As mentioned in the Morning Roundup and widely reported in today’s Post and Examiner, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced today his selection of Dennis Rubin to take over the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Rubin resigned from his post as Atlanta’s Fire Chief on Monday, effective April 13. Once approved by the City Council, Rubin takes over a department that has had its share of issues, from Chief Ronnie Few’s résumé embellishment to the enormous lawsuit the family of David Rosenbaum filed in the wake of his death.
Rubin’s leadership of the Atlanta fire department is expected to translate well to Washington, though Atlanta’s department is less than half the size of D.C.’s. Before that, he held various managerial posts in Norfolk; Dothan, Alabama; Mesa, Arizona; and in the District. He has written extensively on his experience as a firefighter, including the hilariously titled Rube’s Rules for Survival, which we hope he remembers to bring to City Council hearings.
One minor controversy involving Rubin that has emerged dates back to his role as City Manager in Norfolk, when he allowed a religious group to put Bibles in the firehouses. What’s allowed in millions of hotel rooms is a no-no for government property, so Rubin had to apologize and have them removed.
His service in Atlanta was unremarkable, leading to this ringing endorsement found in the Post article:
“He didn’t do anything necessarily good or necessarily bad,” Atlanta City Council member C.T. Martin said. “He didn’t do much to get your attention one way or the other.”
As we’ve learned in Washington, however, no news is definitely good news in Emergency Services. Rubin appears tailor-made for the job, having big-city management experience, deep D.C. roots, and an apparent relish for the job’s challenges. But is a change at the top what the troubled department needed? Or is Rubin going to be forced to clean house to fix more systemic problems? And could Fenty get backlash from the Council or city residents for following Police Chief Lanier with a second white nominee in a top position?
Photo of Dennis Rubin by Kimberly Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
