By CATHY DYSON
Cedell Brooks Jr. was indignant that in these troubled times, a county employee paid $215 for a chair.
The King George supervisor was at a recent work session at the King George Fire and Rescue headquarters on State Route 3 when he noticed new padded seats with arms on the sides and wheels on the bottom. He found out that Chief David Moody paid $13,000 for the 60 chairs in two training rooms.
"That's ridiculous," said the Shiloh District supervisor. "That's really terrible in these tight times when they need new equipment and turnout gear, and they order a chair at $215 a piece."
Brooks complained about the cost at a recent supervisors meeting. It was his turn to report on meetings he'd been to or issues that needed attention. No other supervisors commented on the chairs.
But they had all been to the June 9 work session, when they noted the need for, among other things, a new ambulance, which will cost almost half a million dollars.
The training rooms at the firehouse are used regularly by community groups, as well as for regional meetings of emergency service workers, Moody said.
King George volunteers taking classes to become certified firefighters or rescue workers also sit in the chairs for hundreds of hours, Moody said.
"In tough times, we rely on volunteers and their services, and they do it with no pay," Moody said. "If they're dedicated enough to come through these doors, the least we can do is put them in a comfortable chair."
The new chairs replaced plastic, folding chairs, which were sent to the Fairview Beach firehouse.
When the old Company 1 firehouse on Route 3 was expanded into 23,000 square feet of modern space--and dedicated in October 2007--funds were allotted for furnishing the $4 million building, Moody said.
He ordered the new chairs in September 2008. That was before County Administrator Travis Quesenberry established stringent spending guidelines for the county and reviewed every new purchase.
Moody also used part of a state grant to pay for the chairs, as well as speakers and projectors in the building.
"You can look around and see that there's nothing extravagant here," Moody said.
The seats he selected are called nesting chairs. They have padded backs and cushions, and the seats remove so the chairs can be stacked.
The grade of fabric determines the cost, and Moody picked a grade two out of five.
Online searches reveal that padded office chairs come in an array of styles and range from $50 to almost $500 each.
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com