County approves termination of Fire Chief Patterson’s contract

Members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 to officially terminate the contract of Whitfield County Fire Chief Paul Patterson on Thursday during a specially-called 10 a.m. meeting. All five commissioners were present for the meeting at the Whitfield County Courthouse, with Chairman Jevin Jensen typically voting only when there is a tie. The meeting was called following a release supplied by the board on Friday, Oct. 30, which stated Patterson was “placed on administrative leave,” with no reasoning initially given due to policies regarding comments on personnel matters. After contacting Patterson that Friday, the now-former fire chief stated he was not placed on administrative leave, but instead “terminated” during a meeting held Friday morning with commissioners and Whitfield County Administrator Robert Sivick. “They called me in and they fired me,” Patterson said that Friday afternoon.

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