DeKalb County is in search of a new County Safety Director.
After serving in the position since 2009, James L. “Jimmy” Poss has resigned in order to focus on the duties of his elected responsibilities as County Clerk.
Poss submitted his letter of resignation to County Mayor Tim Stribling on Monday and Stribling read the letter to the county commission Monday night during the regular monthly meeting.
The resignation becomes effective December 12 at 5:00 p.m.
The following is Poss’ letter to County Mayor Stribling:
“After being elected to serve as DeKalb County’s Clerk and taking office on September 1, you approached me about continuing to serve as the County’s Safety Director, a role that I had served in since 2009 and prior to seeking office. Considering my involvement and concern in coordination and direction of the county’s safety program, I agreed to continue serving in this role. At that time, I was hoping that my position as County Clerk would allow me to continue to obligate the time necessary to be the County Safety Director”.
“Now that I have been serving as the County Clerk for about 3 months, I have come to realize that I simply do not have sufficient time to properly carry out the roles as the county’s safety officer, while at the same time properly fulfilling my duties of County Clerk. With heavy workload and limited staffing, my attention must be focused on the job that DeKalb County citizens elected me to do. Consequently, I am humbly asking you to please accept my resignation as the Safety Director for the county’s safety program”.
“I have been honored to have the opportunity to serve as the Safety Director since 2009 and have valued the opportunity to work with our county’s department heads to improve and develop our safety program for the county’s employees. I will offer my assistance in whatever way I can provide to make sure your new appointee to this position has a smooth transition as he/she steps into the duties of providing trainings and program development for all of our county departments. I will also do my best to introduce the new Safety Director to the compliance agency contacts that they will be working with, such as the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development , our assigned TOSHA inspector for our schools, highway department, ambulance service, county fire department, sheriff’s department, landfill, county library, and court house. I will also agree to introduce the new appointee to our local government insurance pool representative, Mr. Mark Fogarty and make sure that the new appointee understands the training, certification, and compliance requirements in order for the county to continue to receive our insurance premium discounts”.
“Again, I regret that I am no longer able to continue serving as the county’s Safety Director and I appreciate the confidence that has been placed in me to oversee this program for the last several years. I am confident that you and the County Commissioners understand my oath of office that must come first and foremost in considering my service to our county. We have already coordinated and scheduled a very important and critical safety training meeting on December 12 and I would like to follow through with completing this task as my last service as Safety Director. Please accept this letter of resignation to be effective December 12, 2014 at 5:00 p.m.,” wrote Poss.
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