"We will make a choice on the police chief on the first Monday of this next month, tentatively, in a special meeting," Mayor Henry Espy said Friday afternoon.
After the new police and fire chiefs are chosen, they will be on automatic probation for six months, as specified by state guidelines, according to Espy.
Grayson has served as one of the fire department's three acting co-chiefs, along with assistant chiefs Douglas Obert and Chris Chicorelli, since the former fire chief's ouster in early July.
Grayson has had extensive, advanced training in 40 fire schools; has received three commendations, including one in 1999 from then-President Bill Clinton and another from helping the Army; and has attended numerous national firefighting conferences.
The fire captain also is a former officer of the Clarksdale Police Department and received basic law-enforcement training at the Mississippi Highway Patrol Academy. His late uncle had developed the MHP's first motorcycle unit.
Birdsong received an award from the FBI for helping in a training course at the police department from Special Agent Weldon Kennedy, who investigated the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Birdsong also received an award from the city Board of Commissioners for life-saving, after helping a woman who collapsed with a heart attack at an election polling place.
His firefighting experience has been most recently in Saudi Arabia, and, prior to that, mostly in California, in the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Killebrew recently retired as a fire captain, after 25 years with the Greenwood Fire Department. He received advanced training at numerous fire schools.
A 28-year CFD veteran, Robinson is the fire-department training officer. He also is in charge of Homeland Security issues, servicing fire trucks, maintaining fire hydrants for operational purposes, and purchasing and maintaining fire equipment and supplies.
For the past eight years, on Fridays, Robinson has delivered meals to the Care Station. He also has coached for youth athletic leagues through the years.
Retired as a senior agent from the Mississippi Alcohol Beverage Control after 26 years, Brown has years of experience working in cooperation with the FBI and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
An Air Force veteran, Brown served nearly 40 years in the Mississippi National Guard. He also was a firefighter for more than seven years in Meridian.
A graduate of both the Mississippi Law Enforcement and Mississippi Drug Enforcement academies, Dear also has had extensive, specialized advanced training.
Also a former director of public safety for the Mississippi Band of Choctaws at Philadelphia, Miss., Hample is finishing a doctorate in criminal justice.
Having 37 years' experience in law enforcement, Kneale has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, is a graduate of the FBI's national academy, and is certified as a law-enforcement officer in six states.
Kneale is the director of public safety for the Pueblo Laguna reservation and also had served in law enforcement on two other American Indian reservations.
Kurtz has 11 years' experience in military law enforcement, 14 years in civil law enforcement, and a master's degree in the administration of justice.
A patrol officer for the Madison Police Department, he also is a criminal investigator for the Army CID (Criminal Investigation Department) in the Army Reserves.
A former Clarksdale police officer, Morris also had worked for the Greenville Police Department as a patrol officer and in narcotics and investigations.
Patton has more than 30 years' experience in law enforcement. He has a bachelor's degree, and is working on a master's degree, in criminal justice management.
Patton is the police chief of the Walls Police Department. He formerly was a chief deputy in Tunica County, where he created a special training program for supervisory personnel, and also was a director of public safety at Columbus.
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