HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — For the first time in nearly a decade, Huntingdon firefighters were officially sworn in to their positions.
Mayor Chad Edwards administered the oath to five of the town’s six firefighters during Tuesday’s Town Council meeting Tuesday evening, July 28.
Firefighters Tim Walton, Brad Hampton, Brett Hampton, Noah Maxwell, and Brian McDowell took the oath in unison. Dustin Taylor, the town’s sixth firefighter, was not in attendance due to prior engagements.
Edwards called it “a milestone that is both personal and professional achievement.”
“The badge you receive today is not simply a symbol of authority, it is a symbol of trust,” Edwards told the group. “The citizens you serve will trust you with their safety, their property, and sometimes their lives.”
The oath included pledges to serve with courage, integrity, and honor, to place the safety of others above their own, and to remain steadfast in the face of danger and uncertainty.
Following the oath, Fire Chief John Fordon presented each firefighter with his badge.
Other Business
In other business, the council gave second and final approval to an ordinance rewriting the town’s fire protection and fireworks code.
Fire Chief John Fordon told the council the update sets a 15-minute window for fireworks on New Year’s, which is something that hadn’t previously been spelled out in the code.
He said the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) had helped clean up the ordinance’s language during the rewrite.
The council also gave first-reading approval to an ordinance amending the town’s Beautification Committee chapter, and approved the appointment of new members to the Beautification Committee for three-year terms. Members include Lori Dillahunty, Star Rawls, Trudy Able, Jess Moss, Kristen Dillahunty, Dixie Atkinson, Peggy Allen, Hilda Wallace, Mary Glenys Espey, Josh Todd, and Kelly Eubanks as the Town Council’s liaison to the committee.
Additionally, council members appointed Donna Butler to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a three-year term, filling a vacancy left by Carl Nolen’s resignation.
The council approved transferring the town’s cemetery trust account from First Bank to Carroll Bank and Trust, after First Bank notified the town the account would be managed out of Middle Tennessee.
It also approved a request from Carroll County First Responders to use Kelly Sports Complex on August 29 for a softball tournament, and approved an amended agreement with Friends of the Dixie Inc. clarifying the definition of “concession.”
Huntingdon’s next council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25 at 5:15 p.m. inside city hall.
