Chief Gillespie marks his three-month anniversary with the department today. Since April, he said, he has spent much of his time in Augusta studying several corrections for problems singled out by grand jurors, including improved training procedures, a clearer promotional process and a uniform discipline policy.

"Frankly, several of the recommendations were things I didn't need a grand jury report to tell me," Chief Gillespie said in his fourth-floor fire administration office Monday morning.

Chief Gillespie - who was on vacation last week when the grand jury's report was released - said he plans to stick with Augusta and improve both the operations and image of his department.

His immediate predecessor, former Fire Chief Bernard Mack, left three months and four days after taking the Augusta job, citing city politics as one reason for his departure.

"Politics is part of this job," Chief Gillespie said. "It's not something you would expect as a firefighter on the street, but my job is to ... make sure my elected officials are as informed as possible, so they can make good decisions about the fire department."

Marking pages of interest with neon-green page markers, Chief Gillespie described his reaction to the presentment as something of a mixed review.

Several of the special grand jury's recommendations were valid, he said, especially its call for the creation of clearer policies and procedures. He said he recently issued a uniform discipline policy to every station house, which was based on the policy he used in his former job as chief of the Yakima, Wash., fire department.

But other portions of the presentment, particularly those dealing with personnel, shocked him, he said.

"It was pretty amazing the extent of problems they addressed in the report," he said. "As a reasonable person, it doesn't seem like anyone would have done or said all the things in there."

He declined to discuss how he would address accusations of bullying and harassment by current Deputy Fire Chief Carl Scott, saying that they will be considered internally and that he has no plans to "take any quick actions."

"I'm not prepared to discuss the personnel issues in the report," he said. "Like any personnel issue, you want to keep as much confidential as possible."

Chief Gillespie, City Administrator George Kolb and Deputy Administrator of Public Safety Fred Russell have scheduled a meeting for 11 a.m. Thursday to discuss the report's findings. The Augusta Commission will meet Thursday afternoon.

"I think what we've got to deal with are the facility issues and some administrative things like training," Mr. Russell said. "Whatever is criminal is not in our purview."

And, Chief Gillespie said, despite the grand jury's contentions, the political dealings of elected officials are not of concern to him.

"How involved (commissioners) get is something they have to decide," he said. "Certainly I believe they pay me pretty good money - I think I'm a pretty good manager and I can run my department. But if they want more information than they're getting, I can give it to them."

Reach Heidi Coryell Williams at (706) 823-3215 or heidi.williams@augustachronicle.com.