News 12 at 6 o'clock, April 12, 2010

AUGUSTA---Augusta is racing to put out a possible firestorm at the Richmond County fire department. The city is planning to review the department's hiring practices.

Augusta commissioners approved new hiring procedures back in April 2007. Here we go again.

"If I ever get to a point where I say no we're perfect," said Richmond County Fire Chief Howard Willis. "I'm in trouble. Everybody else is too."

Augusta is opening a full review of his department's hiring practices.

"Yeah. I am never against that," said Chief Willis. "To sit down and brainstorm with people to find out are we doing this right."

The department is battling allegations of discrimination and wasting taxpayer dollars.

"There are some concerns," said Augusta Commissioner J.R. Hatney. "I've already talked to the chief about some of them."

The city spends $175,000 a year for training firefighters. But many claim it is not clear what is and what is not a passing grade for physical training.

"Is this in writing?" questioned Augusta Commissioner Bill Lockett about things like the number of required push-ups.

"At this time," replied Chief Willis, "it is not in writing."

"There is no standard other than what someone says," said James Williams, Jr. whose family filed a complaint with the city's Equal Employment Office. "There is no alleging here as far as I'm concerned, and these have been things that have been out in the open and of great concern."

The family is concerned that the fire department could be hiring and firing at will.

"Do you agree there should be more clarification as to what is expected of the guys?" we asked Chief Willis.

"Oh, we can fine tune it," replied the chief.

He also has a response for the discrimination allegations.

"Well I think it is going to always be something that we have to tweak," said Chief Willis. "We want the diversity. We want the male and females. We want the minorities and all that."

"Our taxpayers are paying us," said Chief Willis. "We want to be able to give them the right people for the right job."

Public safety chairman, Joe Jackson, will name 5 people to serve on the review committee. The department was, among other things, instructed to advertise jobs in diversity targeted locations and link them to local student career centers back in 2007.