The ‘strong mayor’ form of government means that the mayor can hire and fire at will...but the city council has power over all financial transactions. That info is from the director of the Municipal Association.

I will check today to see if that means...when council doesn’t approve of a hiring, they can choose not to approve payment of that position.

Thanks for the idea...Flashpoint too!

How is it that we had four people running for Mayor last fall and no one was able to beat Riley? Now we see why he has overstayed his welcome in office!

Garvin must go since he opened the door and brought the fire in the showroom and Thomas needed to go for breaking out the windows and causing the flashover in the showroom, killing the Charleston 9. Garvin in my opinion should be brought up on charges of incompetence and manslaughter or have the families of the Charleston 9 include him in their lawsuits.

Brad--how about kicking around the idea in the newsroom and interviewing some Council members on changing the structure of city council from strong mayor-weak council to a more efficient form of government that allows council to have a strong say in the government operations?

Obviously, what we have now isn’t working.

here we go again---how did riley get back in office---we had the chance and he is still there----all of our fault!!!!

Sue,

You are wrong to paint every leader in the public service departments with the same brush. Chief Mullins is trying to clean up the mess over at the police department and he doesn’t poke reporters in the chest or eve punch cars. He just isn’t arrogant. Then again he wasn’t raised here to think that he and his family are the bomb.

Attention BRAD FRANKO: It would be interesting to know exactly what equipment and training RT asked for and was refused by city council and/or Mayor Riley over the last 5 years? Can you find that out? Surely a big bad fire chief like RT covered his a-- with some documentation?

if they had left the bldg when no sign of fire and headed for the ld dock ...there would have been no lives lost ... when the ceiling finally did collapse..no firemen would have been in bldg. , when lt. garvin opened THE FIRE DOOR...that is when all hell broke loose and it was the beginning of the end...he caused this fire to get out of control quickly....he should retire..or resign…

Putdown,

So true, and I think the key word for RT and Joe is “arrogance”. I was at a conference during some of the media coverage with RT and Joe. Many from around the State stood in Starbucks watching the TV monitor and said things like: “Are they for real?"..."Is he <Joe> always like that?"..."We feel sorry for your Chief on one hand, on the other he seems like a guy who hass an ego problem and is just sorry he got caught, and exposed."...."What’s with the arrogance down here in Charleston, you guys put up with that?”. I said it’s always been this way. Some people here call it the “Broad Street” mentality, others are so caught up in their own lives and being invited to ribbon cutting ceremonies where Joe gets off on himself they just endure the arrogance so theey won’t be excluded. Nothing will happen out of this. Anybody still concerned or mad with Ruben?

There’s your answer.

Mayor is another control freak who bogs himself down with tactical details instead of focussing on the big picture. Rusty had the same mentality.
RT would go to the mayors office almost daily to confer with Riley. Let’s listen in:
Riley: Rusty, we don’t have much money in the budget for raises this year. We can do a bunch of little raises for the men or one big raise for you.
Rusty: That’s a no brainer mayor. Lets do one big raise for me.

Actually the fire was in the drop cieling but nobody knew it due to the thermal imager not being used.

Hey everybody, I added the interviews that Meryl Conant did with Councilman Jimmy Gallant, and Mayor Riley if you’re interested.

i hope lt garvin is retiring...he should...he is the one who opened the fire door between the loading dock and showroom and let it"walk" into showroom..when the lights were on...all they had to do was leave and fight it frm the ld.dock...he knew the fire was on the other side..now he calls in more men and leaves them...he is to blame for this fire getting out of control

Sue, How long did it take to go back and make sure you had all of the letters?! Thanks for your thoughts, and have a great weekend!!

See there, he has a small circle of arrogant loyalist who will at least say they are bailing out because of their loyalty. The truth is they had a “cake ride” for years and know that a new boss is coming. Stay and get put back to work and be re-trained or run for the hills grumbling. There is nothing wrong with those who work, but those that don’t can go pound their chest about how bad they were at the local watering hole. You watch and see, Riley will make a place for Rusty through his contacts. Rusty will re-emerge as the Director of the newly created Low Country Combined Fire/Police Arson and Public Fire Safety Education on the Commission for Smoke and Fire and Consulting of Regional Sprinkler Installmant and Monitoring Task Force for the Deaf and Blind of the Carolinas. (L.C.C.F.P.A.P.F.S.E.C.S.F.C.R.S.I.M.T.F.D.B.C.) for short.

I just learned from CFD spokesman, Mark Ruppel, that the rumor of Asst. Chief Larry Garvin retiring is NOT true.

Hey guys, not sure if you heard.  Battalion Chief Tommy Thomas put in his retirement papers today.  I am also hearing rumors that Asst. Chief Larry Garvin did too, but that is not confirmed.

He and many in the city have the same blinders on that the tour horses have.

Mr. Mayor, in the back of your mind aren’t you glad your bid for Governor didn’t materialize? Having your own little dynasty is better? All the old powers inviting you to parties. Knowing you are weak, but they need you that way. The next invitation you get, think about it? Do the powers that be really invite me out of the need for my input or out of the need to not rock the boat? They laugh at you Joe. But they’re in business. The workers at the city don’t want to come to the parties. They want you to take action before someone ruins a department, punches cars, or refuses to listen. By doing nothing you are refusing to listen. You said you wouldn’t retire. Is that in the best interest of the city or in the best interst of you? Search your soul.

Riley would stand by anybody whose been there a long time. Is that what we need? A nice old grandfather type who sees ONLY the small amount of good in a borderline employee. CEO’s have to make some tough decisions and fire or transfer those who don’t produce or produce mariginally. Mr. Mayor you are no CEO. This city is a business in need of a strong CEO and Mayor Riley it has out grown YOU.

Lets not forget his last pick for Fire Chief...good call Riley.

The mayor also does not believe what the firefighters say the issues are. Although dated, see Sara DeMarco’s interview with Riley. http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0907/458502.html

And council, if you have a problem with him, actually stand up to him with some bollocks.