFD Chief Del Kennedy suspended the Board of Directors over allegations that they were interfering in the day-to-day operations of the department.
Kennedy then appointed an interim board to oversee the department. That led to the department’s mail delivery service being interrupted and its bank accounts being frozen over questions about who was authorized to use it.
The chairman of the suspended board, David Farmer, asked the Chancery Court to step in. On September 4, Chancellor Cantrell ruled in favor of the suspended board following a hearing that morning. That meant that the board consisting of Farmer, Carl Poore, Robert Seiber, Benny Ridenour, Judy Lenz, Gina Ridenour, John Poore, and Rodney Williams was reinstated.
Cantrell also ordered Kennedy to vacate the premises within 10 days of the hearing after he had been reportedly living there as his primary residence for some time.
Following the ruling on the September 4, Farmer officially removed Kennedy as chief and replaced him with longtime firefighter Matt Burrell.
In a statement given to WYSH, Farmer said that following the ruling, the AVFD is seeing a “big increase in the number of applications to join as members,” and that the community seems “happy to see this controversy being put to rest.” Farmer also said that the department is working with an advisory group made up of several “prominent fire chiefs and other emergency (service) leaders” who are helping the AVFD get reorganized.
Information in this story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.
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