THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 16, 1995 TAG: 9511160262
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Since he has spent the past seven months working full-time as Nags Head's fire chief, Timothy Michael Morrison can no longer be paid as a captain on the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Squad, officials at the Virginia organization have ruled.
``Mr. Morrison was terminated Oct. 13,'' Fairfax Fire Battalion Chief Tom Hartnett said Wednesday. ``He is no longer employed by this squad.''
After working at the Fairfax department for more than 19 years, Morrison accepted a job as Nags Head's fire chief in January. He began working on the Outer Banks April 24. He receives $43,000 annually for leading the town's staff of nine paid fire fighters.
If he had completed 20 years of service in Virginia, Morrison would have been eligible to receive retirement benefits from the Fairfax squad. His 20 years would have been finished in December. So while he was working as Nags Head's chief this year, Morrison also commuted to Fairfax in his off-time and continued serving as a full-time captain with that organization.
He drew a $59,783 annual salary for his work on the 1,100-person Virginia squad.
``We were aware that Mr. Morrison was going to become Nags Head's fire chief. But we looked at that position as strictly a part-time endeavor,'' Fairfax County Assistant Fire Chief Mark Wheatley said last month, when Morrison initially was placed on administrative leave. ``It has become apparent that his commitment in North Carolina is to a full-time fire chief position. And that can't go on.
``You can't hold down two full-time jobs in a fire department.''
Nags Head Town Manager Webb Fuller said members of the Nags Head Board of Commissioners were well aware of Morrison's moonlighting in Virginia and had approved the agreement when they hired him.
On Wednesday, Assistant Town Manager Anna McGinnis said Morrison's firing in Fairfax did not affect his status in Nags Head. ``He's still our fire chief here,'' McGinnis said. ``We have no problems at all with him on the town's side.''
Morrison was in Virginia on Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.
Officials in the retirement department of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Squad did not return telephone calls, so it is unclear how Morrison's termination will affect his pension. by CNB